Catch up with all the latest news from across the county with Abby Hook.
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00:00Hello, good evening and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV.
00:28I'm Abbey Hook, here are your top stories on Monday the 3rd of February.
00:32Could it finally be here? Angel Centre in Tunbridge prepares for a new environmentally
00:38friendly upgrade.
00:40We know that the ongoing running costs are significant.
00:43Safer streets, new CCTV to tackle anti-social behaviour in Sittingbourne.
00:48CCTV cameras are really a dispersal. If you know where they are and you're likely to get
00:53caught by them, you go somewhere else.
00:55And the Year of the Snake slithers to Maidstone as the town hosts Chinese New Year celebrations.
01:01When I think of the Year of the Snake, I think about hard work, I think about prosperity.
01:17Good evening, the Angel Centre in Tunbridge is on the move, but councillors say the town
01:22will have a public leisure centre whilst it's built.
01:25Officials behind the new facility say the plans aim to make it more modern and eco-friendly,
01:30all as part of a wider multi-million pound redevelopment for the area.
01:34To find out what residents think about the revamp, Kristen Hawthorne went down to Tunbridge.
01:40The busy and well-used Angel Centre in Tunbridge will gain its wings when it's demolished,
01:45but only after its more modern, eco-friendly replacement is finished.
01:50This announcement from the council is part of a larger multi-million pound plan to redevelop
01:54the area.
01:55So the community will gain a new state-of-the-art carbon neutral leisure centre, which will
02:00be so much more efficient than the current building that we've got behind us. That will
02:04ensure that you've got the best quality facilities that a town like Tunbridge deserves. It will
02:09also save taxpayers an awful lot of money through simply not having to bear the costs
02:14that we currently have to bear on the Angel Centre at the moment. It also frees up a really
02:19important parcel of land right here just next door to the river for other wider redevelopment
02:24opportunities because the key thing that does there is really bring the river to life in
02:29this part of town. Really look at how we can make this as exciting as possible and something
02:34that people of Tunbridge can be really proud of.
02:36The location of the new Angel Centre has not yet been decided. However, it aims to be quite
02:40close by either in this car park or the one just further down the path. But with the addition
02:46of new homes, shops and facilities in the area, what do residents think of the change?
02:51Yeah, I know parking is an issue anyway here because we have to pay for car parks. So again,
02:56if that's something that they're factoring in their new location, that's going to be
03:00a benefit.
03:01Particularly in the town, there's not much going on, if that makes sense. So I'm quite
03:06excited for it, I think, as long as it doesn't disrupt too much.
03:10It's great because I shall continue to use it. And if it's more modern, up to date, it
03:16will be better, yeah.
03:17I mean, it'll be a new addition to the town that probably needs a lot more money spent
03:21on it to bring it back into the modern day.
03:24I'm not sure if this building was originally designed for gym or something, but looks like
03:29not really.
03:30The development area compromises council-owned car parks, the Sainsbury's supermarket, a
03:35petrol station and the Angel Centre. But with many people coming in and out of the building,
03:41many of them told me and seem like they're happy with how it is now. So why fix something
03:46that's not broken?
03:48Unfortunately, the Angel Centre is breaking at the moment. We see that in terms of some
03:53of the issues around its energy efficiency. In particular, we know that we need to look
03:57at new boilers, new roofs, new floors. And actually, you can't do that amount of work
04:02and expect the facilities to be of a modern standard, particularly when you're competing
04:06against so many other modern facilities in and around our local area.
04:10The council have been saving for this project and hope that it brings more people to the
04:14area and improves the overall location.
04:17The council has also launched a public survey to give residents and businesses their say.
04:22Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV in Tunbridge.
04:27Now a huge house fire in Herne Bay has left a family with nothing. On Friday, six fire
04:32engines and a height vehicle worked to extinguish the fire with the smoke seen here from drone
04:36footage. Nearby residents were told to keep away and any doors and windows closed. Luckily,
04:43no one was injured and the service is still working out exactly what caused the fire.
