Catch up on all the latest news from across Kent with Oliver Leader de Saxe, as we discuss rising bills, global tariffs and Nigel Farage launching Reform UK's Kent County Council campaign.
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00:00Good evening and welcome to the Kent Politics Show, live here on
00:29KMTV, the show that gets Kent's politicians talking. I'm Oliver Leader of the Sassan,
00:33this is the first episode of what is increasingly becoming an awful April, with bills on the
00:38rise across the county and terrorists rocking the global economy, courtesy of Donald Trump.
00:44But it's not all bad news, with some optimism about the return of cross-continent train
00:50travel through Europe. But before all of that, the folks in Hythe MP has called out the blacklisting
00:57of year-long no-swim warnings. A test carried out today found the water quality at Dimchurch
01:03safe, despite the Environment Agency rating the area poor following investigations last
01:09year. There are now calls for more frequent testing, but BKM East Coast have to have up-to-date
01:15understandings of the water quality, as local democracy reporter Gabriel Morris has been
01:20finding out. Warmer weather will soon bring more tourists to Dimchurch, but they'll be
01:26greeted by signs advising against swimming. The Environment Agency downgrading the water
01:31quality to poor after investigations last year. But what about today? The local MP has
01:39taken a test himself and is now calling for this to happen regularly. The Environment
01:44Agency only tests the water for half of the year, and then in the half of the year in
01:48the bathing season when they do test it, it's at these weekly or more periodic points. Now,
01:54that's fine, but actually we need to have more data from more places to show us whether
02:00the sea on a particular day is safe. Tony's test delivered results in just 15 minutes
02:06using this new piece of technology. The company behind it says it's easy to use and could
02:12be rolled out within the community. People are advised not to swim, but on our results
02:18what we are seeing is the risk is very low to go into the water and swim. How reliable
02:22are your tests? So our tests have been tested by different people across them, among them
02:28the EAC, FAS, NRW and we have also other agencies that have done third part validation. But
02:34with each of these devices costing hundreds of pounds and 25 quid a test, not everyone
02:40could afford them. Tony Vaughan and Southern Water say they're in active discussions to
02:45set up citizen testing in the area, similar to what's already happening in Whitstable
02:50and Hastings. This is a river outlet on Dimchurches Beach. It flows right into the English Channel
02:59and it could be this water here, which is responsible for some of those bad tests from
03:04last year. Upstream, it could have picked up sewage from spills or manure or such from
03:11farmer's fields. It means that on any given day, pollution levels in the sea will vary.
03:18So if citizen testing potentially coming, would beach goers follow that advice? I mean
03:24I suppose if it had been tested on that day, then why not? Someone here, outside just here
03:31with a sign to say today it's been tested, this is how it's looking. If you've got a
03:37blanket ban that doesn't get revised for months on end, that seems unreasonable. As discussions
03:44continue, businesses say a solution can't come soon enough, especially with the Easter
03:49holidays expected to start off hotter than usual. Gabriel Morris in Dimchurch. The Environment
03:57Agency has been contacted for comments but has not yet replied. Now, Kent Police and
04:02Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott has unveiled a new four-year plan with hopes of cutting
04:06crime, supporting victims and building trust. After eight years in the role, shouldn't this
04:11have already been achieved? This is what he had to say. Ever wondered just how clean
04:16your streets are? Well, a Freedom of Information request by KMTV has revealed the best and
04:22worst councils for missed bin collections across Kent and Medway. Topping the list with
04:27the most missed collections is Swale Borough Council, with over 11,000 bins missed in the
04:33last year alone. Problems first began in March 2024 when private contractor Suez took over
04:40waste management services, but rubbish slowly started piling up as bins were left unemptied
04:46for weeks at a time, leading to what residents described as a catastrophe. It just has been
04:52a nightmare to get them collected because they only take the actual bin and if that's
04:58full up, they won't take it and so we've got loads of black bags and it's just been really
05:03difficult to get it gone because they just won't take it and it's only once every two
05:11weeks so you can imagine like a household family and then you have to wait two weeks
05:17for your bins to be collected and by the next day you've already got a full black bag so
05:22yeah it's been quite annoying. We're really busy, like we've got a little baby and we've
05:29said that we have to go out of our own way which is inconvenient enough to get rid of
05:33them because they won't do their job properly. What is a real shame, I'll be completely real
05:38with you about this country, having been abroad so many times and seen different environments,
05:41different ways of living and stuff, is how dirty this country can get and it's so frustrating
05:46because you know you've got to think when people come in and visit on holiday and stuff like that
05:50from other countries, they must look around and think where am I? Do you know what I mean? It'd
05:53be so nice to have a much fresher, cleaner country and sometimes they don't pick them up if they've
05:57got stuff in there that shouldn't be in there which is a bit frustrating. It could be the
06:00smallest thing sometimes, you know what I mean? Sewers later apologised and in January of this
06:05year Swale Borough Council launched a full review to get services back on track. A spokesperson for
06:11Swale Borough Council said whilst delays were frustrating, lessons have been learned and
06:17services were now close to pre-changeover levels. Meanwhile in Sevenoaks residents appeared to live
06:23on the cleanest streets with just over a thousand missed bin collections in 2024.
