Catch up with all the latest news from across the county with Abby Hook.
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00:00Thank you so much for joining us.
00:30Welcome to Kent Tonight live on KMTV.
00:33I'm Abbey Hook.
00:34Here are your top stories on Monday the 16th of December.
00:38Village vandalism.
00:39Two teenagers charged as Cliffsend community Christmas decorations torn down.
00:45There's got to be some degree of sympathy for somebody being disturbed enough to want
00:50to upset everyone's Christmas to this degree.
00:52A political earthquake.
00:55Does new devolution law mean the end for Kent County Council?
00:59Signed, sealed, delivered.
01:02KMFM gives 16,000 gifts to children in Kent hospitals this Christmas.
01:09One month ago we asked you, our amazing KMFM listeners, to help us support children in
01:14care, hospital and challenging circumstances right here in Kent.
01:18And you delivered.
01:20You actually delivered thousands of toys to us here at KMFM HQ and it was amazing to say
01:25hi and welcome you to the studio.
01:36First this evening, two teenagers have been charged with criminal damage and assault after
01:41Christmas decorations in Cliffsend were vandalised.
01:44Residents have been left in disbelief and saddened to see the community effort destroyed.
01:48And it's cost them more than £1,000.
01:50They're hoping to arrange another light switch on to get Cliffsend back in the Christmas
01:55spirit while finmint damage was at the village today.
01:58It's such a shock to our community.
02:00These are the words of locals in the small village of Cliffsend, near Ramsgate, who woke
02:04up this weekend with their homes and village halls' Christmas decorations destroyed.
02:09This footage was captured on a ring doorbell in the village last weekend.
02:13And two teenagers, a boy and girl, have been charged with criminal damage and assault after
02:17the displays in several areas of the village were allegedly kicked, thrown and torn up.
02:22With one man even reporting damage to his work van.
02:26This was a blow to the local community.
02:28Yeah, I can't believe it actually.
02:30I mean, I can't think what goes through anyone's mind to do something like that.
02:36It's outrageous.
02:37It's awful.
02:38They shouldn't have done it.
02:39A lot of money has been spent on the community doing all this and it's unfortunate they
02:45have nothing else to do but just to come along and do this for no apparent reason.
02:50The village is known for having large decorations, with many in the area having displays to show
02:55their love for the festive season.
02:57But the main attraction was the village hall's lights switch on event, which had a large
03:01crowd of all ages there and had been paid for by community events.
03:05This was what it looked like in the morning.
03:08This was really a community coming together and a statement of that.
03:12So for a couple of people or a small number of people, whoever it turns out is responsible
03:17to have done this, it's very difficult to find words because I'm afraid I have to say
03:24there's got to be some degree of sympathy for somebody being disturbed enough to want
03:28to upset everyone's Christmas to this degree.
03:32The decorations took a week to be put up by local volunteers and, in total, cost more
03:36than £1,000 of fundraising and donations.
03:40Cliffsend is only a small village, so when something like this happens it can really
03:43hurt the local community.
03:45But the locals are very keen for this to not affect their Christmas spirits too much
03:49and are planning to bounce back with more Christmas events.
03:52The next step is to obviously make sure it's safe and then actually residents have come
03:59together and they've been dropping off lights to the village hall, like random sets of lights
04:03and stuff, and so we're going to try and get them up and you might have a light switch
04:09on part two at the weekend.
04:12Locals hope they can restore the village's Christmas spirit after the vandalism and bring
04:16the community closer in spite of it.
04:18Finn McDermid for KMTV in Cliffsend.
04:26Next this evening, two people have been charged with attempted murder after a man was allegedly
04:30stabbed in Margate.
04:32Police cordoned off part of Cowper Road around 6.30pm on Friday and a man was taken to hospital
04:37by air ambulance where he remains in a serious but stable condition.
04:40On Saturday, officers charged a 22-year-old with attempted murder, possession of a bladed
04:44article in a public place, assault on an emergency worker and criminal damage.
04:49A 44-year-old was charged with attempted murder and possession of a bladed article in a public
04:54place as well.
04:55Both are said to be known to the victim.
04:57They were both due to appear before Margate Magistrates Court today.
