Parents are worried about the safety of their children as they're set to be banned from parking in a nearby village hall during the school run.
They currently use the space in Wingham before taking pupils to the primary school - but from September, that won't be allowed to happen.
Also on today's podcast, planning reforms, a new border security bill and re-nationalising rail firms are expected to be among the announcements in today's King's Speech.
The Prime Minister's using the State Opening of Parliament to set out Labour's aims for Britain. We've been speaking to the new Tunbridge Wells MP, Mike Martin, to find out what he wants to hear.
A man who was at a gig in Kent that saw more than 20 teenagers end up in hospital has revealed he didn't realise the scale of the issue.
A 17 year-old girl died from a suspected overdose, and another young person is still in hospital following the drum and bass event at Dreamland in Margate.
It's feared growing delays with court cases in Kent could cause some victims to give up so criminals walk free.
There's been a 164% rise in cases waiting to be heard since before the pandemic. Our local democracy reporter Simon Finlay has been speaking to Kent's police and crime commissioner.
Figures given to the KentOnline Podcast show there have been almost 1,400 reports of animal cruelty in Kent so far this year.
That's more than 7 cases a day reported to the RSPCA in the first six months of 2024. The figures have been released as the charity launches its summer campaign.
More than 18 months after it closed - Canterbury's historic market has returned to the city.
It was moved away from St George's Street in December 2022 when the area underwent a renovation. We've been chatting to council leader Councillor Alan Baldock.
And, a new multimillion pound sports centre in Medway has officially opened.
Cozenton Park replaces the old Splashes in Rainham and has cost more than £23 million pounds to build.
"This is the Kent Online Podcast, Nicola Everett." Hello, hope you're OK. Thanks ever so much for downloading today's podcast. It's Wednesday, July the 17th, and planning reforms, a new border security bill, and re-nationalising rail firms are all expected to be among the announcements in today's King's speech. The Prime Minister is using the state opening of Parliament to set out Labour's aims for Britain, where Tom Bridgewell's MP Mike Martin is urging the new government to tackle the health and social care crisis. He was elected for the Lib Dems earlier this month following the general election and has been speaking to Kate ahead of the ceremony. England, the UK, Britain, has a very long parliamentary tradition. We've been sending people up to Westminster for about 800 years, and when they get there, it's absolutely right that they swear allegiance to the Crown, the monarch, who's sovereign in our country, and so there is that sense of history. But there's something else about modern Britain as well. As you're in the queue waiting to be sworn in, they come and show you a very long list of whether you'd like to swear it on the Torah, the Quran, the Bible, various different versions of the Bible, different types of Judaism, perhaps you're a Sikh and there's a number of different ways that you can swear in, including the regional languages so you can do it in Welsh or Cornish or Scotts Gaelic. I think it's this really nice meld of 800 years of history, but actually also reflecting modern Britain in all of its wonderful diversity. There's going to be a lot of old traditions there as well. They're going to check the sellers for gunpowder and things like that. Are you hoping to see some modern inclusions as well in the state opening? Yeah, so I think the king's speech is where the government lays out its agenda for the next parliamentary session and we aren't going to have a lot of that history, black rod banging on the door and all the rest of it and people walking around in tights. But actually the content is deadly serious. What we hope to see is something to tackle the health and social care crisis and both of them combined, right? We have a social care crisis, but actually we've got a crisis of GP access as well. I've already had a couple of meetings on that in the constituency. I think there are a lot of issues for me personally. I'm very interested to hear what the government says on defence. They've just announced today, yesterday, the composition of the panel that's going to be leading the defence review. I think the world is a very dangerous place and so I'm very, very interested in what they have to say on that. There'll be a number of other issues that we've seen in the news. Criminal justice, really that system has collapsed, prisons are at bursting points. There's a lot of legislation to go through and I think the role of the Liberal Democrats now, we have the biggest party we've had in over a century. The Conservatives have divided looking inwards, no change there. I think we're looking to be very constructive in critiquing the Labour government's agenda and helping them improve that because that's really the role of opposition in our system. You can head to Kent Online for more reaction following today's events in Parliament. Kent Online News. A women's Stuart Crown Court accused of murdering her husband after human remains were found at a house in Canterbury. 