06:29The difference? They don't use private contractors. Sevenoaks District Council said their in-house
06:35teams take pride in delivering a top-tier service with over 90% of residents reporting that they
06:41were happy with their collections. Only time will tell if Swale's improvements will hold but for now
06:47residents are hoping for a cleaner, more reliable service. Abiona Boyer for KMTV.
06:55That was not Matthew Scott, that was Abiona there with that investigation
07:00into bin collections here in the county. Now most people know this month for April Fools
07:06and since he ate paper but it is also being known as April Cruel for many businesses struggling with
07:14price increases, bills and all of this happening this month. Phil McDermid has all the details.
07:22They're calling it awful April and with it comes price rises across the board from energy and water
07:27to car tax and even the TV license. So in Gravesend are people feeling the sting of the
07:32simultaneous price hike or has it just become something we're getting used to? Well certainly
07:36at the moment having received the annual water bill for this coming year where it's gone up
07:43virtually 50% I understand the reasons why but it doesn't make it very palatable. I think food
07:49it's gone up such a lot already before obviously April started so that is my biggest outlay.
07:56My wife died like 10 years ago you know 12 years ago so yeah everything's on my own now you know
08:02so all the bills that come in you know is quite a lot really. I think it's practically everything
08:10these days you know I can only my heart goes out to sort of people with young families and
08:14and elderly mainly but I mean you know it's terrible for everyone. Now energy bills are some
08:18of the biggest expenses for households in the country and it's set to have its cap on costs
08:23go up by 6.4% to £111 bringing the average annual bill to £1,849 for the average household.
08:33But this isn't just for heating up homes, business owners also have to worry about keeping the lights
08:38on in their shops and that bigger bills mean less chance of people spending their money in the high
08:43street. So like this kind of shops you home decoration they have less money to spend than
08:48that because they don't have enough money when you have enough money you can spend the extra
08:52thing to make your home beautiful. Now many businesses in Kent and here in Gravesend are
08:58worried about how these price rises whether it's bills or food will affect how many customers come
09:03through their doors while others are saying that at this point they're just used to prices going up
09:08I haven't seen a decrease in sales recently I'm not expecting there to be a decrease in sales
09:14in April. People didn't have any money in the first quarter of the year they're not going to
09:18have any money in the second quarter of the year I don't think things are going to get noticeably
09:21worse. I'm just expecting business as usual in in a cost of living crisis which is people got
09:27no money so they're not going to spend a lot they're just going to spend what they can afford.
09:30Financial experts say that for businesses the natural solution to higher costs
09:34could be to increase prices but not every business has that option. It is a challenge
09:39because everybody's experiencing um right rises in costs and therefore they still want to remain
09:45competitive we might see some organizations having to make redundancies for instance or even
09:50you know worst case scenario considering the future of the business. Whether it's to keep
09:57your shop front well lit or making sure you're caught up on your car tax many people in Gravesend
10:01Kent and the country will hope awful April can pass quickly into a more manageable May.
10:06Finn McDermott for KMTV in Gravesend. Just before we go Kent's MPs have
10:12voiced their support for a Kent Manchester campaign calling for changes in policy around
10:15who gets a blue badge. Here's Maystone MP Helen Grant. The plan is to extend the blue badge scheme
10:24to people who are suffering with cancer and life-changing problems or life-changing injuries.
