Catch up with all the latest news from across the county with Abby Hook.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV. I'm Cameron Tucker and here are your top stories
00:27on Wednesday the 5th of February.
00:29Devolution derailed. Local elections to go ahead as planned with Kent removed from local
00:35authority shake-up.
00:36What we have at the moment is an outcome that lets down, badly lets down our 1.9 million
00:44residents.
00:45Busted, drugs seized, weapons recovered and seven arrests across East Kent in major police
00:50raid.
00:51The arrests today and the seizures would have made a significant impact. The activities
00:55and the abilities for this organised crime group to operate.
00:59And do you feel better in the morning? Scientists claim we're all in our best moods in the early
01:04hours but how true is that for Rochester shoppers?
01:07I'm happier in the mornings I think when it's nice and fresh, get up, have my breakfast,
01:13have a walk, go and see the cathedral.
01:24Elections for Kent and Medway to be amongst the first local authorities to be given devolved
01:29powers have ground to a halt.
01:31Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner confirmed earlier today Kent would no longer be part
01:35of the government's fast-track scheme.
01:37The change would have seen the abolition of all 14 of Kent's councils with the leader
01:42of KCC saying residents have been let down.
01:46Local Democracy reporter Gabriel Morris has more.
01:49The talk of County Hall for the last few months.
01:52Everyone thought the area would be amongst the first to go through devolution. Today's
01:57announcement means those sweeping changes won't happen so fast.
02:02What I understand is that this was to do with Kent and Medway being authorities of very
02:08different size and the question of how we could manage a mayoral authority under these
02:14circumstances. It's very hard to make much sense of that. What we have at the moment
02:21is an outcome that lets down, badly lets down our 1.9 million residents.
02:28Across Kent there are currently 14 councils, 12 districts, the County Council and Medway
02:35which sits alone.
02:38Devolution plans would see all those abolished replaced with three to four smaller authorities
02:43doing the jobs of both upper-tier and lower-tier councils with an elected mayor like that of
02:48Manchester or London sitting above calling for shots.
02:52Do you feel let down by Labour?
02:55I feel frustrated today by the system and yeah it is regrettable. Of course by the nature
03:00of having a process of this nature it means not everyone can be a priority place, I get
03:05that. We've been given very encouraging words, support by central government and civil servants
03:10who actively encouraged to apply for this process. We did that. We worked across party,
03:17across 14 councils so it is deeply disappointing with the decision we've got to today.
03:23Kent will be one of the only counties in the region not going forward with devolution.
03:28Essex and the Sussexes will now both be on the priority programme. Veteran MP Sir Roger
03:33Gale fears Kent councils could be left like a lame duck.
03:38I don't see any lame duck local authorities out there. I see local authorities of all
03:42political persuasions that are delivering vital public services that are felt absolutely
03:47pillared by the previous government and I see a government now determined to change
03:52that.
03:55For councils on the priority list, elections postponed. Kent could have faced the same
04:00fate so today good news for those fiercely opposed.
04:05We think this is a really good day for democracy. We were really concerned that people were
04:09going to be making decisions over the long term future for Kent and people whose term
04:14of office would have effectively expired and therefore they would have had no democratic
04:18mandate to do so.
04:20So in a little less than three months' time all 81 seats at KCC will be up for election.
04:27Most people, most councillors, didn't expect that so it's going to be a busy three months
04:33for the parties.
04:34Gabriel's here with us now. So Kent getting kicked down the road with this is it?
04:40It does seem like it and the simple answer to this is we don't know when the evolution
04:45will take place for Kent.
04:46The original plan would have seen that starting next year with the election of a mayor we
04:51think and then the unitaries the year after.
04:53So some might say let that happen for the councils today who have been put on the priority
04:58programme and then see how that goes, if things need to be reshaped in the process.
05:03So some people might be saying next decade but the simple answer is we don't know.
05:06This does put the councils into a difficult position. I was talking to the leaders on
05:11Medway and Kent County Council earlier. They've got a budget, next week they'll be deciding
05:14on their budget for the next year. That's fine, that's dealt with, they've got that
05:18sorted. But they've now got the situation where they don't know how long they've got
05:22a budget for. I was speaking to the leader of Kent County Council earlier about this.
05:28Financial challenges which face local government have not gone away. So either way we will
05:33have to keep addressing that. What is less clear is what the medium term outlook is now
05:39because under the devolution priority programme there was a clear timeline for taking on both
05:45mayoral devolution and also reorganisation of local government.
05:50At the moment there is a general national direction of travel about reorganisation but
05:55the timelines are very unclear and I think we have to look at everything in the light
06:00of what we understand at the moment about this decision.
06:04So emotions seem to be quite high on this. Why has there been such a push for devolution?
