Catch up with all the latest news across your county with Mahima Abedin.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV.
00:28I'm Mahima Abedin and here are your top stories on Thursday the 29th of August.
00:34Controversial construction. Hundreds of homes to be built on Medway farmland.
00:39In this instance, I don't think there are valid planning grounds to refuse this application.
00:47Breaking the boundary. Dartford council leader says EULA's expansion is destroying businesses.
00:53It's awful, I mean at the end of the day we've got small businesses in Dartford who are trying
00:57to make their way. They're ordinary working men and women and what they're finding is that they
01:01can't afford to have customers in London. Hospitality up in smoke. Kent reacts to
01:06rumoured plans for pub garden smoking ban. You shouldn't ban people from doing stuff
01:11outside. It's ridiculous. Too much nanny state stuff. I understand inside and I'm all for
01:17inside but outside I disagree.
01:28First this evening, despite significant opposition, controversial plans to build hundreds of new
01:35homes on Medway farmland have been approved. Last night councillors granted planning permission
01:41for the Gibraltar farm development following nearly 800 objections from neighbours. There
01:46are concerns about whether local services can handle the additional strain as our local
01:51democracy reporter Gabriel Morris has been finding out. The council says they were left
01:56with little choice. It's hard to believe you're in the middle of Medway, standing in this
02:01far stretch of farmland. But this could soon be absorbed by the town's expanding urban
02:07sprawl. With the council's approval for construction of hundreds of new homes on this site now
02:13appears inevitable. The Gibraltar farm development has been a source of controversy for more
02:18than a decade. I think it should be deferred. It just seems bizarre that Hempstead is having
02:23to make a lot of small changes to its access, changes to roads, particularly around Chapel
02:30Lane and Hoth Way, which just don't seem necessary when if the access was off North Dame Way
02:37it would be a far simpler project and would make much more sense for the residents of
02:41the new development. Despite hundreds of objections, the council gave outline planning permission.
02:48A rejection would have required a legally valid reason as the council could have faced
02:53significant costs in a legal challenge. We have spent more money, legal fees, defending
02:59public inquiries in the last three years than any other council in the country. That's a
03:06lot of public money that's been spent on that. Now I'm very happy to go to appeal if I think
03:13we can win. But in this instance, I don't think there are valid planning grounds to
03:23refuse this application. Medway Council is currently operating without a local plan.
03:29It's a framework for the area's future development, including housing, infrastructure and environmental
03:34protection. Yeah, so I'm really disappointed. As has been said, over 700 people wrote to
03:39object. MPs locally objected and the community itself I think is very concerned about this.
03:46However, my colleagues were left in a very, very difficult situation. Twice this council
03:52has rejected local plans under the Conservatives and I'm afraid this is now the outcome of
03:58a council that doesn't have an upstate local plan. It's a difficult one. I'm not here to
04:02criticise the previous administration. I think there were some strategic errors made on the
04:06local plan. I think the previous administration should have forced the local plan for a vote
04:11and taken the, you know, just taken it. Yeah, we have suffered from a lack of a local plan.
04:17I can't deny it. So far, outlying planning permission has only been granted. Further
04:22detailed approvals will be necessary before any new homes are built. Gabriel Morris in Medway.