65-year-old Jeremy Rickards hasn't been seen since early June. The discovery was made at a property on St Martin's Road, Maureen Rickards who's 50 and lives on the same road has been charged. A man who was at a gig in Kent that saw more than 20 teenagers end up in hospital has revealed he didn't realise the scale of the issue. A 17-year-old girl died from a suspected overdose and another young person is still in hospital following the drum and bass event. It happened at Dreamland in Margate at the end of last month. Ian Attenborough was there and has been speaking to Bartholomew Hall from our colleagues at KMTV. I haven't been on one for a few years, but I just thought I'd done very, very regularly in the past. I love the music. I thought I'll give it a go. See what it's like. I didn't love how I was going to enjoy it or not. But yeah, I thought I'd go, see what it's like. So I turned up about three o'clockish, queued up about half-three and then it went from there. Largely and enjoyable event. Just from your perspective. Absolutely brilliant. I couldn't have enjoyed any water, to be honest. I just went with the flow of the music, really. Just had a great time. Absolutely great time. Yeah, no. And then obviously it's some sad news from there. Somebody obviously dying. A lot of these teenagers ending up in hospital. Were you surprised to hear that news? It's only sort of come out in the past day or so. Certainly the number that were come out in the last day or so, yes. I was aware of the death. Straight away obviously it's got reported, pretty much straight away the next day. I didn't see anyone collapsing, as per the article was saying. I didn't see anyone going round spiking anyone. So to me, I was a little bit surprised when the vast number came out. I must admit. And just to get a bit of an understanding as well, when you were going in, you said you were queuing up, what were the kind of checks like going in? The checks were pretty standard really. I mean, there was a sniffer dog on the way in. Everyone had to walk past and then they would spit up the cues. Everyone who looked close to the age of 18 or obviously is a 16 and over event. So anyone who's that young, they did check their ideas as far as I could see. They were doing bag checks. But they weren't doing body checks. So I don't know whether they were allowed to or not. I don't know whether that's part of the security deal. But yeah, it was a pretty standardised check. And there were ID checks going on. What was the same kind of like as you was leaving? Because from the sounds of it, from what the police have said, there must have been ambulances everywhere. I mean, what was the kind of picture as you leaving? No, not at all. Not at all. Well, I'm leaving. It was very reasonably quiet, to be honest. I think most of the stuff had happened earlier on in the day by what I could tell. Roughly what time was it that you ended up leaving? I left about a quarter to elevenish. They've described it as a major incident on the night. You couldn't tell? No, I think they put outside and they were very close to closing the event or something. None of that was ever felt like it was going to happen. But yeah, I mean, I'm just like, I was shocked at the vast number of people who really were in trouble by the sounds of it. They've obviously now taken the decision to cancel. All the councillors decided to cancel these D&B events in the interim period. Do you think that's a bit too harsh? Absolutely. Yeah, it's ridiculous. It's like saying if someone has a car crash on a motorway and ultimately a death happens, it's like saying no one should drive on that motorway again. It's the same thing. You can't blame the music. Well, temporary licensing measures have been imposed on the venue. However, Kemp Police say it does not want to see Dreamland's license revoked. It convicted criminal from Snodland who bought a BB gun told police he didn't know he was banned from owning a firearm. Jordan Gray was given a four-month suspended sentence last year for possessing a knife, which disqualifies him from having a gun for five years. The 28-year-old from Salting's road admitted he didn't think he was doing anything wrong. He's been ordered to pay more than £250. Police have confirmed the death of a young woman who'd been missing for 12 days in Folkestone is not being treated as suspicious. Leah Daly's body was found at the Warren exactly two months ago following a huge search appeal. The cause of the 24-year-old's death still hasn't been revealed. People living close to a church cemetery near Swanley, being urged to check CCTV after reports of a man indecently exposing himself. The suspect is believed to have been standing by a head row off Ainsford Road when he committed the act last Saturday. Police are hoping to speak to any witnesses. Now it's feared growing delays with court cases in Kent could cause some victims to give up, so criminals walk free. There's been a 164% rise in cases waiting to be heard since before the pandemic. Kent's Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott has been speaking to a local democracy reporter Simon Finley. I think we need to recruit more staff. It's really simple. We have two problems which are contributing most to this. Number one is the amount of work the police are presenting to the courts, i.e. the number of people that they are charging. The second is capacity, not just physical capacity, but we don't have enough judges for our Crown Courts. We don't have