06:10I think at the moment for most parts of Kent other than Medway you have two councils. You
06:16pay one council tax and some of that goes to what's called a lower tier council. So
06:20if you live in Maidstone that will go to Maidstone Borough Council. They're in charge of keeping
06:24litter off the high street and collecting your bins. Whereas as Kent County Council
06:28which is the upper tier, they're in charge of keeping highways like potholes and adult
06:32social care. Now the issue is there's a lot of joined up thinking between that and the
06:37fear is if you put them all into one house it would be cheaper and more efficient.
06:41It's been a rollercoaster couple of weeks with this. I'm sure there will be more to
06:44come. Gabriel thank you very much. In other news a man who hid a pistol in his sock as
06:49he was searched by Kent Police in Maidstone has been sent to prison.
06:55What's that? That's a gun. Gun!
07:04Daniel Bryan was travelling from Brixton to the Kent town when the car he was driving
07:09was pulled over by officers. On screen you can see the moment the gun was discovered.
07:14Tests later revealed it was a modified starter pistol capable of firing live rounds. The
07:1930 year old was charged with possession of a prohibited firearm but despite denying the
07:23offence was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
07:28An endangered leopard well known to visitors at a Kent animal park has died at the age
07:32of 18. Sion has been described as a wonderful character by keepers at Howlett's Wild Animal
07:38Park. The North Chinese leopard moved to the sanctuary in 2008 after previously living
07:44at a park in France. The breed is listed as endangered due to the threat of poaching.
07:49In a statement the park said he was a wonderful, regal character whose calm demeanour will
07:54be sorely missed by the keepers and visitors.
07:59Next tonight with more than 700,000 women across Kent and the rest of the UK set to
08:04take part in a groundbreaking new AI based breast cancer screening, questions are being
08:09raised about how much we're relying on the new technology in our healthcare sector. Well
08:14with more on this and the rest of today's health headlines including why the government
08:18is preparing for the possibility of another pandemic, here's Dr. Julian Spinks.
08:31So Julian let's start with this AI based breast cancer screening, what does it all mean?
08:37Well it's been tried before and what they're doing is normally if you go and have a mammogram
08:42breast screening there are two specialists look at the actual images that have been produced.
08:48In this case they're going to use AI to replace one of those doctors and they're comparing
08:52a whole series of different AI's to see which is the most reliable. Previous studies have
08:56suggested it is as good as having two humans and of course it cuts down the number of people
09:01who need to do scans, you can do more scans with the same number of staff.
09:05But there's always, and this has always come up about you know with data leaks etc, there's
09:09always a fear about how much people's personal medical data is then given over to technology
09:15and to AI in this situation. Is that, are we relying too much on technology in the health
09:19sector or should we embrace it more?
09:21I think we've got to embrace it more but we have to be mindful that for example data is
09:26stored in a really secure way, particularly with on-site storage. But there are opportunities
09:32here and certainly the evidence is showing that we might be able to do more work with
09:36the same number of staff, which has got to be a good idea.
09:39Now that other story that we were talking about, government has announced it's going
09:41to take part in a full multi-day pandemic preparedness exercise later this year, so
09:48war gaming in case of another pandemic. Is this a sign of learning lessons from what
09:55happened a few years ago?
09:57I definitely think it's the case and there was a previous war game. Unfortunately they
10:02didn't actually learn the lessons from it, they didn't put in the recommendations and
10:05we were caught on the hop when COVID came along. We never know when another virus is
10:09going to appear, we worry about things like bird flu and so we've got to have things ready
10:14and in place and people knowing what they need to do when the outbreak happens. Hopefully
10:18it never comes but almost certainly there's a risk it will happen in the future.
10:22So how does, you know, how does what is learnt from this war game, how does that then translate
10:28into legislation, into that preparedness and how are policy makers held to account to make
10:34those changes happen?
10:35Well an example is we were caught on the hop with protective equipment, masks and gowns
10:40and gloves and so on. So hopefully they'll get a good amount there and just most importantly
10:45it's rather like a rehearsal of a play, everyone knows what their part is so when they have
10:50to do it in real life they can slip into it rather than having to sort of make it up as
10:54they go along.
10:55Now with, you know, going back looking at the COVID and we see that now masks are very
11:00much part of, you know, commonly seen around, is it still for you on the front line, is
11:09it still something that you see as COVID still got that same impetus that it did a few years
11:13ago to self-isolate, to wear masks, to take the jabs, is that impetus still there?
11:18Well we've had the famous quademic which is flu and COVID and RSV and then another one
11:26and basically masks will protect against that. We discovered during COVID whilst they weren't
11:31so good at COVID they were really good at preventing flu so it is worthwhile and the
11:35practices I'm in we actually recommend people wear masks when they're in the practice because
11:39they're more likely to meet people who are infective.
11:41Julian, as ever, thank you so much for coming in, we'll see you next week but that's all
11:45for this part of the show, we'll be back in a few moments time, goodbye.