04:30Next, a Canterbury supermarket was raided in the early hours of this morning, where
04:34both cash and alcohol were stolen. Kent police have taped off the Kennington store on Faversham
04:40Road as they continue their inquiries and a co-op spokesperson confirmed it will reopen
04:46today. But it's actually not the first time this store has been targeted. Thieves used
04:51explosives to blow up its cash machines. Police are asking for anyone with information to
04:56come forward. Next, it's been a year since the ultra-low emission zone was expanded to
05:04the Kent border, meaning it would cost anyone with a non-compliant vehicle £12.50 to head
05:09into London. While some businesses have coped with the cost, others have struggled to upgrade
05:15their vehicles and some have ruled out certain areas entirely. Finn McDermid sent us this
05:22report. Well, it's been one year since the Ulez border was expanded to North Kent and
05:27right now I'm standing just on that border. One side of this road is within it, one side
05:31of the road is not. And many people are wondering how much longer. Businesses in Dartford are
05:37forking out large sums of money to pay for new cars and some are even getting rid of
05:42the idea of going into London at all. Now, Ulez originated just in London in 2019, within
05:49central London specifically. After two years, it was then expanded further out to the north
05:54and south circular and then after two years in 2023, it came here. Now, by this point,
06:00most of you probably know that any car pre-2001 is not compliant within the Ulez zone, meaning
06:07you had to pay a fee of £12.50 to travel. Well, earlier I spoke to Dartford Council
06:13leader Jeremy Kite about the impact that local people are feeling still a year on. Well,
06:20people are having to cope and I'm actually not sure what a review would do. The Mayor
06:23of London has made it very clear it's not going anywhere, Ulez. It's a massive cash
06:27earner for him. I don't see it going anywhere. So, people are coping but it's not a very
06:31good scenario. At the end of the day, we've got small businesses in Dartford who are trying
06:35to make their way. They're ordinary working men and women and what they're finding is
06:38that they can't afford to have customers in London or even in Craeford. I mean, this is
06:42the point, we're not talking about going into central London, we're talking about Craeford
06:45which is literally just 100 yards in that direction from our border. So, it's very frustrating
06:50for people. Well, Sadiq Khan said the move was one of the toughest decisions he had made
06:55but was necessary to address the capital's dirty air. According to the London-wide Ulez
07:00six-month report published at the end of July this year, pollutant emissions across the
07:04capital in 2023 are dramatically lower than expected if the zone had not been expanded.
07:10Meanwhile, millions of pounds worth of Ulez fines also going unpaid despite threats from
07:15bailiffs and many cameras are being vandalised, especially in Kent. Finn McDermid for KMTV
07:22in Dartford. Now, the Ulez expansion is not the only thing frustrating Kent commuters.
07:30It's been revealed more than £7 million worth of fines were dished out in the last year
07:35to motorists and they're all for speeding. Kent police have clocked nearly 72,000 drivers
07:42breaking the limit around the county but the number was actually more than 12% higher in
07:47the previous year. Abi Hook is here to tell us why. Abi, firstly, £7 million, that's
07:53a lot of money. It is, Mehima, and that's actually the estimation if every fine received
07:59got the minimum penalty fine of £100. We all know on top of that, of course, it's three
08:04points on your licence as well. But back to those numbers, 71,961 fines at £100 each
08:13totalling more than £7 million. But over the last year, more than 21,000 drivers were
08:19clocked speeding by a fixed speed camera. Those are the ones we see on the side of the
08:23roads, the bright yellow ones on the roads, the motorways. A further 13,629 by mobile
08:29vans across the main hotspots and those key areas have been named too the 20 worst roads
08:35for speeding across Kent. I'll go through those in just a moment but what is really
08:40interesting is this number, 72,000 fines, actually lower than the previous year. The
08:45total number of motorists caught out actually fell by 12.5% to be exact. 82,000 fines, more
08:54than that dished out in 2021 to 2022. So a reduction but why is that number lower? Are
09:00less people speeding? Are less people being caught? Are they wise to where the cameras
09:04are? Inspector Dave Crompton from Kent Police's Roads Policing Unit says that could be part
09:10of the reason but there are other factors involved here too. Factors like roadworks
09:15in particular that are causing people to slow down in certain areas. We can hear a bit more
09:19from him on it now. I'm not naive enough to think that people don't know where the cameras
09:24are and slow down for them. But the reason why the cameras are there is because these
09:28locations are where there are most, what we call KSIs, killed and seriously injured collisions.