04:47Over the weekend, social media groups have been flooded with offers of help for the family
04:51who lived there, including donations of clothes, toiletries and other essentials too. A local
04:57food bank, Myers Community Support Centre, have even been taking in donations for the
05:01family as well.
05:05New CCTV is set to be installed in Sittingbourne as a wave of anti-social behaviour continues
05:10to wreak havoc on the high street. Residents have told KMTV that they are living in fear
05:15after dark in the town and it's hoped the deterrent will help. Oliver Leader de Saxe
05:19has been speaking to one of those spearheading the Safer Streets scheme who is confident
05:24it will be exactly that, a deterrent.
05:27New cameras and more police on the streets to tackle a long-standing problem. For months,
05:35Sittingbourne's town centre has been plagued by anti-social behaviour. Now, as part of
05:41the Safer Streets campaign, five new cameras will be deployed here following a dispersal
05:47order that's been in force since January.
05:50In times when I've gone the back way rather than down the high street or I've crossed
05:56over if something's going on, not just me, my customers have said the same. It's not
06:02pleasant or hasn't been pleasant.
06:04The Yellowstocks micro pub has seen their footfall slashed in recent months. For the
06:10landlady here, the new measures are something of a mixed bag in reducing anti-social behaviour.
06:17Not so much CCTV maybe, but obviously more police presence definitely does. But I suppose
06:22if they know they're going to be filmed it might be a deterrent. But definitely to me
06:27seeing more police on the high street has definitely helped.
06:30From shoplifting to smashing windows, many of the businesses here in Sittingbourne have
06:35shared a similar story about anti-social behaviour here on the high street. But many were reluctant
06:43to go on camera. Some for fear of reprisals, others because they were simply too frustrated
06:50at how little they think has been done to tackle the issue.
06:55Also Richard Palmer is one of those who feels resources could be invested elsewhere.
07:01But I think sometimes we look at the root causes and some of the services that have
07:05been provided in the past just aren't there now. So we can't just blame the children all
07:10the time and the young adults and say they're causing the problems. We need to look at ourselves
07:15and say what has been cut, why have they been cut and what are we going to do about it.
07:19Kent Police Chief Inspector Vanessa Foster told KMTV that officers work with Swell Borough
07:26Council to tackle crime and protect local people and businesses and any additional CCTV
07:32in the borough should reassure communities and act as a deterrent to criminals. But if
07:39they'll be more camera shy than they were with us remains to be seen. Oliver Leader
07:45of the SACs for KMTV in Sittingbourne. Now the UK's rarest species of bat has been discovered
07:53right here in Kent. There were previously only two greater mouse-eared bats in England
07:58and last month a team from South East Ecology and Kent Bat Group found the third right here
08:04in Kent. In fact in Dover Castle, the iconic landmark which many different species of wildlife
08:10have seemingly found a home in. Well we spoke to representatives from the groups and the
08:14Bat Conservation Trust to find out more. Here's Kai Wei. Dover Castle, it may be known
08:21as a historic landmark and a great tourist attraction but have you ever thought about
08:25it as a home for bats? Well last month Claire Moon and a team of ecologists were lucky enough
08:37to find one of the rarest species of bat in the whole of the UK, the greater mouse-eared
08:42bat. Yes, so we do as volunteers we do regular hibernation surveys at Dover Castle and other
08:49sites around Kent, in particular in Dover. We've been monitoring the bats at Dover Castle
08:54for roughly seven years every single year and in that time we've actually found three
08:58very rare bats for Kent. So it's proven to be quite an important site for monitoring
09:05potentially because bats are coming over from France across the Channel and Dover Castle
09:09is quite a prominent landmark. It is a prominent coastal position very close to France so
09:13as climate change and other things happen that pushes the distribution of certain species
09:19in a northwards direction it's likely to be one of the first places that we'll see evidence
09:23of that occurring. And it's just such a fantastic site, it offers so many opportunities, we've
