Catch up with all your latest news across the county with Cameron Tucker.
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00:30live on KMTV. I'm Cameron Tucker here are your top stories on Wednesday the 22nd
00:35of January. Not a smoking gun. Towns call for better enforcement of so-called
00:41smoke-free zones. In trying to enforce it's going to be virtually impossible so
00:45I think whoever thought of this didn't think about it. Firefighter of the future
00:50Kent Station deploys robots to fight flames. These innovative technologies
00:55could have supported the safety of our personnel. Gecko-ing, going, gone.
01:01Tunbridge Centre rescues record number of reptiles as costs bite. It's actually
01:07worth quite a lot of money they're probably worth a couple of thousand
01:09pounds.
01:19Efforts to deter smoking and vaping around young people in Kent will soon
01:24see large parts of the county become smoke-free. It comes as an estimated 10,000
01:30people in the UK die due to secondhand smoke every year. Kent County Council
01:35says public parks, high streets and outside schools could all be included
01:39but with no enforcement some fear the scheme won't have any impact.
01:44Bartholomew Hall has more. Pop down to town and the sight of people smoking or vaping
01:49around you is almost guaranteed but now Kent County Council is rolling out what
01:53it calls smoke-free spaces across the county which would see signs put up in
01:58areas such as high streets, playgrounds and outside schools to deter smoking
02:02around children and young people. Now the idea isn't to ban smoking or to
02:07introduce some sort of fine KCC simply wants to create spaces across the county
02:12where smoking tobacco or vaping isn't a common sight but just how effective
02:17could a smoke-free space be? I'm first looking at it you think it sounds a
02:22great idea but I know with smokers and things that sort of thing it does just
02:27go into the atmosphere and drifts around and and in my view something like this
02:31doesn't work unless there's enforcement so unless there's enforcement and some
02:35money put in it it just won't work and and I think in trying to enforce it's
02:40going to be virtually impossible so I think whoever thought of this didn't
02:43think about it. Kent County Council told us that smoking in areas covered by
02:47legislation such as enclosed spaces buildings or vehicles can be enforced
02:52with penalties issued but smoke-free areas in open public spaces aren't
02:57covered by that legislation meaning there won't be any enforcement so would
03:02smoke-free spaces actually stop people from smoking or simply be in name only?
03:08I don't think it'll make any difference I think even with the smoke-free areas
03:13people are still smoking and vaping in them. To be fair with you if people are
03:16gonna do it they're gonna do it aren't they? 50-50 I don't think it would to be fair.
03:22No I don't think they'll make a difference it'll be something else
03:25they'll clamp down on you know at a later point so no let them smoke.
03:31The smoke-free spaces scheme is part of almost two million pounds of funding from the
03:35government with the long-term goal of gradually increasing the minimum age to
03:39buy cigarettes before it becomes completely illegal but with more than
03:42170,000 smokers currently across Kent and Medway it's believed that helping
03:48them to give up would need to be a step beyond legislation.
03:51So you need to do the two you have to do the one thing to stop new people coming into the
03:55trap in the first place and those that are in the trap you've got to help them
03:58to freedom so just banning it just doesn't work that's where you see you
04:01know actually hardened smokers who will sit there in the pouring rain and still
04:04have a cigarette outside because you know they're addicted but they need to
04:08have that fixed they can't understand that they can't find their way out of
04:11that trap. But with the immediate hope of stubbing out secondhand smoke Kent
04:16County Council hopes smoke-free spaces will turn out to be more than just a lot
04:21of hot air. Bartholomew Hall for KMTV.
04:26It's KMTV's health expert Dr. Julian Spinks here to tell us a little bit more.
