Catch up with all the latest news from across the county with Abby Hook.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Hello, good evening and welcome to Kent Tonight live on KMTV. I'm Abbey Hook. Here are your
00:26top stories on Wednesday the 2nd of April. Awful April's pricing people out. Bills going
00:33up for millions in Kent. But will wage increases cover the costs? The race is on. Kent will
00:41return to the polls for the last ever Kent County Council elections in May. And on World
00:47Autism Day, KMTV reporter Henry Luck's been explaining how his diagnosis has helped him
00:52both through education and here in the workplace. Now council tax, energy bills, water, stamps,
01:01car tax, TV licences, broadband, prices for all of these have all gone up. In what's being called
01:08awful April, millions of us here in Kent and across the country face sharp rises in pretty
01:14much everything across the board. The exact amount extra that consumers will pay depends on where
01:19they live and their personal circumstances too. Despite some respite, including an increase in
01:25the minimum wage and a modest rise in most benefits, budgets are still expected to be
01:31squeezed. Finn McDermott has more. They're calling it awful April and with it comes price rises across
01:36the board, from energy and water to car tax and even the TV licence. So in Gravesend, are people
01:42feeling the sting of the simultaneous price hike or has it just become something we're getting used
01:46to? Well certainly at the moment having received the annual water bill for this coming year where
01:53it's gone up virtually 50 percent, I understand the reasons why but it doesn't make it very palatable.
01:59I think food, it's gone up such a lot already before obviously April started so that is my biggest outlay.
02:08My wife died like 10 years ago, you know 12 years ago, so yeah everything's on my own now you know
02:13so all the bills that come in you know is quite a lot really. I think it's practically everything
02:20really these days you know I can only, my heart goes out to sort of people with young families and
02:25and elderly mainly but I mean you know it's terrible for everyone. Now energy bills are some
02:30of the biggest expenses for households in the country and it's set to have its cap on costs
02:34go up by 6.4 percent to £111 bringing the average annual bill to £1,849 for the average household.
02:44But this isn't just for heating up homes, business owners also have to worry about keeping the lights
02:49on in their shops and that bigger bills mean less chance of people spending their money in the high street.
02:55So like this kind of shops, home decoration they have less money to spend in that because they
03:00don't have enough money. When you have enough money you can spend the extra thing to make your
03:05home beautiful. Now many businesses in Kent and here in Gravesend are worried about how these
03:10price rises, whether it's bills or food, will affect how many customers come through their doors
03:15while others are saying that at this point they're just used to prices going up and up.
03:19I haven't seen a decrease in sales recently, I'm not expecting there to be a decrease in sales in
03:25April. People didn't have any money in the first quarter of the year, they're not going to have
03:29any money in the second quarter of the year, I don't think things are going to get noticeably
03:33worse. I'm just expecting business as usual in a cost of living crisis which is people got no
03:38money so they're not going to spend a lot, they're just going to spend what they can afford.
03:41Financial experts say that for businesses the natural solution to higher costs could be to
03:46increase prices but not every business has that option. It is a challenge because everybody's
03:51experiencing rises in costs and therefore they still want to remain competitive. We might see
03:58some organisations having to make redundancies for instance or even, you know, worst case scenario
04:03considering the future of the business. Whether it's to keep your shop front well lit or making
04:09sure you're caught up on your car tax, many people in Gravesend, Kent and the country will hope awful
04:15April can pass quickly into a more manageable May. Finn McDermott for KMTV in Gravesend.
04:21Now in less than a month Kent once again returns to the polls for the last ever
04:25County Council elections. But why do they even matter and how can you have your say? Well our
04:30politics producer Oliver Leader de Sacks has been breaking down what a County Council actually is
04:36and what you need to bring with you to the polling stations on the 1st of May.
04:41Roads and potholes, libraries and schools, these are just some parts of our lives defined by Kent
04:50County Council. If you live outside Medway the upper tier authority is responsible for the big
04:57things from the local tip to getting support from social services. In other words they are a huge
05:05part of your life like it or not. Now you get to decide who runs it with local elections set for
05:16May the 1st. There are 81 council seats up for grabs and currently the Conservatives have the
05:23most with 57 Tories currently in place. But that could all change come polling day and if you want
05:33to have your say just head to the government website. But don't wait too long the deadline
05:40to register is Friday the 11th of April. That's not all you'll need though. Without a photo ID
05:49your local polling station will turn you away. So make sure to bring a passport, driving license
05:56or something similar. Whatever the result it will be historic. Kent County Council is set to be
06:03dismantled in the coming years to pave the way for a handful of new local authorities. These will
06:12be the last ever KCC elections. No one knows which way it could go. Oliver Leader de Sacks for KMTV.