enough legal advisers for our magistrate's courts. The key to this is a big recruitment campaign, not just in terms of getting the numbers in, but making sure that people know how much we value those roles and that they deserve fair recompense. The key to this is really simple. We need to get those people in place. You've also said that if you build more prisons, you build them and fill them, do you think that's still the answer to the question of the justice system working more? I do. I regret that we didn't build the prison places we promised to build. In fact, I think we have fewer than in the last Parliament. We now have a government promising to build more prison places. My aspiration rings true. Yes, you can do a lot of things to help get behind underlying problems with drugs, with alcohol, etc. and rehabilitation. Absolutely, you can do all of those things. Prison still has to be there as a sanction and a deterrent and therefore if prisons are built, we have enough people going through our court systems at the moment that we could fill them. Kent Online reports. A yellow heat health alert has been issued for Kent. After a pretty disappointing start to the summer, it comes into force at 5pm tomorrow and lasts until Saturday night. Forecasters are predicting temperatures of up to 30 degrees. This is one of our most read stories on the website today. Parents are worried about the safety of their children. After being banned from parking in a nearby village hall during the school run, they currently use the space in Wingham before taking pupils to the primary school nearby. Well, the ban is set to come into force in September with moms and dads worried they'll have to walk along the busy 8257. Well, Lucy joins me now. So, Lucy, what have parents been saying? Well, Stacey Garside from Little Born reckons closing off the car park will cause traffic mayhem. She's told our reporter the greatest issue here is the safety of young children. And I'm appealing to the village hall to show some community spirit and human kindness. Sally Carson from Ash drives her three grandchildren to the school and predicts a nightmare with a ban in September. And why are they so concerned about walking down the road to school? Well, one side of the 8257 doesn't actually have a pavement. It's also a busy road with not only cars, but lorries travelling along it. That's led to moms and dads arguing there's no safe alternative to the village hall car park. And has there been any response from the school or village hall bosses, Lucy? No, the school's declined to comment, but has previously stopped parents using its own car park as it was said to be unsafe. The treasure of the village hall committee has said they will be issuing a statement in the near future. Lucy, thank you ever so much. A made stone woman threatening to take Kent County Council to court after they rejected her claim for pot hole damage. Sheila Bergman had to pay more than £500 to repair her car, which was damaged on London Road in Allington. She wants compensation, but was told in a letter she could have driven around it. It's been a mixed response to plans to introduce AMPR cameras to crack down on moving traffic offences in Medway. Council bosses have identified 17 locations where they want to enforce yellow box junctions, no right turns and no vehicle entries to improve safety and ease congestion. Consultations found residents generally approve, but some have described it as a money making scheme. Kent's online reports next today and figures given to the Kent online podcast show there have been almost 1400 reports of animal cruelty in Kent so far this year. That's more than seven cases a day reported to the RSPCA in the first six months of 2024. And it's feared those figures will only rise. I've been speaking to Chris O'Brien, who's from the charity, which is launching its summer awareness campaign. Across Kent, the figures are very similar to last year and across England and Wales we've seen a around a 2% rise. So cruelty across the board is going up slightly in terms of reports and we've seen a similar situation in Kent to last year. And that's a real concern and we're braced for things to potentially get worse. The summer is always the busiest time for our frontline officers and we're expecting no different this year. So definitely a tough time ahead in Kent and it's why we need our supporters across the county to keep back in us in the way that they do. Is there any reason as to why the summer is so busy for you, Chris? Are you able to pinpoint any specific reasons at all? Summer's always busiest time for RSPCA officers. We're always braced for an influx of calls. There's lots of reasons for this. One is just because we have better weather. So I think there's probably less places for cruelty to hide. People are outside. They might be seeing more instances of cruelty and an animal neglect in general and report this to us. Unfortunately there are some sometimes some more sinister reasons as well. We know that unfortunately we have had reports across the board where people go away on holiday, which is obviously more common in the summer and I leave them at animals behind. They're abandoning animals as perhaps some of those costs of things like boarding of their pet come to light. This is something that we're even more concerned about this year on the back of the pandemic a few years ago where we saw a real boom in