14:55Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight live on KMTV. Seven people have been arrested on
15:15suspicion of being part of a drug dealing network across Kent. It comes as we've been
15:20shown behind the scenes footage of raids on seven houses across Dover, Deal, Fannett
15:25and Aylsham in the early hours of this morning, including the moment an officer was bitten
15:29by an XL bully dog. Our reporter Bartholomew Hall joins me with more now. Bartholomew what
15:35can you tell us about this raid?
15:36Well this is all part of a four month long investigation by Kent Police where they were
15:40led to believe this drug supply operation, this drug supply network rather, had been
15:45set up in the east of Kent. Our cameras were taken to a secret location in the early hours
15:51of this morning before being taken to some of these raids in places like Deal, Dover,
15:56Fannett and Aylsham where seven properties had warrants issued against them. As well
16:01as finding class A drugs and sniffer dogs were taken to these properties, officers also
16:06seized 25 different devices, that includes laptops, tablets, mobile phones but they also
16:12found some weapons, multiple zombie knives were seized from the properties as well. Now
16:18we don't know yet about the street value of any of the cash that was also taken or the
16:22drugs that were taken but you can see from these pictures some of the real life things
16:28that those raid officers do get up to. We can hear now from Detective Inspector Eleanor
16:33Miller speaking after the operation today.
16:35This is a development of work over the last four months, building up intelligence and
16:42information on a particular organised crime group that are significant in the selling
16:47of class A drugs in the east of the county. The arrest today and the seizures would have
16:53made a significant impact on this, the activities and the abilities for this organised crime
16:59group to operate.
17:02Detective Inspector Eleanor Miller there. Like you said, quite a dramatic morning including
17:06an incident with an Excel bully.
17:08Yes, that's right. There was an incident at one of the properties this morning where an
17:12officer was bitten by a dog which was later confirmed to be an Excel bully. We know, of
17:17course, we've been reporting on it for almost a year now, that Excel bully dogs are banned
17:20in England. This one was exempt, it had an exemption certificate and wasn't seized by
17:26police. The officer wasn't actually injured from being bitten so we're told that dog is
17:31still with its owner at the moment.
17:33Now in terms of arrests throughout the operation this morning, six men and one woman
17:38aged between 21 and 51 were arrested on suspicion of various offences and all of those still
17:44remain in custody as we speak.
17:46Artholomew, thank you very much for coming in. Now you can keep up to date with all your
17:52latest stories across Kent by logging on to our website kmtv.co.uk. There you'll find
17:58all our reports, including this one about residents at a Chatham housing estate demanding
18:02more transparency from their management company.
18:06Rotting balconies, rusted wash lines, overgrown trees. This is the experience for 19 flats
18:14here on Armada Way, who as a collective paid tens of thousands of pounds in maintenance
18:20charges to estate management company First Port.
18:24OK, this area here, please be careful if you come in because the roots are coming out down
18:31the bottom there and you could easily trip. Bit of health and safety issue there.
18:36Phil Rice has lived on Armada Way for three decades and has seen these estate charges
18:42go up dramatically, rising from £30,000 to £41,000 over the last three years. But despite
18:52the fact he forks out around £2,000 a year on keeping the estate in shape, he doesn't
18:59know a detailed breakdown of where the money is going or how much is being spent to tackle
19:06his concerns.
19:07I feel ripped off and so do the rest of the residents. We wouldn't have had to pay the
19:12£2,000 if the estate had been managed properly from day one. We don't know how much we'd
19:18be in charge for guttering as opposed to what we'd be in charge for, say for example, fixing
19:25an electricity box. So there is no oversight into what our money is being spent on.
19:32A spokesperson for the management company told KMTV that ensuring their developments
19:38are safe and well maintained is a top priority, as is delivering a service that reflects value
19:45for money. And tackling overgrown trees being a main reason why charges have gone up.
19:51This isn't an isolated case. First Port manages 300,000 properties across the UK and dozens
20:01of MPs wrote to the company last year over what they described as rip-off fees. Now the
20:08Labour MP for Dartford is going further, calling for a fully accountable process to better
20:14protect those living on estates like a Marder Way.
20:18To have a much tighter legal framework, we'll be in that legislation and we'll be able to
20:23use that going forward to make sure First Port perform better. And personally, one change
20:28that I think would be really important that I'm really pressing for is an ombudsman who
20:33can adjudicate where the managing agents have done their job and where they haven't, ensure
20:38that restitution is made for the resident who's been affected by that.
20:43But that may be cold comfort for those who already feel exploited. Oliver leads us astax
20:50for KMTV in Chatham.
20:53Now it's time to take a quick look at the weather.
20:58Tonight it's looking like some clouds in Dover. Mostly clear, moonlit skies. Temperatures
21:05of around four and five degrees into tomorrow morning. Varying temperatures across the county.