05:04Now is this the end for Kent's local authorities?
05:07Well new devolution legislation could mean that the 13 councils in the county could be
05:11cut down to just a handful as they're given more power over our lives.
05:17This could mean more efficient, well-funded authorities.
05:20Some are worried what so-called mega-councils and a mayor could mean for Kent.
05:25Oliver Leeder de Sacks joins me now from outside County Hall in Maidstone.
05:30Oliver, what does this mean for us here in Kent?
05:35Abbie, that's a huge question and quite rightly because this is a huge change.
05:40It's been long expected there's going to be a devolution white paper from the government.
05:45Angela Rayner's been hard at work on this and now we finally get a sense of the scale.
05:50The end of two-tier authorities.
05:52I know that sounds like a lot like techno-jargon to our viewers at home so let me just break
05:57it down.
05:58There are kind of two types of authority in Kent aside from unitary authorities which
06:03do both, do everything.
06:05You have Maidstone Borough Council, Tunbridge Borough Council.
06:08These places kind of do the local stuff, housing, bins, recycling, the everyday essentials.
06:15While Kent County Council behind me, that does the big things, roads, adult social care,
06:22schools, things that impact everyone across the county.
06:26The government plans want to kind of merge all of those smaller authorities with Kent
06:30County Council to create new unitary authorities as a pathway towards more larger scale strategic
06:38authorities that are kind of covering a bunch of different areas that have more power over
06:43our everyday lives.
06:45The aim of course is to take more power out of government in Westminster and give it back
06:49to us back here.
06:52You start to explain sort of the why there, Ronnie, but that will be a lot of what our
06:55viewers are sitting at home thinking now.
06:57Is this just to save a bit of money?
06:59What's the government really hoping to achieve?
07:02It's an interesting one and it's probably because there's a bit of a devolution black
07:08hole here in the South East.
07:09It has a lot less devolution than elsewhere in the UK.
07:13You see the greater authority mayors having huge power to raise additional revenue to
07:18be able to achieve different things in those greater authorities like Manchester and Birmingham.
07:24But here, we need to start seeing a lot more of that in the government's view.
07:29But it is concerning a lot of council leaders who are worried it's taking local democracy
07:35out of the hands of people in Kent.
07:38Very quickly, Olly, what are opponents saying?
07:41Well, champions of devolution say it will create a more streamlined approach that will
07:46give more power to people.
07:47But I've been speaking to people like Stuart Jeffrey, the leader of Maidstone Borough Council,
07:51based on where I'm stood right now, and he has his concerns.
07:55He is saying that it's just going to take power away from district councillors who know
08:00their local area a bit better.
08:02And his worry is that with larger local authorities, services will be a lot further away from people
08:07that need them.
08:08Obviously, we don't really know what this is going to mean for Kent.
08:11Proposals will be pouring in through the next couple of months to kind of paint a picture
08:16of what Kent will look like.
08:18So it's early days.
08:19There's a lot of legislation to get through.
08:21We'll bring you more details on the Bulletin tonight and tomorrow.
08:24Oliver, thank you very much for those details there.
08:26Complicated issue we've been speaking to a lot of people about today, but we will, as
08:29you say, bring you that report at 8pm this evening.
08:32Thank you, Olly.
08:34Now next tonight, marine experts say the number of sea creatures appearing on our shores is
08:40only increasing after a rare sunfish was spotted washed up on Warren Beach in Folkestone.
08:45The species is the deep sea fish and is one of the largest bony varieties that's uncommon
08:50in the area, but is slowly becoming more frequent.
08:53Well, Kristin Hawthorne joins me now to explain why we're seeing so many sightings of different
08:59fish, different marine wildlife washing up on our shores.
09:02It's not the first one.
09:04What can you tell me more about the sunfish that washed up in Folkestone then?
09:07Yeah, well, I'll tell you a bit about sunfish in general.
09:11On average, they're about 1.8 tonnes.
09:14So basically, they weigh a car.
09:15They can get massive.
09:16They can even go up to three tonnes.
09:19They are used to warmer climates.
09:21So the fact that it was here is quite strange and odd.