09:28got so many features for roosting for bats and Dan Tewson of Natural England's been doing
09:33a fantastic job working with local farmers in the Dover Valleys. Now this bat isn't like
09:37any ordinary bat that you may find in your back garden, there are only three of them
09:41in the whole of the UK. Existing as a critically endangered species they have twice the wingspan
09:47of more common bats and can grow up to eight centimetres in length. The greater mousted
09:52bat is definitely our rarest bat, for many years there was just one individual, one known
09:56individual and then a second one appeared a couple of years ago and now it seems we
10:02have at least three, we have at least one other. How does it compare? Our second rarest
10:08bat is the grey long-eared bat and there's about 1,000 individuals of that species. In
10:14terms of the roles they play, all of our 18 species eat insects so they all help to control
10:22insect numbers. In Kent particularly we know that other species that haven't been found
10:27here for a very long time have suddenly started appearing over the last few years so there's
10:32another species called the greater horseshoe bat that appeared in Kent about I think four
10:37years ago, five years ago. Bats are an important bit of our natural heritage and the more people
10:44become aware of them and go out and enjoy them the more they'll be there for the long
10:50term and for the benefit of us all. Kai Wei for KMTV. Now a former Gurkha from Canterbury
10:59is helping to design new prosthetic feet so other amputees can climb to the heights
11:04he has. Harry Buddha Magar became the first double above-the-knee amputee to climb Mount
11:16Everest back in 2023. He's now looking to break another record by climbing the seven
11:22highest summits on the seven continents including Everest, Kilimanjaro and Mont Blanc. Mr Magar
11:28says he wants to prove people with disabilities can do anything and he's been campaigning
11:33with that message ever since he lost both of his legs in an IED explosion in Afghanistan
11:3815 years ago. He starts his feat next month, this month sorry, in Argentina. And more sports
11:45news like that coming up after Kent tonight this evening on Invicta Sport but I'll see
11:49you in a few minutes for more news.
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15:12Hello and welcome back to Kent tonight live on KMTV. Now residents say this is a regular
15:18sighting Canterbury as litter police are finding easy targets and letting the real litter bugs
15:23get off scot-free. It comes after Kent online found only four fines were handed out to those
15:29littering fast food wrappers compared to the staggering 5,600 handed out for those dropping
15:35cigarettes. Millie Bowles joined me down the line earlier to explain her investigation
15:40and exactly why people in Canterbury are so angry. These litter police they've been accused
15:45of targeting easy pickings on retail parks but surely they're just doing what they're
15:50employed to do anyway. Well the argument is that they're not targeting the right or
15:58the most useful areas and people often see litter in the high street you know there's
16:03fast food wrappers there's you know takeaway boxes and they're a real problem that people
16:08see every day but you know cigarette butts in private car parks aren't necessarily the
16:15biggest problem that's affecting the city. Yeah and your investigation revealed just
16:19a few fines issued for food related littering which some are claiming they see the most of in
16:24the city but thousands of fines given out for those discarding those cigarettes. If you tell
16:29us more about the figures. Yes absolutely so we looked at the fines for the last two financial
16:36years and 97 percent of those were given to smokers that was over 5,000 fines for smokers
16:46and obviously an overwhelming majority. In contrast fines for fast food litter there was
16:55only four in two years and chewing gum which you can see on the pavements in the high street and
17:01there's a particular problem with it here in Canterbury and St George's Street at the top of
17:05the high street and there was only three in two years for chewing gum so there's a real kind of
17:12unbalance between the fines that are being issued and the actual litter that we see on the streets.
17:19So what's the next step? Where do we sort of go from here? What's the council had to say?
17:25Well the council hasn't indicated that they're going to change their policy in any way.