10:32That don't necessarily endure for the period of three years and we feel that this can be
10:37achieved either by persuading the authorities the government to alter the criteria for blue
10:43badge eligibility or to come up with a completely new scheme and we also want to hopefully uh
10:50reduce the time it takes to assess these applications which is currently around 17 weeks
10:56which is far too long. For me personally I've been there. I battled with cancer
11:06for around 24 months. It was not an easy journey. I know that cancer can be mentally and physically
11:16debilitating. I had major surgery in the form of a mastectomy and some abdominal surgery as well
11:22and it was very difficult to move around and walk and lots of people as well you know in addition
11:29to major surgery they also have radiotherapy and chemotherapy which is completely draining
11:35and I think anything that we can do to help people to be mobilized and to access goods and services
11:43while they're going through these difficulties is important and it's not a lot we're asking for.
11:48Time for a short break now see you in a few minutes.
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15:08Hello and welcome back to the Kent Politics Show live here on KMTV. Now I did promise you that we'd
15:13catch our Kenton Police Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott's new four-year plan before the
15:20break and here's what he had to say about what it is and what it aims to achieve.
15:26The new police and crime plan it's a statutory duty I have in order to set the priorities for
15:31Kent Police. I then hold the Chief Constable to account on your behalf to make sure that those
15:37priorities are being delivered. What we've tried to do with this new plan is to keep it simple
15:43and accessible so people understand what the core mission really is and it's and it says it right
15:48there on the tin cut crime support victims build trust and we'll do that in a number of ways and
15:54that's about protecting people about protecting places and property but also partnerships as well
16:01because it's not just the police which are responsible for cutting crime and anti-social
16:05behavior it's also local councils as well as the powers that local housing associations have
16:13as well so we've tried to capture what residents think is important and I'll hold the Chief
16:17Constable to account to make sure that this is being delivered. In terms of trust you have been
16:23in the role for nine years is this trust not something you've built over those years already?
16:28Yeah I think that we've seen over the last years there are there have been some big national
16:34scandals within policing which have affected all police forces and I think we have to acknowledge
16:39those we have to accept those and say that policing has to respond to each of those points
16:45but on the whole we've seen feelings of safety have remained pretty consistent and in fact went
16:50up last year and there is still a significant level of trust for policing in this county which
16:56is good to see but I want to work with the force to make sure that we continue to do that. So you've
17:01called for more investment for a rural task force? Yes so we have a rural task force when I first
17:09joined this role nine years ago we had one sergeant and six PCs that was it for how rural
17:16task force we now have an inspector, two sergeants, 12 PCs, seven PCSOs and nine special constables so
17:22we've been able to invest significantly in our rural police capability. In addition our new
17:29neighbourhood policing model will have officers in it whose beats are exclusively rural as well so
17:35we are investing in supporting the rural community in tackling the issues that are
17:40important to them and I've set up a rural policing board with the rural community
17:44to help bridge those relationships between the rural community and the police. I'm absolutely
17:49committed to tackling crime in our rural areas and we've got a programme running at the moment
17:54which I thought it called Operation Liberator which has been really successful at tackling
17:59machinery thefts and those people who have been committing it. Now in less than a month Kent once
18:04again returns to the polls for the last ever Kent County Council elections but why do they matter
18:10and how can you have your say? Well here's a breakdown of what the County Council actually is
18:17and what you need to bring with you to the polling booth come May 1st. Roads and potholes,
18:24libraries and schools, these are just some parts of our lives defined by Kent County Council.
18:33If you live outside Medway the upper tier authority is responsible for the big things
18:40from the local tip to getting support from social services. In other words they are a huge part of
18:47your life like it or not. Now you get to decide who runs it with local elections set for May 1st.
18:59There are 81 council seats up for grabs and currently the Conservatives have the most
19:06with 57 Tories currently in place but that could all change come polling day and if you want to
19:15have your say just head to the government website but don't wait too long the deadline to register
19:23is Friday the 11th of April. That's not all you'll need though. Without a photo ID your local
19:31polling station will turn you away so make sure to bring a passport, driving license or something
19:38similar. Whatever the result it will be historic. Kent County Council is set to be dismantled in
19:46the coming years to pave the way for a handful of new local authorities. These will be the last
19:54ever KCC elections. No one knows which way it could go. Oliver Leader de Sacs for KMTV.
20:04And on the topic of KCC elections Nigel Farage told KMTV that Kent needs a Trump-style department
20:11of efficiency to sort out the financial woes it faces as he launches the party's local election
20:19campaign. Speaking in Hyde he says there's been mismanagement with finances at a county council
20:25level for decades and polling predicts Reform UK could win a majority this May but their political
20:31campaigning has consistently been focused nationally rather than locally as local democracy
20:36reporter Gabriel Morris has. This is more and a warning this report contains flashing images.