06:22Kent's police and crime commissioner says he's made it his core mission to build trust between
06:27victims and the police. It comes as Matthew Scott's published his four-year police and crime plan
06:32which will see four million pounds spent on support provisions as well as an increased
06:36hotspot patrols to target violence and anti-social behaviour. He spoke with Cam and Izzy on the Kent
06:42Morning Show. The new police and crime plan is a statutory duty I have in order to set the
06:47priorities for Kent Police. I then hold the Chief Constable to account on your behalf to make sure
06:53that those priorities are being delivered. What we've tried to do with this new plan is to keep it
06:59simple and accessible so people understand what the core mission really is. It says it right there
07:05on the tin, cut crime, support victims, build trust. We'll do that in a number of ways and
07:11that's about protecting people, about protecting places and property but also partnerships as well
07:17because it's not just the police which are responsible for cutting crime and anti-social
07:22behaviour, it's also local councils as well as the powers that local housing associations have
07:30as well. So we've tried to capture what residents think is important and I'll hold the Chief
07:34Constable to account to make sure that this is being delivered. 13% crime drop since 2019,
07:40violent crimes down 8.2% in Kent year over year. How does your plan work to keep this progressing
07:46especially when we've got hot spots i.e. Thanet that are still seeing quite high figures?
07:54Well there's an approach that we will take across four different prongs. So firstly prevention is
07:58absolutely key. We want to deter things from happening in the first place and we will do that
08:03by working with councils and charities and others to make sure we're preventing crime from happening
08:08in the first place. Enforcement will be absolutely key as well as the active engagement of local
08:15policing. So you mentioned there the hot spots for example, we've had 27 hot spot areas where
08:21there have been extra patrols where overtime has been used to make sure that we're being
08:27extra visible. That has worked and we've seen anti-social behaviour and crime fall in those
08:31areas by a greater margin than everywhere else. So there will be a lot of things that we will do
08:36to continue to cut crime and anti-social behaviour but some of that engagement and longer term view
08:41will be looking at things like our violence reduction unit which has helped us reduce knife
08:46enabled crime by 20% over the last 12 months alone. It's one of the things that we need to do again
08:54in partnership to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour so that will be key as well.
08:58How would this money actually make a difference to victims going through such a traumatic time?
09:06You're right to highlight that it's been made harder for us this year because the
09:09Labour government have decided to cut funding for victims of crime by 4.2%.
09:15Locally they've also cut funding for a number of national initiatives as well such as
09:20support for male victims of sexual assault for people who are victims of hate crime. So we really
09:27got to assess where this Labour government's priorities really are but because of the prudent
09:31management of the finances locally we've been able to through my office step in and make sure that
09:37charities are getting the same amount of money next year. Now that is still a challenge because
09:41they've had to go through Labour's disgraceful national insurance rises, they've also got to
09:47pay more in things like the national minimum wage. There are significant challenges that this
09:53government is putting our charities through but we're working with them to provide as much support
09:58as they possibly can. Last year they supported over 102,000 people in Kent which is a tremendous
10:05achievement. Hopefully we'll be able to do similar numbers again this year and that will help
10:09them with initial signposting where to get advice and support on how our criminal justice system
10:15works but also get trauma support and therapy for what are some really challenging issues that
10:19people go through once they've been a victim of crime. Since that discussion we've seen the
10:25humongous impact of adolescence on Netflix, on policy, across the country.
10:33Their writers and the team behind that met the Prime Minister the other day to talk about that
10:39ban of phones in schools as well as looking into this issue in more depth.
10:46You've obviously just hit out against the government a few moments ago, do you welcome the
10:50government's pledge there in light of what's happened with adolescence and what to do with
10:54phones in schools? Well I think this is really curious because Labour MPs voted against the ban
11:02on smartphones in schools. They have voted against increasing the limit on social media profiles for
11:09children so I think we have to take some of this with a pinch of salt because their actions don't
11:15match their words. I think Labour have been quite disgraceful and duplicitous in some of this in that
11:21they've jumped upon the adolescence bandwagon and you know it has had a massive impact and it's good
11:26that people are watching it and talking about it but there are a lot more things that this
11:31government could have done that they have chosen and voted against doing so for political reasons
11:37so I would take any action that this government says they're going to take with a massive pinch of salt.