09:25I spoke to Kent Wildlife Trust earlier, who explained to me a little bit more about why
09:28it was there.
09:34... dramatic and very worrying things.
09:38Yes, climate change can be a natural process, but normally that's over millennia.
09:44The rates that we are seeing are kind of a few degrees in 100 years, two and a half
09:50degrees since the Industrial Revolution is quite scary.
09:58We haven't seen these sorts of warming periods before over such a short period of time.
10:06There they were just explaining a bit more about why we're seeing sort of different sightings
10:09as well.
10:11We've seen different types of animals, as I was saying earlier, different marine life
10:15washed up on our shores.
10:16Can you tell us a bit more about why this is happening?
10:19Yeah, well, over the past few years alone, like you said, the temperatures of seas have
10:24been increasing.
10:25This is due to climate change.
10:27It does mean that fish, it's normal for them to move between habitats, but it has been
10:35increasing.
10:38Because of the warmer temperatures, they're able to go further up north, but then they
10:42can get disorientated and confused.
10:45They can go into shock, and then that's why they end up washing up on the beaches.
10:50What can be done to stop this happening and make sure that if they are migrating, if things
10:56are changing, the temperatures are changing, that they're kept safe, they're protected,
11:00and we don't see sad occasions like we did with the sunfish?
11:03Yeah, well, there's not too much that can be done quickly.
11:07Current Wildlife Trusts are urging people to do a shore search, quite a hard word to
11:12say.
11:13Shore search.
11:14In your accent.
11:15Yes, exactly.
11:17But basically, that is urging people to go out, and if they see sightings, to record
11:21it.
11:22You can go out in groups.
11:23If it's done over a long enough period of time and enough people do it, they can collect
11:28a lot of data and really see better the changes that have been happening, and then they can
11:35implement better ways to help the changes, really.
11:39Kristin, thank you very much.
11:40Very important story there.
11:43Now it's time for a very quick break, but coming up, more news from right across the
11:46county.
11:47I'll see you then.
15:05Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight, live on KMTV.
15:16More than 100 drink driving arrests have been made by Kent Police in the run-up to Christmas.
15:21Bodycam footage shows a car in a ditch in Brentley near Tunbridge during the police's
15:25crackdown on drink and drugs.
15:27In total, 107 have been made since the start of the month.
15:31Here's just a couple.
16:01And Kent Police's campaign will continue into the Christmas period as well.
16:14Now to sport, and Mark Bonner's side have gone two wins from two in League Two after
16:19a difficult winless period, and with the World Darts Championship underway in London, there's
16:23plenty of Kent names to be looking out for.
16:25So ahead of a brand new episode of Invicta Sport, as always, on a Monday, the show's
16:29producer Bartholomew joins me in the studio.
16:32Bartholomew, does this mean Gillingham are back to winning ways?
16:35Well, on paper, yes, absolutely.
16:37They are now two wins from two.
16:39As you said, MK Dons in this game had 77% possession.
16:43They came into the game, it was a home game for MK Dons, on a brilliant winning streak,
16:49Gillingham managed to unravel all of that.
16:51So it really shows that on their day, Gillingham can perform against some of the strongest
16:55teams in League Two.
16:56Obviously, the goal came from Robbie McKenzie, who we've got on the screen here in the studio,
17:00and there were some big saves from Glenn Morris as well.
17:03And another positive from all of this is that it means Gillingham are back climbing the
17:06table, getting closer to those playoff positions, which we know is exactly where they need to
17:10be if they want any chance at all at moving up into League One come the end of the season.
17:15They're just two points at the moment from those playoff positions.
17:17They're currently ninth in the table.
17:19And another man who's very happy is Mark Bonner.
17:21We can hear from him speaking after that match now.
17:23Yeah, I hope they get the credit they deserve today, because they've had some pelters thrown
17:28at them recently.
17:29But the last two games have been brilliant in terms of the commitment to the game, the
17:33effort in the game.
17:34It's a massive win that away wins are hard to come by, clean sheets are hard to come
17:39by.
17:40We're doing very well in that regard, clean sheet wise.
17:42Gillingham manager Mark Bonner there, but the Darts Championship, it's back.