04:30Julian you were just telling me in the break smoking cessation was your first sort of
04:35branch into media and medicine. Tell us a little bit how the conversation has
04:41maybe changed and kind of the media around smoking cessation since those
04:45days. The first thing is we've been incredibly successful in the UK in
04:49reducing the number of people smoking and it's had an impact on cancer rates
04:54and on heart disease rates and so on and then things have shifted towards trying
04:59to prevent people from having passive smoking effects and this is what this is
05:03all about at the moment. It comes down to there not being a safe lower limit for
05:08smoking and passive smoking is just a lower thing so you get the same diseases
05:13just at a lower rate. And you know I remember when it went out of the pubs and
05:18that was obviously a big story this obviously coming in as well. Is there any
05:22evidence that smoke-free zones actually work? Well all we know is from when we've
05:27actually done things like stopping it in pubs, stopping it indoors in public
05:31buildings and so on. It has made a difference and there are some things
05:35particularly in children asthma and ear infections anything like that can have a
05:39very rapid response because the irritation of the smoke can set off that
05:42asthma. And we're going to come to you for another medical story in just a few
05:47moments time with new data that's just been found that hospitals in Kent have
05:51paid out £64 million in cerebral palsy medical negligence claims since 2019.
05:57NHS figures show 15 cases have been settled in the county in the last five
06:02years for delayed treatment, failures to monitor foetal heart rates and managing
06:07second-stage labour. Medway NHS Foundation Trust has paid out the
06:11highest amount out of all the county's trusts totaling more than £28 million.
06:16The severity of cerebral palsy can vary and is usually caused by a
06:20problem during pregnancy but can also result from damage to the brain during
06:25or just after birth. The trust have apologised to families and say they're
06:29working to improve the standard of care. More detail on those stories can be
06:34found on Kent online. Julian, Medway, that huge amount, £28 million.
06:39Why Medway? Why has that been so prevalent here? I think all hospitals of the
06:45maternity unit will have some of these cases unfortunately. Where there is
06:49pressure on systems or not enough staff then there's a bigger danger that the
06:53monitoring that's needed particularly during labour will not happen and if the
06:58baby then is not spotted to be having distress, not getting enough oxygen and
07:02so on and urgent things done to actually deliver that baby then there's this
07:06danger of permanent brain damage which causes sort of motor problems,
07:11potentially have them in a wheelchair, may not actually affect their intellect
07:15and so it's pretty devastating and because of the amount of care and damage
07:19that it does then the payouts are extremely high. Well you know we heard
07:23about 15 cases there. How often do these cases happen? Well if you look at the
07:29number of births it's actually a relatively uncommon thing but it is so
07:34devastating and many of these cases are preventable as long as you spot the
07:39problem and take appropriate action and clearly where the courts can prove that
07:44that wasn't the case then you end up with compensation. Julian, thank you very
07:49much for coming in with both of those stories and look forward to seeing you
07:52next week with more. Now in other news, a leisure centre that suddenly shut last
07:57year in Folkestone will finally reopen. Folkestone Sports Centre closed its
08:02doors and left 144 people without a job back in July. The charity running it said
08:08they couldn't afford to keep it open. There were concerns from locals that it
08:12would be demolished and turned into new homes but this week administrator Opus
08:17Restructuring told us a buyer had been secured. While details remain
08:21undisclosed at this time, local MP Tony Vaughan said residents are very happy to
08:25welcome it back into the community after months of campaigning. Diffusing bombs,
08:32exploring space and even making food. Robots have been used for years here in
08:37Kent but now they're rolling in to put out fires too. Kent Fire and Rescue
08:42Service have introduced robotic assistants using specially designed
08:46machines to tackle fires in situations that are deemed too hazardous for humans.
08:50But how reliable is the new and pricey kit? Our reporter Kristen Hawthorne went
08:55to find out. From fighting fires to dragging victims to safety, this robot is
09:00Kent Fire and Rescue's latest recruit. The idea for this equipment is that it
09:05will be able to access and extinguish fires in areas that are too dangerous or
09:09difficult for firefighters to reach, keeping crews safer and freeing up
09:14resources for other emergencies. It can even shoot 2,000 litres of water per
09:19minute which is more than double what the hoses can spray. But how reliable is
09:24this technology that uses a PlayStation controller? So the robot itself has got
09:29lots of redundancy built in. I think it's the first thing to be aware of in
09:33that there's lots of different capabilities that allow it to be a
09:37resilient piece of equipment. The second is, as you say, it does use a PlayStation
09:42controller. That can be easily replaced and swapped out so if needed we could
09:47use a PlayStation from somebody's one at home and use that as part of the robot.