11:43Time for a break now, more on World Autism Day when we're back in a few minutes as our
11:48reporter Henry Luck shares his story and his experience of diagnosis.
12:01you
12:31you
13:01you
13:31you
14:01you
14:31you
15:02you
15:10Hello and welcome back to Kent tonight live on KMTV. Now a Herne Bay cocaine dealer is being told to
15:16pay back more than £35,000 after Kent police found the money stuffed in a designer bag.
15:23Tom Waldish was charged with possession with intent to supply class A drugs after police
15:28raided his home as you can see here in March last year where they discovered bundles of cash, drugs
15:34and designer clothes. He pled guilty in May and is serving six years in prison. A confiscation
15:39order has been granted by Canterbury Crown Court meaning he must pay back the money in the next
15:44three months or face more time in prison. In total he'd raised more than £100,000 through
15:49criminal activity and you can see all that cash out that designer bag on screen.
15:55Now work is finally underway to clear thousands of tonnes of illegal waste in Hodes Wood near
16:00Ashford. Residents nearby have called the site an environmental disaster after the woodland was
16:05buried under 30,000 tonnes of landfill waste. A court order has been put in place to ban
16:10unauthorised access access to the site and a specialist firm have been hired to work on
16:15clearing the waste while criminal investigations are still ongoing. Kent Wildlife Trust have said
16:22they're delighted the cleanup's going to start and it's been a long time coming.
16:28Now on World Autism Day we're discussing how workplaces can be more accepting,
16:33colleagues can be more understanding and how those with additional needs can feel
16:37more empowered. This year's theme is to help improve the quality of life for autistic people
16:42as an integral part of society. To mark the month and all the countless reports he's done
16:46here at KMTV our reporter Henry Luck joined Cam and Izzy on the Kent Morning Show.
16:52Well neurodivergence this is something that my mum recognised when I was two years old we got it
16:58diagnosed and at the moment and now I have high functioning autism because she could tell the
17:04signs were sort of there from when I was young like really struggling with communication when
17:10I was just a toddler so she got that diagnosed and now here I am got the diagnosis and it's
17:18really helped me through school helped me through university just having that support makes all the
17:24difference. And tell us a bit about those experiences of school of university of working
17:30here at KMTV and that kind of the role of neurodiversity in that what have been your
17:37experiences across all those those places? Of course with neurodivergence and of course being
17:44in often neurotypical environments it can often be quite challenging to adapt so that's why
17:51with the help I've got from like say mentors in university and school as support of teaching
17:59assistants they've helped to really keep me keep me happy keep me aware know what know everything
18:06that's going on and that's just made all the difference when getting through those stages of
18:13my life. Yeah and so you're starting to post your work as the self-proclaimed ASD reporter and so
18:20tell us about this and what you're doing on social media and reporting. This is something that me and
18:26Andy came up with we thought it'd be a really unique pathway to show how I work alongside
18:34neurodivergence not against it so of course all the challenges and also benefits that it brings
18:40because it's not all drawbacks because with high functioning autism you tend I tend to have like
18:48greater focus and more and greater attention to detail so it'll be really good to chronicle to
18:56show these parts of my life and just show people that you can function and you can have a good life
19:04even with autism. I think that's a really important thing to get across I mean we've seen
19:09you know we see weekly the pieces that you do for us at KMTV and across a range of topics as well.
19:18Yes absolutely so what are the kind of you know myths that you you want to bust for people about
19:29neurodiversity and autism especially in the workplace what are some of those those myths
19:34that through your work that you want to show you know you know bust them? I think a common myth
19:40is that autistic people tend to be seen as loners they don't want to socialise but actually
19:49a lot of them do want to socialise it's just some have barriers some have really struggled to cope
19:56in neurotypical environments and I want to show that autistic people aren't loners and they're
20:06just the same as everyone else and they can thrive in workplaces like this if they have the
20:14right support. And speaking of support tell us a little bit about how your parents and family
20:19supported you and for children and families watching what would you say to them? I'd say
20:25if there's any advice I would give to parents with neurodivergent children I would say just
20:31get that diagnosis because it can make a world of difference getting through school getting through
20:37university getting through whatever it is if you see the signs get it checked out because
20:43you never know it could be could be something could be something else but it's just that that's
20:50what happened with my mum and my parents and it's just made a world of difference for me and that's
20:56why I'm here right now doing what speaking to you doing these packages and just loving work
21:02here at KMTV. Yes and I see you often wearing the lanyard as well that kind of recognises that
21:09so what would you say as well so going back to diagnosis so what about your diagnosis helped
21:18you growing up what did it give you access to more support? Yes I remember having teaching
21:24assistants in primary secondary school they were just there to help regulate my emotions help keep
21:32me calm understand what I'm supposed to be doing and then of course in university I also had a
21:38mentor who I'd see about every week or so just to check in with work just see how I'm doing
21:46I think it's just simple just simply having someone to talk to really.