17:46Who do we need to be looking out for?
17:47Yeah, there's lots of Kent names to be looking out for.
17:49On the screen here, we've got Ross Smith from Dover.
17:52He's one of Kent's best, highest performing players at the moment.
17:56Obviously, we've got Rob Cross, who's a former world champion.
17:58Yeah, lots of names on the board to be looking out for.
18:01But another one everybody's going to be talking about this year is, of course, Luke Littler
18:04after getting all the way to the final in his debut season, in his debut championship
18:09last year.
18:10Only 16 years old, getting all the way to the final, doing so well.
18:14He's kind of had a massive boost for the sport this year.
18:17Lots of young people wanting to follow in his footsteps.
18:19I've been talking to the East Kent Academy owner, who is Andy Davis.
18:26He spoke to me earlier.
18:27We'll be talking, you can hear from him, on Invicta Sport, which is coming up after the
18:31break.
18:32We talked all about some of those tips for parents who want to get their youngsters involved
18:34in darts.
18:35Luke Littler sort of made darts really cool, didn't he?
18:39It sort of was up and coming, and it's meant a lot of children want to get into the sport
18:43as well.
18:44So lots more on that very quickly.
18:45In a line, what's coming up on Invicta Sport other than darts?
18:48Other than darts, we'll be talking Medway Sports Awards.
18:50Jennifer Barker, who won the Unsung Hero Award for all her work she does with the Medway
18:55Roller Dance Club, will be here in the studio to talk all about it.
18:58Exciting stuff, as always, on a Monday in Invicta Sport, right after Kent tonight.
19:02Bartholomew, thank you very much.
19:03Now it's time to take a very quick look at the weather.
19:12This evening it's looking like clear skies in Margate and Dover, clouds towards Dartford
19:15and Medway in the West Ashford.
19:18It will warm up tomorrow morning, reaching 10 degrees over in Canterbury.
19:23Some cloudy weather though across the county.
19:25The sun does not want to come out.
19:27Into the evening, wind speeds pick up to around 14mph.
19:30Temperatures stay relatively similar between 9 and 10 there.
19:34Wednesday expects some rain, but with the highest temperatures of 14.
19:37Sunny on Thursday, make the most of it.
19:39The cloud returns on Friday.
19:48And now, an animal sanctuary near Sittingbourne is trying to raise a quarter of a million
19:52pounds for a new home, following an almost four-year battle with Swell Council to stay
19:57on their current land.
19:59Happy Pants Ranch looks after around 450 animals with a wide range of disabilities.
20:04Volunteers say it would take years to re-home them all.
20:08The council says the land needs to be formally changed from agricultural to animal rescue,
20:13and handed them a nine-month eviction notice.
20:16Henry Luck has more.
20:18The Happy Pants Ranch near Sittingbourne looks after more than 450 rescue animals who have
20:25nowhere to go.
20:27But following an eviction notice given by Swell Council, the animal sanctuary is racing
20:34to raise enough money to move to a new location following a failed appeal earlier this month.
20:42They've been in a three-year battle with Swell Council to formally change the use of land
20:47from agricultural to animal rescue.
21:17Unfortunately, not a good relationship whatsoever.
21:20The forever home is completely independent and run by volunteers.
21:26Oh, we're devastated.
21:29Don't understand why it's happening.
21:32Seems to be no real reason for it.
21:34We're in the middle of the countryside here, as you can see.
21:37Not disturbing anybody, not doing any harm.
21:41We don't understand it, quite honestly.
21:44Explaining why it has taken eviction action, Swell Council said the Happy Pants Ranch
21:50applied for retrospective planning approval in 2021, and this was rejected.
21:57A planning enforcement notice was issued in 2022 to rectify these breaches.
22:03The notice was appealed, and it was dismissed.
22:06The enforcement notice requires that the mixed use of the sites stops, and that the land
22:13needs to be restored to its original condition before the breaches took place.
22:19Now, the sounds of all the animals behind me here at the Happy Pants Ranch in Newington
22:24near Sittingbourne is soon to be no more, as they've just been given a nine-month eviction
22:30notice.