09:52During testing they monitor the robot to see if it can withstand extreme heat.
09:57They also practiced its capabilities to see if it worked and so far they seem to
10:02be pleased with the outcome. It's got a 2,000 litre per minute monitor on it
10:07which is a lot of water and it's able to be moved and relocated remotely so
10:13200-300 metres away depending on the radio signal. It's also got a full optic
10:17capability and a full thermal imagery capability which allows us to
10:22understand how hot a fire is burning and where to apply water in certain situations.
10:27Currently trained on how to use it are six members of the firefighting team who
10:31hope to benefit from the new addition. There's many instances that we would
10:35attend. Chemical incidents where we gather information without committing crews or
10:40just firefighting within a large commercial premise like a warehouse
10:45would be an ideal situation to use the robot. It's got the ability to attach gas
10:50monitors to it so we can survey the atmosphere within the area which
10:57is great and we've got a camera which has got good optical and thermal
11:02capabilities with also communication systems as well so we can give
11:06instruction to people within the area. As testing and demonstrations continue
11:11Kent Fire and Rescue are preparing to use the bot in real-life situations. If
11:16it works the future of firefighting may look much different than it does today.
11:20Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV in Ramsgate. Time for a quick break now but coming up
11:28we hear from homeowners in Allington who've forked out tens of
11:32thousands of pounds on blockages, leaks and even waste over spills. Management
11:37companies say they've done everything by the book and will help where they can
11:41but it's left residents out of pocket. We'll also have the latest from Kent
11:46online and more about reptiles in Tunbridge. All that to look forward to
11:50after this short break.
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15:14Welcome back to Kent Tonight live on KMTV. Tired and sick of the financial
15:20burden, Allington residents have expressed their deep frustration with an
15:24ongoing sewage problem. Clarendon Homes who previously managed the site however
15:28say they installed everything correctly and that it's down to residents to solve
15:33any issues which have arisen. Our reporter Rebecca Chapman has the story.
15:37Local residents in Allington say they're tired after spending more than £50,000
15:42dealing with constant sewage blockages, leaks and waste over spills. Clarendon
15:47Homes, the developers that built the properties, insist that everything had
15:50been installed correctly and weren't aware of any issues until recently. The
15:54responsibility for the sewage system had been passed on to residents after
15:57the final property was sold, however they believe that this should have been
16:00adopted by Southern Water. They even paid for an investigation into the sewage
16:04system that reveals 290 meters of incorrectly laid pipework. Clarendon
16:09Homes took out a 10-year policy that covers building defects but the
16:13insurance company said communal sewers are not included in their policy. We are
16:17in a position where we're having to organise tankers to manually remove
16:24sewage otherwise sewage spills over. When it feels too high you can smell it all
16:32around the area. That's costing us £2,800 a month split between nine
16:37residents so you can imagine the financial burden this is placing on us
16:42and it's a huge stress. In a statement from Clarendon Homes they said we are
16:47aware of this situation, we installed everything correctly and to our
16:51knowledge it has been working correctly for over seven years until recently. We
16:55will assist residents where possible in trying to resolve the issue if they
16:58wish to make contact with us. Residents are still waiting for the issue to be
17:02resolved. Just desperate to get the issues resolved but there just doesn't
17:06seem to be any light at the tunnel. Rebecca Chapman for KMTV. More on that
17:11story over on Kent Online but don't forget you can keep up to date with all
17:15your latest video stories across Kent by looking on to our website kmtv.co.uk
17:20There you'll find all our reports including this one about a chippy in
17:24Ramsgate up for multiple National Awards. Our reporter Finn had no chip on his
17:28shoulder when he put his frying skills to the test. Can you tell me what your
17:32favourite takeaway is? Yeah my favourite takeaway, I'm very old-fashioned I'm afraid,
17:36fish and chips. Has to be. On the seaside? Oh come on. I love fish and chips, yeah.
17:41Fish and chips is probably my favourite. Along Kent's coast the answer is obvious, fish is king but not
17:48everyone agrees. To be honest it's a fish supper but only in Glasgow, not in
17:53Canterbury or Kent or Whitstable or anywhere else but yeah that's what it is.