21:52Amazing interview there with Henry all right let's take a look at the weather forecast now.
22:01Clear skies across the county this evening highs of 11 degrees down in Dover and over in Margate
22:06there some winds picking up especially tomorrow morning as well by the coast but sunshine with
22:11it clear skies across the county again highs of 13 down in Ashford that wind slightly easing by
22:17the afternoon and it is heating up in Maidstone highs of 19 degrees
22:23much of the same on Friday sunny Friday sunny Saturday and Sunday lows of 12.
22:37Now don't forget as well as catching us at 7.30 on the weekdays you can keep up today with all
22:42your latest stories across Kent by logging on to our website it's kmtv.co.uk you'll find
22:48all our reports including this one about a special exhibition at the Historic Dockyards.
22:56The Titanic one of the most infamous sunken ships in the world has been recreated out of Lego.
23:04Now this camera isn't quite big enough to film things on but it is made of Lego just like all
23:09the ships around me at the Historic Dockyards newest exhibition. The exhibition is called
23:14Brick Wrecks and this is tells the story of sunken ships in Lego bricks and there's eight
23:19shipwreck stories and they're all told through Lego and so there's some going back to the the
23:26bronze age we've got the Uluburun which is the oldest shipwreck ever discovered and you can see
23:30a model that's been recreated to show the the wreck and we've also got Vasa which was a Swedish
23:37ship famously sank on its maiden voyage we've also got more famous ships like Titanic as well
23:43which you can see behind me and really it's about telling the story of these famous shipwrecks
23:49through Lego and there's loads of interactivity so you can come and learn about the ships you can
23:54also build your own Lego creation and hopefully inspired by the by the models we have here.
24:00Originating in Australia this exhibition has made its way around the world to places like Sweden
24:05and now for the first time ever it's landed in the UK right here in Kent. So the Historic
24:11Dockyard Chatham has a huge amount of background with regards to maritime history within the
24:16region so it's been on this site for over 400 years. The significance particularly in this
24:21exhibition to Chatham and the Kent area really revolves around the stories of HMS Terra and HMS
24:27Erebus which both of which were fitted out as part of their their final expedition to try and find
24:32the Northwest Passage. So there is a truly local story to this exhibition bear in mind this
24:39this whole all of these models were developed and built in Australia originally but it shows you
24:45that actually maritime history and the the link that this place had really really did truly span
24:51the world. Lego is a brand and a thing that I remember from my childhood and still has a universal
24:58appeal as whether it be as a toy or whether it be something that adults use to relax and unwind
25:03through stress. It's truly fantastic to be able to tell a Chatham story but also alongside the
25:09stories of the Titanic, the Vasa, the Batavia and it just goes to show what a world platform
25:16this amazing place was on for over 400 years. So I have a personal passion for Lego myself
25:23and yeah still building Lego today and we'll probably still be building some Lego in this
25:28very exhibition very very soon. Opening on the 8th of March for six whole months
25:33this new exhibition is anything but a shipwreck. Kai Wei for KMTV in Chatham.
25:42And finally this evening is Kent going to be the setting of the next big blockbuster. Well
25:48Universal Film Cruise was spotted at East Cliff in Folkestone. Six lorries there were parked up
25:54from early this morning until this afternoon. What was being filmed is currently unknown but
26:00a passerby noticed the crews were filming drone footage over the coastline as well.
26:06While the Kent Film Office has been contacted for more information the production still remains a
26:11mystery but it is a hot spot for many different films to be filmed, films to be filmed, movies to
26:17be made as well. Like the Chatham Historic Dockyard as well we saw in Kai's report as well but
26:22keep your eyes peeled for that. Well you've been watching Kent Tonight live on KMTV. There's of
26:26course more news made just for Kent throughout the evening. Stick around for our late bulletin
26:30and in the meantime you can keep up to date with all your latest news across your county by logging
26:35on to kmtv.co.uk. I'll be up bright and early with you for the Kent Morning Show. I'll see you then. Bye bye.
27:05you