20:45Many say he's one of the most controversial figures in British politics. Others say he says
20:51what he thinks. Regardless Nigel Farage and Hythe launching Reform UK's Kent County Council
20:58election campaign. His supporters dominating the town. I'm not mud-handling you mate. You are
21:03mud-handling me. I'm just wanting to say hello to our lovely politicians. But his critics weren't
21:08far either. Kent County Council has almost always been conservative but come the 1st of May polling
21:14suggests that Nigel Farage's Reform party could take control. He's a well-spoken man isn't he?
21:22I think he'd do well. We just think that what we've got is rubbish at this moment in time.
21:28We think we've been, you know, as old people, we've been taken for a ride. I think he does
21:34care about giving the people here their local autonomy and hopefully that will be for the best.
21:40But not everyone was blown away. Not him though. Why not him? Nah, I don't like him. Thank you.
21:47I don't think it's a real benefit for Kent. It's difficult to tell. You hear
21:55a story and then there's nothing. There's a big story and then nothing.
22:01Reform UK's policies have traditionally been extremely national. If they were to take control
22:06of KCC they'd have very little to do with these campaign slogans. But rather Mr Farage's party
22:14would be facing spiralling adult social care bills. We're stood in front of your battle bus,
22:20three slogans there. None of those really link to local councils. So what are you standing for
22:25on a local council level? There are two things here. Never forget with even a county election,
22:31the national issues still count. I mean here we are, 2,000 young men arrived through Dover
22:38in eight days just recently. So okay, not directly a Kent County Council issue, although of course
22:43the knock-on for child services etc is very real. So don't forget national issues, they are relevant.
22:50I just think when one party is in power for too long it needs a shake-up, it needs a change.
22:55What are you going to do then? We're going to come in and fix it. We're going to come in
22:59with a fresh mindset. We're going to bring our own form of doge,
23:02which you've seen in America, to Kent. Get rid of excess, stop wasting money.
23:09At the Maidstone rally last night he used much of his speech to talk about
23:14one of his party's key policies, immigration, but sprinkled in that some details about what a Reform
23:21UK Kent County Council could look like. He highlighted ways he believes money hasn't
23:30been spent efficiently in the past. They might have put pyros on for members tonight and they
23:36hope to cause fireworks on May the 1st. But can Reform UK, a party which stands to such
23:43issues, defeat voters at the election? David Morris in Maidstone.
23:49And just before we go, a green signal for a Eurostar competitor that could be running
23:55through Kent. Let's find out a little bit more about the Virgin Group's latest news.
24:01Full steam ahead. That's the message from Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group,
24:08who are looking to establish a service to run through the Channel Tunnel and compete with
24:14Eurostar. The green signal comes after a ruling from the Office of Rail and Road, who say some
24:22capacity at Eurostar's Temple Mills maintenance depot in London could be made available to other
24:30operators. A depot for storing and maintaining trains is considered a necessity for running
24:38services on the line, though there's still no confirmation whether cross-continent travel
24:45will return to the county. We want to see more really. You know, it's great that there has been
24:51this commitment to allowing the trains to utilise the maintenance yard, which is obviously a major
24:59hurdle for the train operators to overcome. But as it currently stands, you know, there's still
25:05that we're missing that commitment to say trains will be stopping at Ashford, trains will be
25:10stopping at Ebbsfleet. Eurostar trains have not stopped in Kent since 2020, despite tens of
25:17thousands signing a petition calling for the return of services. Even the county's politicians
25:25have tried getting rail links back on track, speaking to both Eurostar and Virgin. The work
25:32will be completed on the day it stops in Ashford. But it is good news that more and more operators,
25:41you probably heard about another operator, Gemini, recently came out and they want to
25:47operate as well. So there is a huge market. This is the future travel method, the train travelling
25:55to Europe. So I'm very positive, especially after meeting with Virgin a few weeks ago,
26:03I'm very positive that they are considering Ashford as one of their stops.
26:07Eurostar says the depot is effectively full for major maintenance work and would need
26:13investment to meet the demand for international rail. But while there are no guarantees yet,
26:21a return ticket for continental travel is more realistic now than it has been for a long time.
26:30Oliver Leader, The Sacks, for KMTV.
26:35Something we're following very closely here on KMTV. But now it is the end of the Kent
26:41Politics Show. For more news and views, head to Kentonline to catch up with all the latest KCC
26:46election news as well. I'll see you later in the evening for Kentonite. Goodbye.