09:34That's where our data comes from. It's a partnership approach we use to where the
09:37bans go certainly and we do look at the data of where there are most likely to be serious
09:44injury and fatal collisions. Kent is a very busy county. It's obviously the gateway to
09:50Europe. We see a lot of vehicular traffic using our road network. It's very busy and
09:55therefore with that comes the increased enforcement of speed. And again, it's a difficult measure
10:02because the more enforcement you do, the more offences you capture.
10:07So Abby, where's this data coming from and where are some of those hotspots that you
10:11mentioned earlier?
10:11Well, the data itself from law firm Legal Expert, they asked every police force the
10:17number of speeding fines that they've dished out in the past three years from April to
10:20April. And in total, Kent Police have handed out 200,333 speeding fines in those last three
10:28years. And of course, if all of them, that minimum fine of £100, that's £23 million.
10:34But where are people speeding the most? That's the question that will be on a lot of our
10:38viewers' minds, a lot of people at home wondering. And you won't be surprised to see a huge hotspot,
10:44the M25, of course, a huge commuter road here in the south of England, 8,836 speeding fines
10:52handed out. Second place, Swanley, still on the M25, just a little more than 7,000 fines
10:58there. Third, Chatham Road, Boxley, the A229, many people in this area of Kent will recognise
11:05that location, just shy of 5,000 speeding fines. Fourth, you won't be surprised to know
11:09that the Dartford Tunnel approach road is on that list as well, just a little less than
11:154,000. And then in fifth, the A249, another really well-known road, Dettling, where 2,445
11:22speeding fines were handed out. Now, those are the top five. There are a list of 20 hotspots
11:27that I mentioned there, and a lot more information on Kent Online on those particular areas as
11:31well, the lowest being around 600 fines in different parts of Kent. But certainly, a
11:37question to be asked on why those numbers are lower, and if motorists here in the county
11:42are more wise to where the speeding cameras are.
11:45Thanks so much for that, Abby. Now, it's time for a very short break. We'll see you soon.
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15:55drawn criticism from the hospitality industry, including one Thanet landlord.
16:02We have really nice outdoor smoking areas, we have heaters, we have televisions there for
16:07people to be out and watch the sport, we have nice comfortable seating and it works. And I don't find
16:14that there is a need, you know, sometimes you go okay there may be a need that wants to get
16:18sorted out here, I don't see where the need or the driver is coming from. But not all landlords are
16:24convinced the potential ban is a bad thing. I think so, I think it's a great idea but it might
16:30differ. But everyone said that about the smoking ban, said it's a worse thing for pubs and what
16:34have you. Didn't really affect it that much, made restaurants a lot better, a lot nicer places to go
16:39to. And actually I think there are even some smokers that agree that, especially now that
16:44you don't smoke inside pubs, they find it a better environment. But high street pubs whereas sports
16:49bars places like that perhaps have a designated area for smokers, as long as it's just smokers
16:54and it's not interfering with anyone else, so it doesn't upset anyone. If the ban does come into
16:58force, ashtrays like this one here at the Tudor Rose could become a thing of the past. But it's
17:04not just pub gardens on the potential ban list. Smoking outside football stadiums, near children's
17:11parks, outside hospitals and universities and even on restaurant terraces could all potentially face
17:19the axe. What do people in Medway make of all of this? I think it's a good thing because it's a lot
17:25to do with people's health and that as well. You shouldn't ban people from doing stuff outside,
17:29it's ridiculous. I don't really think there's a need to stop people smoking, especially in pub
17:35gardens. There's nothing worse than trying to eat something and somebody smoking at the next table
17:40and it blows over, so in a way it would be a good idea. A spokesperson for the Department of Health
17:46and Social Care told KNTV that, while they do not comment on leaks, smoking claims 80,000 lives a year
17:55and costs taxpayers billions. They say they are considering a range of measures to finally make
18:03Britain smoke-free. Some of those measures have already been laid out, with plans to impose limits
18:09on the sale and marketing of vapes, as well as increasing the age at which people can buy
18:14cigarettes year on year to phase out smoking entirely. But for some, snuffing out smoking areas
18:21in Kent might be the most controversial proposal so far. Oliver leads the sats for KNTV in Rochester.