17:57So how do you determine where the best cod is cooked, the chips chopped and had
18:02it heated? It's sort of like the Oscars for chippies called the National Fish
18:06and Chip Awards and Newington Fish Bar in Ramsgate is one of the last three in
18:10the race for the quality accreditation champion. It's meant to recognise fish
18:15and chip shops that have higher standards and seek to improve the
18:18quality of their food and the owner of the fish bar Nigel says that the greasy
18:22unhealthy reputation that chip shops have is something he wants to get rid of.
18:27Well we're in the National Fish and Chip Awards which is run by the National
18:32Federation of Fish Fryers, they've been the custodians of this award for quite a
18:35few years now and we have reached the top three category in field to fryer and
18:42quality accreditation champion. There's 13 categories all together and also the
18:47main big one is to take away the year which we've managed to get to a top 20
18:51place out of the 10,000 shops in the country that are eligible to enter so we feel
18:56quite pleased we've done rather well. Nigel suggested I pick up a spatula and
18:59give it a go but I was a little nervous as my pot noodle cooking skills probably
19:04weren't going to help me here. Well in order to make some good fish I'm gonna
19:09have to be well-dressed for the occasion I'm gonna see if I can make some
19:12award-winning fish of my own. Taking some of the fish and putting it in the batter
19:17I've been warned to not let the oil bite me on the way down, apparently you've got to go
19:21really close to the oil so here we go and it wouldn't be proper fish and chips
19:26without obviously the chips so I've got my chips from my bucket and same deal
19:30with the oil just need to pour it in here. There we go. Now I'm quite scared of
19:38the oil but we're gonna do our best so make sure they don't overcook, take them
19:43out. I'm not very good at this bit. I've got most of them, I've got most of them in.
19:50Now I've had a go at making my own fish and chips and I thought I did pretty well
19:54but I'm being told that there's a piece here that just could be used a bit
19:57longer in the oil but you know for my first time I think it was alright. In the
20:01end Nigel gave my fish a 3 out of 5 so no awards for me.
20:05Finn McDermid for KMTV in Ramsgate. I think Finn should stick to the day job
20:11and now Storm Aylwin is set to hit Kent a little earlier than expected. Today a
20:17new alert has been issued coming into force tomorrow at 7 in the morning and
20:21will be lifted at 6 in the evening. The southeastern coast will get heavy rain
20:25and wind speeds upwards of 30 miles per hour so let's take a look at the full
20:30forecast. Tonight it'll be misty across the county. Temperatures at a low of 3
20:40degrees in and around Canterbury and Ashford. Tomorrow morning we have that
20:44yellow weather warning for wind as the storm begins and Dover will see heavy
20:48rainfall. That yellow warning will really come into effect in the afternoon. Wind
20:52speeds around 20 miles an hour across the county. Heavy rain temperatures going
20:57to around 7 degrees and that will be the similar story for the rest of the
21:00weekend. 8 degrees, lots of rain on Friday, 6 degrees and lots of rain on Sunday.
21:05The saying is a dog's not just for Christmas but a Tunbridge charity have
21:15told us the saying is also true for reptiles. The National Centre for Reptile
21:20Welfare have warned people to avoid taking on these pets if they can't
21:25afford to look after them. As they're more exotic animals something like a
21:29snake, gecko or lizard could cost you up to £15 a week just to keep them warm.
21:34The charity has seen record numbers of reptiles being handed in because of
21:39rising costs as we discovered. The National Centre of Reptile Welfare in
21:44Tunbridge rescued twice as many animals in the last year as people are
21:47increasingly unable to afford the expense of pets. The main driving force
21:50at the moment is economics. People are really struggling to pay their bills.