22:32Now, they're trying to raise £250,000 to be able to relocate.
22:39Amy has set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds which will allow the Happy Pants Ranch to
22:45find a new location.
22:48She doesn't know where she will go yet, but she firmly believes home is where the
22:53animals are.
22:55Henry Luck for KMTV.
22:59And now some very special Christmas magic from our sister station at KMFM.
23:04They've been working away like elves to deliver toys and presents to children in
23:07hospital ahead of Christmas.
23:09Today, they've counted up and released the total from their Give A Gift campaign.
23:13More than 16,200 toys were shared out across Kent to multiple charities.
23:19So let's hear from some of them now about exactly what it means to those young people.
23:23But first, here's KMFM's Rob and Noomi.
23:26One month ago, we asked you, our amazing KMFM listeners, to help us support children in
23:31care, hospital and challenging circumstances right here in Kent.
23:35And you delivered.
23:37You actually delivered thousands of toys to us here at KMFM HQ, and it was amazing
23:42to say hi and welcome you to the studios.
23:44Those of you that couldn't get to us dug deep and helped us raise over £12,500 on
23:49our Just Giving page, which Smith Toys then added even more to.
23:53We took over a whole office floor, and as a team, we sorted the gifts into age and ability
23:59ready to deliver to our 20 locations.
24:01We can now tell you how many toys we were able to donate thanks to your help.
24:05And that number is 16,200 toys.
24:10Being in hospital is really boring and actually a bit scary, and we want to do everything
24:15possible to make sure that the children in our hospitals have the best Christmas possible.
24:19We're going to put an extra big smile on the faces of all the children who live with
24:23us over the Christmas period here at the Caldercott Foundation.
24:27They literally will mean the world.
24:29Some children have bled domestic abuse, and they don't have any toys at all.
24:34So the toys are going to go out to across Kent to our young carers who are aged 5 to
24:3818 and are supporting somebody at home who's got a disability, long-term health condition,
24:42mental health issues, substance misuse.
24:44Childhood cancer is out there.
24:46You know, every 10 minutes a child is being diagnosed.
24:49It is truly, truly awful.
24:52But in all the darkness, there are some absolute magical memories and things that we can do
24:58to make a difference and really support families.
25:00These are going to our Kenton Cancer Free Children's Assessment Centre.
25:04It's Dolphin Ward, so they're outpatient clinics.
25:06Lots of clinics go on here.
25:07So when they're bored, waiting for their appointments,
25:09these toys are going to make a massive, massive difference.
25:12So thank you, everyone involved.
25:13We leave vulnerable families in the community, and I know that they are going to appreciate
25:17all of these gifts so much.
25:18It's going to make their Christmas.
25:19They're going to our Children's Ward for the children
25:22that are unfortunately having to be in hospital over Christmas,
25:25out to our community children's teams.
25:27There's children out in the community that we're looking after with cancer and other illnesses.
25:31On Christmas Day, it's quite upsetting.
25:34So for us to be able to give gifts out, it just brings a smile to their faces.
25:38So often families maybe just can't afford a gift,
25:41or just the fact that somebody else has shown that they care is just priceless.
25:44So thank you ever so much to everybody.
25:46Your listeners really, really have created hundreds of smiles this year.
25:54Well, lovely for all of those charities.
25:55And congratulations to the KMFM team for raising so much money
25:59and delivering so many gifts.
26:01Very special that.
26:02But finally this evening, from gift giving to winter wonderlands.
26:05Turns out Tovel's Recycling Centre may be the next best festive attraction here in Kent,
26:10proving just how wasteful we can be.
26:12In fact, at this time of year,
26:13all the decorations have been recovered from the tip by staff over the years.
26:18The centre has been popular for a while.
26:19In fact, this time last year, it was almost closed down by the council to save money.
26:24But more than 600 signatures and a strong campaign kept the local facility open.
26:29And now the only thing they're reducing is waste and recycling.
26:32Some Christmas joy this year.
26:36Maybe we'll all be going there as our next attraction.
26:39Well, you've been watching Kentonite Live here on KMTV.
26:42Of course, Invicta Sport right after this short break.
26:44Bye-bye.
26:59you