17:31Their argument is that they have the right to target private car parks if they want to instead
17:38of the high street and that they have spoken to the supermarkets and gotten their permission to do
17:45this but when we asked them if they had any evidence because they said that they spend the
17:50majority of their time on public land not private land and we asked them if they had any figures on
17:55this or any you know statistics or figures to prove that they couldn't provide any but said
18:01that it was a stated fact. So it was a bit you know disappointing but I completely understand
18:10that litter needs to be targeted and it's a big problem and I know they are doing things to combat
18:16that. They have a street cleaners that are out regularly in the high street. Now don't forget
18:22you can keep up to date with all your latest stories from right across Kent by logging onto
18:25our website that's kmtv.co.uk there you'll find all our reports including Finn's deep dive into
18:30the National Archives uncovering the last execution in the UK and it was for a group of smugglers
18:37right here in Kent. It was two in the morning the 2nd of September 1821 when shipman Washington Carr
18:46spotted 40 men marching across the beach at Marsh Bay hauling kegs of spirits with rope. A gunfight
18:52followed across the beach and Carr was even cut across the face by his own cutlass one of the
18:57smugglers Daniel Fagg had taken off him. The gang who were from Canterbury got away into the
19:02Thanet marshland with most of their cargo but would later be put to death for their crimes and
19:07it's believed now to be the last execution of smugglers in the UK. Now their story has been
19:12put on display at the National Archives from researchers putting together legal and financial
19:16documents to tell the full story. Now I've travelled up to the National Archives here in
19:20West London specifically Kew and I want to see the document that details the last stand of the
19:25Margate smuggling gang and I want to find out was Margate particularly bad for smuggling? Following
19:31the Napoleonic wars there were more taxes on foreign goods and plenty of sailors with few
19:36other ways of making money leading to a smuggling boom. Later from a witness statement a gardener
19:41saw a crowd gathered in Canterbury surrounding several of the smugglers who were bragging that
19:46they had gotten away with one even said to have made shooting gestures. The court documents later
19:51show how they were caught in groups during separate months of 1822. They identify 19 men and
19:57they arrest them and they bring them to trial the following March. So this is March 1822, 19 men,
20:05all of them from Canterbury, most of them labourers, some of them shoemakers, all of them working class
20:11men from Canterbury. Originally of the 19 smugglers caught they were all set to be executed but this
20:17was reduced to just four of them with the rest either sent to prison hulks or Australia. While
20:22their leader Stephen Lawrence had enough money to actually hire lawyers who argued there was no way
20:27to identify him he got away without punishment but was later convicted of stealing his neighbour's
20:32furniture. Meanwhile the unlucky four were publicly hanged on Penenden Heath near Maidstone in front of
20:37an unusually large crowd of 15,000 people. Yeah I think the execution at Penenden Heath is a very
20:45interesting one for a couple of reasons. Firstly executions generally draw a crowd but the crowd
20:54outside of Maidstone in April 1822 was a very very large one, 15,000 spectators according to
21:01the newspapers. One of the reasons for this is the number of smugglers being hanged, four of them at
21:06once. They're believed to be the last smugglers put to death as only 10 to 15 years later taxes
21:12were reduced making the crime far less profitable. Every month the National Archives change their
21:17display but it does provide a unique look into what Kent's criminals were like back in the 19th
21:22century. Finn McDermid for KMTV. Fascinating stuff from Finn there, now it's time for us to take a
21:30very quick look at the weather. Tonight's going to be fairly mild, seven degrees pretty much across
21:42the board, eight down in Dover there, cloudy. Tomorrow morning much of the same, that wind speed
21:47picking up slightly and perhaps some sunshine coming out across most of the county, cloudy up
21:51in Dartford there. Warming up slightly into the afternoon, temperatures around 10, 9 degrees in
21:56most parts of the county there by the coast too. Wednesday we could get some sunshine but Thursday
22:01and Friday the cloud returns, lows of six degrees by Friday.
22:14Now, Maidstone has welcomed in Chinese New Year with their annual celebration in Jubilee Square.