21:54Reptiles are not necessarily the cheapest animal to look after with your
21:57heating and your lighting and people are really struggling. We asked Chris to show
22:01us some animals that have been donated in the past year. So Barney came in last
22:06year now. So he's a giant gecko from New Caledonia. He and his wife came in
22:11because his owner was really struggling with various issues shall we say. He's
22:16actually worth quite a lot of money. They're probably worth a couple of
22:18thousand pounds but again it was a classic situation. His circumstances have
22:23changed. He really wasn't able to look after it. Last year was a really
22:26challenging year for us. The year before we had 2,600 animals come through the
22:30door. Last year we had 4,200 so that was a really significant increase. With so
22:36many new arrivals space is becoming scarce within the centre forcing
22:39volunteers to squeeze the animals into closer quarters. Snakes we always assume
22:43would be not social animals. Unfortunately due to circumstances we
22:47just had so many in recently we are actually having some of these keep two
22:52snakes in a box. We spoke with exotic animal charity Born Free about the
22:58impacts of the cost-of-living crisis. You certainly see a lot more news stories
23:04recently about animals being abandoned. Animals which require heating and
23:11humidity and all things like that. As soon as the costs of those resources go
23:17up it's going to put a pressure on people who are keeping these animals.
23:21Well the most important thing if you're thinking of taking a pet on and it
23:24doesn't matter whether it's a reptile, amphibian, cat, dog, donkey, do your
23:28research first. Work out exactly how much it's going to cost and importantly how
23:31long the animals going to live and take those into consideration.
23:34And finally from Kent's countywide celebrations for Chinese New Year to the
23:44best places to view snowdrops and to grab a cup of coffee. Tim Forster joined
23:48me with a roundup of what's on in the county. Okay so Tim, amazing picture here
23:54going into a very auspicious time of year. Chinese New Year just around the
23:58corner. How can those in Kent celebrate this amazing event? Well yes this year is
24:032025 is officially the Year of the Snake which apparently favours intelligence,
24:07prosperity and resourcefulness. Definitely not a year that I was born in
24:11then. But at the beginning of February on the 1st, that's Saturday, coming to
24:16Maidstone Jubilee Square there's going to be a big big celebration of Chinese
24:20culture in general and the Lunar New Year of course. It will begin with
24:25the eye-dotting ceremony where it's a ritual marking of the dragon's eye
24:29to awaken its spirit. It will then be dancing and romping just through the
24:32streets of Maidstone and there'll be street performances and food and
24:38it'll just be a fantastic day. Yeah they're always a real sight to
24:41behold. I grew up in that part of the world, grew up in Hong Kong so saw my fair share of
24:45Chinese New Year, lion dances, dragon dances. Absolutely amazing so definitely get out
24:49and check those out this coming weekend. Now talking about this sort of
24:54awakening, this new changing of the seasons, we know that spring's a
25:00long way off but snowdrops often signalling that change of season into
25:06spring, some of them already popping up across the county. Yes so as you say
25:10snowdrops, they're a sign that the gardens are just starting to wake up
25:13from their winter slumber and of course they're beautiful here in Kent
25:17where I mean we are the Garden of Kent so it's just wonderful to see them
25:21across so many places and under the National Garden Scheme of course you can
25:26go out and you can visit these places like there's Copternash and
25:29Fathersham, Doddington Place and Sittingbourne where they just have
25:34carpets of just beautiful flowers, woodland areas where you can just go and
25:38walk and just take time to yourself to enjoy the beauty of this
25:41county. So what's a good weekend out and about for you Tim, where in the
25:45county do you like to head? Just anywhere really from between the
25:48Canterbury area and Whitstable, just that long walk through the fields, through the
25:51flowers, just take in nature, take time and just relax.
25:55Absolutely now it's warming up slightly, even better for going out for
25:59that as well. Now the final story you've got, Kent Online have been looking at some of
26:03the go-to coffee shops in the county, tell us a little bit about some of those
26:08that have made the list. Yes so as you say in the winter it's always nice to
26:12stave off the cold weather with a hot cup of coffee. Places like Corner Cafe
26:17in Deel, Homefront Tea Room in Ramsgate and Nicky D's in Lyd, these have all
26:22made the list and they're good for a nice staff, a nice chance to
26:27just have a hot drink, get away from your troubles, get away from the
26:31hustle and bustle of city life and just just sit down and relax. Absolutely and
26:35obviously a very extensive list there so all our viewers can can check those out.
26:40Always good to support local. Tim thank you very much for coming in. Thank you very
26:43much. You've been watching Kentonite Live on KMTV, we'll be back with more tomorrow.
26:49Goodbye.