21:10Highs of seven on the east side. Partly cloudy weather across the board. And in the afternoon,
21:15some similar weather. Wind speeds picking up to 30 miles per hour. An average temperature
21:19of seven and eight across the county for the rest of the week. Six degrees across. Rainy
21:24on Friday. Not a sunny day in sight for the weekend.
21:37Next wedding venue disasters. Incredible sporting feats. And apparently it's been scientifically
21:41proven that more people are happy in the morning. Kaiwei joins me now with all of this. Kai,
21:48let's start with your first story. A bit of a wedding disaster that's happened.
21:52It's been a rough couple of weeks for a wedding venue in Westgate-on-Sea. St. Augustine's,
21:58which is usually classed as quite a luxury venue, has been cancelling a lot of recent
22:02events, including weddings. This is because they've been dealing with a lot of financial
22:07issues recently. So now we just have a lot of distressed couples. One especially so because
22:14they didn't get any wedding insurance. So, you know, a lot of people have been affected
22:18by this and lost thousands of pounds due to the cancellations.
22:21These are obviously horrible stories, especially for those who've got events. We've seen it
22:26more and more since the pandemic. But in happier news in Kent, especially in the sporting sphere,
22:32tell us a little bit about this striker, Gary Lockyer from Ashford United. Great little
22:38story this.
22:39Yeah. So he is. Well, there he is. He is a football striker from, you know, right here
22:45in Kent, Ashford, as you said. And he's managed to become the top scorer in this season's
22:50FA Cup. He has scored 10 goals on his own, despite his team unfortunately being knocked
22:57out during the qualifiers. But actually, our Invictus Sports producer, Bartholomew Hall,
23:03spoke to him recently in an interview. And we have a clip from that.
23:06Let's take a look.
23:07You are up against the likes of some of the top scorers in the country. We think of Mo
23:10Salah playing for Liverpool or or even Erling Haaland.
23:13You know, these elite players that you sort of put my name against is a bit surreal. Like,
23:19you know, they're by far better than myself. They train in day in, day out. They have the
23:25mindset of the elite athletes and anything's possible with them. So that's why I sort of
23:32stay a bit grounded on myself winning the competition. I think, you know, it'd be an
23:37unbelievable personal achievement for myself to be top goal scorer in one of the oldest
23:42and best competitions, you know, around.
23:47He's looking very smiley there. Wondering if he's a smiley morning person or a smiley
23:52evening person leading into our next final story from you.
23:56Yeah. So, I mean, when I read the study, I found it very hard to believe because I am
24:01not a morning person. But UCL did a social study where they asked nearly 50,000 people
24:09how they feel at different times during the day. And they found that people are generally
24:13more positive and happier in the mornings rather than the evenings. And although it's
24:18not quite 50,000 people, we did do our own digging and we asked people on the streets
24:22of Rochester what their preference was.
24:24Yeah, let's have a look.
24:26Me in the mornings, but I think it's personally my daughter, evenings and afternoons, my wife,
24:32evenings and afternoons. So there's you are what you are. Some people are morning, some
24:36people are afternoons.
24:37I don't know. I'm a morning person. I always have been a morning person. You've got a whole
24:43day to look forward to. It's nice to look forward to a new day, I think.
24:48Probably in the morning before they realise what the problems of the day really come home
24:54to Rooster are. But yeah, I suppose when you wake up, if you're not too tired, you feel
24:58marginally happier during the day. But I don't know. Is there anybody, any time of the day
25:05these days feels happy?
25:07For me now, I'm happier in the mornings, I think, when it's nice and fresh, get up, have
25:13my breakfast, have a walk, go and see the cathedral. Yeah, that's my day at the moment.
25:18I feel like people are generally happier in the evenings because they've finished work
25:21and stuff like that. But I'm happier in the morning. I like the morning. So that's just
25:26me.
25:27I would say probably later on in the day, not necessarily in the mornings. I'm a carer.
25:35They're not always happy.
25:37Some very sprightly shoppers there. Like I said, unlike you and I, definitely not morning
25:40people, but all very happy. And that is it for us on Kent Tonight, live on KMTV. There's
25:47more news made just for Kent throughout the evening. Don't forget, you can always keep
25:51up to date with the latest news across your county by logging on to KMTV.co.uk. You can
25:58keep us on your social timelines by liking us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. And
26:03if you have a story you think we should be covering, then do get in touch. We have a
26:08series of special programmes, as I'm sure you know, Invictus Sport, Made in Kent, Kent
26:13on Climate, Kent Film Club and the Kent Politics Show, which you can watch throughout the week
26:18or catch up with old episodes on our website. But for me, for now, that is it. Have a very
26:25good evening. We'll see you soon and have a good evening and goodbye.