18:32Next tonight, a controversial traffic system is set to be removed later this week from the M20
18:37between Ashford and Maidstone. Operation Brock was redeployed at the beginning of July ahead of the
18:44summer holidays. The system sees all lorries heading to the continent having to queue on the
18:49coast-bound carriageway, whilst other drivers use the London-bound side with a 50 mile per hour
18:55speed limit. National highways have confirmed that the M20 will be closed overnight this Sunday,
19:01so the barriers can be removed. Next, from dining with dogs to the expansion of fast food.
19:09Many businesses in Kent are building up their budgets and perfecting their profits.
19:13Here's Elisa Paré with your business roundup.
19:22A new dog-friendly restaurant at a historic castle owned by reality TV star is poised to open today.
19:28The Naughty Dog at Lim Castle near Heath will officially launch on Thursday 29th August,
19:34with an invite-only event between 1pm and 4pm. It will open to the public the following day,
19:39with daily trading hours from 8am to 6pm. It is the latest adventure of Dr Anne Kaplan Mulholland,
19:45who has featured on Real Housewives of Toronto, as she and her husband seek to bring the attraction
19:50back up to scratch in a multi-million pound investment. The Naughty Dog will offer gourmet
19:55street food in an establishment bosses say has been designed to be inviting and is inspired by
20:00Hampton Court Palace. In a statement, Lim Castle officials said,
20:04We wanted a place where locals could go. We wanted to offer interesting, different and great cuisines.
20:09People will take delight in the decor, appreciating an amazing place to visit
20:13and the great food. People will also have a place to bring their dogs and relax.
20:20Plans to transform a vacant pub into flats and a micro-pub have accelerated after two years on
20:25the market. The wheat sheaven E Street Sitting Bond is earmarked for a revamp but a buyer is
20:30yet to come forward to carry out the work. It went up for sale in June 2022 with approved
20:35planning permission which was granted more than three years ago. It is understood a developer
20:39has not come forward yet due to tough financial market but also because conditions needed to be
20:44met before construction could start. The price of the land has dropped from £625,000 to its
20:50current fee of £595,000. There will be seven two-bedroom properties including four duplex flats.
20:57Fast food giant Taco Bell looks to add another restaurant to its Kent's ranks by filling part
21:02of a former Debenhams. The Mexican-inspired chain has submitted plans for a new site at Westwood
21:07Cross Shopping Centre in Broadstairs. If given the go-ahead it will be the first time the American
21:12company which has seven diners across the county will set up shop in Thanet. Taco Bell is known
21:17for serving foods such as tacos, burritos, quesadillas and nachos. It has 137 restaurants
21:23across the UK and more than 8,200 worldwide in 32 countries. The chain application to
21:29Thanet District Council is for a restaurant at a former Debenhams site with a shopping centre.
21:34Since Debenhams closure, brands such as Holy Bowl and Reparo Lounge have now replaced it.
21:40This has been Elisa Pye for your Business Roundup.
21:43And now for the weather.
21:51This evening expect clear skies across the county with temperatures between 13 and 15
21:57by the coast. Tomorrow morning nice and sunny, no clouds in sight with highs of 20.
22:03And here's your outlook for Kent. A mix of sun and cloud,
22:06highs of 23 degrees on Sunday and also on Monday.
22:33And finally this evening, straight after Kent Tonight, we have a brand new episode of Kent
22:38Film Club. It's the show where we explore four films chosen by our guests and find out exactly
22:44what they mean to them. But before we go, I caught up with the show's presenter, Chris Deasy,
22:49to find out what's to come but also what we should be watching this week.
22:53So Chris, we're feeling very nostalgic this week with the news that Oasis is getting back together.