22:19The event is about bringing cultural diversity to the town and 2025 is the year of the snake
22:25of course, bringing wisdom, personal growth and transformation. Our reporter Henry Luck was in
22:29Maidstone for the event. Dancing dragons aren't a common sight in Maidstone but they've come down
22:36to welcome in Chinese New Year. Organised by Cohesion Plus in alliance with Maidstone Borough
22:43Council, the yearly celebration is all about welcoming cultural diversity in the area and 2025
22:53is the year of the snake. So when I think of the year of the snake I think about hard work, I feel
22:59I think about prosperity, I think about working in partnership and that's what the year of the
23:06snake reflects and that also reflects the work that myself as an organisation, the work that
23:10Maidstone Borough Council is looking to do and obviously our partners Maidstone Culture Group
23:14look to reflect. The year of the snake is a very special year for those who are born under the
23:19year of the snake. They'll be self-reliant, resourceful and they will also have wisdom and charm
23:26so that's quite a something to look up to I think. Speaking with a local business and people at the
23:32event, I found out about what Lunar New Year means to them. It's a new beginning and it's also
23:40come around every year so it's the biggest celebration in China.
23:48Yes we're very excited here to put up the celebration for Maidstone. I think it's
23:54brilliant that everyone locally gets on board with cultural activities, working at a nursery
24:00myself and obviously teaching needs to grow up and be just as diverse as I am basically.
24:06My girls are so happy now that they're older and they understand what we're celebrating.
24:11It was very fun and I loved the music. I really liked it, it was very fun. With the New Year
24:18officially begun, I decided to see what my fortune would be. It wouldn't be Chinese New Year
24:25without one of these, a fortune cookie. So let's open it up and see what I get.
24:31Well mine says always begin with an end in mind. I don't know what that means yet but I'm sure I'll
24:42find that out later this year. And hopefully good luck will be with the rest of Kent too.
24:49Henry Luck for KMTV in Maidstone.
24:55As Henry said, hopefully a bit of luck for us all. That is it for this evening for us here on Kent
25:00tonight. But stick around because right after the break we have a brand new episode of Invictus
25:05Sport as always on Monday. To give us a sneak peek and idea of what's to come, Bartholomew Hall,
25:10the show's producer, joins me now. Bartholomew, what have we got coming up this evening?
25:13Well I want to start, I want to show you a clip of actually what could be described as Kent's
25:17football highlight of the weekend. This is Sittingbourne playing against Southend United.
25:23Sittingbourne, an eighth tier team playing against the fifth tier Southend. This goal
25:30was in the sixth minute of added time. This is the furthest that Sittingbourne have ever got
25:35themselves in the competition. Think of the FA Trophy as kind of the FA Cup for non-league teams.
25:40They've now got themselves to the quarterfinal of the competition. If they get to the final,
25:44they'll be playing at Wembley Stadium. A huge, huge run for this team. You don't usually see
25:50in the FA Trophy clubs of Sittingbourne's side getting that far in the competition,
25:54so you can see what it meant to the fans there. It's a huge moment for that club.
25:58Lots more to come in Invictus Sport tonight, including speaking with Alex Shrimpton. He's
26:02a runner from Sevenoaks who's taking on the challenge of running the whole length
26:06of the UK. It's just over 600 miles and he's doing it in under 30 days and he's bringing
26:12his baby boy on the sofa. He'll be explaining exactly why in the show. We've also got,
26:18of course, Action Replay, my favourite part of Invictus Sport, where we take a look at some of
26:23the highlights of the KMTV audience taking part in sport. Amazing, Bartholomew. Thank you very
26:28much. I did meet Eli in the corridor as well. Very, very, very sweet. TV ready as well. He was
26:34calm, composed, not crying. That's exactly what you need. So he's here on the sofa with us.
26:37Bartholomew, thank you very much. That's all from us here on Kent tonight, but we'll be back
26:41in just a few minutes time for all that sports news and more from Invictus Sport. See you then. Bye-bye.
27:11Bye-bye.
27:41Bye-bye.