22:58Now, as I understand, nostalgia is something that you're very familiar with. Has it got you
23:01reminiscing? Do you know, it really has. And I have a confession to make,
23:05that back in the 90s when people would ask that question, are you into Blur or Oasis?
23:10I kind of didn't know. But all these decades on, and particularly as I do a radio show where
23:14Oasis has appeared many times and there's that Oasis joke, which actually is very fitting here
23:19in terms of the reunion, you know, will their concert sell out or will people just buy their
23:25tickets little by little? But there is something about this because people were really into Oasis
23:29and it mattered to them. And at the end of the day, you've got the two brothers and we see them
23:33on the screen here. And of course, they fell out. And whether they'll still be on the stage together,
23:39because we had that with Frankie Goes to Hollywood and various other artists where,
23:43you know, have it with Ray Davis and his brother from The Kinks as well.
23:46So there's something here. Everybody can sort of identify. Anybody who grew up in the 90s as I did,
23:51has that real sort of sense of allegiance. And for them to be reforming again means that
23:55we're catapulted back in time. So we're talking about the 90s here.
23:58Does it make you reflect on any classic indie films from that time?
24:02Well, it's funny you ask that because literally two nights ago, I saw on the big screen at the
24:07Cineworld in Dover Pulp Fiction. Now, I saw it when it came out at the end of 1994. So it's
24:12literally 30 years since its first release. And while I was sitting there, I just remembered that
24:17experience of watching it and literally turning in my seat almost 180 degrees during a particular
24:22scene, which I won't spell out, but it involves a needle. And there was something about that as
24:26well, because Tarantino, of course, is a very well-known sort of entity. But at the time,
24:30he was this real new force. I hadn't seen Reservoir Dogs. So there is something about the 90s for me,
24:35because I'm really into 80s music. But whereas Oasis, of course, were really big in the 90s,
24:39for me, it was film in the 90s. And that's what I'm really nostalgic about.
24:42So music that you mentioned, it plays a big part in your podcast, too, about nostalgia.
24:47When you interview people, do many people talk to you about Oasis and what that genre and era
24:51meant to them? Yeah, completely. Now, Oasis comes up a lot. Blur as well. So there is that sort of
24:57sense here that people, it's like a football, I suppose, match in a way of your tribal loyalties.
25:03But Oasis comes up significantly. And of course, in that sense, that people often
25:08say, when I do a radio show as well on Tuesday afternoons, people are often asking that question,
25:11not so much, are you going to play Oasis, but which Oasis track are you going to play?
25:15And for a generation before that as well, of course, also from the north of England,
25:18you had the Beatles or Gerry and the Pacemakers. So there is that sort of sense of the relationship
25:22between place and music, whether you're from Kent or whether you're from the north of England.
25:27Then, and of course, interesting that Oasis are going to do their first gig in Cardiff,
25:32which is my first gig in Cardiff. So there is that sort of sense of the relationship between
25:36gig in Cardiff, which is my hometown. So it brings a lot of people together from different communities.
25:40So the buzz will continue, I'm sure. But what films should we be watching out for this week?
25:45Have you seen anything that's interesting?
25:47I've seen a really interesting film called Between the Temples,
25:51which is a sort of screwball comedy. And it's set in a Jewish synagogue in New York. And it's a very
25:56tender film, a bit like Harold and Maud from the 1970s, of two different people from different
26:02generations who come together at a time when they're both facing a midlife crisis. I'd
26:06thoroughly recommend that. It's a very tender, sort of goofy screwball comedy, but one with a
26:12real heart and has a lot to say about the importance of faith as well.
26:15Sounds really interesting. But really quickly, Chris, what's coming up in Kent Film Club tonight?
26:19We have Rob Wills, who will be very familiar to audiences and listeners on KMFM from the
26:26drive show that he presents with Numi. And he's got four really fantastic films and some real
26:31surprises in there that some of the films that you'd never imagine would go together really well.
26:36That's all from us here at KMTV. We hope you have a lovely evening and we'll see you again soon.