animal ownership, coupled with the cost of giving crisis where some people had maybe got an animal where they were not necessarily ready for that massive commitment. We're worried that some of those costs biked in some of the more extreme cases people might take drastic measures. Fortunately we know most people are brilliant animal owners. Kent is a county full of animal levels and that is the important thing to remember but it is going to be a tough summer season ahead for the RSPCA. And with these increasing figures or an expected increase this summer, how much pressure is that putting on RSPCA officers who are out and about dealing with these cases? It's putting immense pressure on our teams. Our officers are on the front line responding to cruelty and neglect. It's a unique job that those RSPCA officers do but the support of people in terms of their donations to us through this summer appeal are absolutely vital in keeping those officers in the road and responding to those cases. We talked about the cost of giving crisis and that has been one of the biggest challenges for animal welfare. It's made things even more challenging on the front line for our officers. So our message to people is to please keep supporting us. Also to know how they can help animals. A big message that we're pushing out there at the moment is that our officers are so busy with cruelty and neglect calls that where there are other calls that people make to us where perhaps there are other ways that they could help the animal more quickly where it's not cruelty and neglect case. For example, transferring small wildlife to local vets that can help ease the pressure on our call lines as well so that we can focus on these types of cruelty that we're talking about today. Plans to increase the size of an electrical converter station in Thanate have been branded environmental vandalism. National Grid revealed the plans for the site at Mince de Marshes which borders on protected land as part of its C-Link project designed to bolster capacity or hermbay and sandwich MP Sir Roger Gayle called it unsustainable and unacceptable. Bosses in Gravesham have stepped in to save a piece of green space land from developers. The council have bought Hazel's farm at Derndale Farm and Wingfield Bank Farm which sit between eyes to rise in the A-2. A spokesperson said they wanted to ensure the vital green lung would be preserved and a new solar farm which can generate enough electricity to power 750 homes as opened near Westmoreling. It's on land at Blaise Farming Kingshill and cost £5 million to build. Kent Online News More than 18 months after it closed, Canterbury's historic market has returned to the city today. It was moved away from St George's Street in December 2022 when the area underwent a renovation but the new council leader Alan Bulldog vowed to bring it back and he's told me he's very pleased it's happened. The previous administration decided to close the market permanently taking the opportunity for that refurbishment of the paving and the area and Georges in Canterbury which lots of people would know as the main shopping area so that was closed while that went on and they decided to close it permanently. When we went to the electorate just over a year ago now and things changed dramatically in Canterbury. Part of our manifesto was to reopen the market. We knew people loved their market, it had a bit of the old rooms and it had its difficulties and that's okay. I mean markets go up, they come down, we have the pandemic and everything so but we love our markets. We're a city that's had a market for, well, forever hasn't it really and we thought it as well we're bringing it back. It's been a bit tricky to get all the legislation together to make sure we open properly with an exciting opportunity to, from a good start, we want to grow bigger and bigger and better. It had lots more animation in the shopping area of Canterbury, full stop and market is just part of that process. It took a long time because we had to rebuild all of the legislation that holds the market and of course we also needed to make sure that we could budget for opening the market again. There is cost to it but I think one of the most exciting things that we did and we realised that we needed to do that was actually to bring somebody onto the payroll, a market development manager and she has been absolutely also in the last couple of months when she's been with us in getting this market started and she has massive plans for the future to make this really, really hum. As you say, the market has been in the city for hundreds of years. Why do you think it is that people like it so much and have that alongside the traditional shops? What is it about a market that has such appeal? I actually think people love to have that nosy rummage on a market still but also the changeability of what's in the market sometimes, the goods, the products, the fresh protease, which of course we've all got a little bit used to shopping our supermarkets and have fresh produce and all sorts of different things available in the market. It's such a welcome change and I guess we all like that few minutes rummage about in the market to see what you can see and things are different things. So yeah, a bit of fascination. We all love it, don't we? And retail has definitely changed since Covid. Do you think maybe this is an ideal time to start it up? Because we've seen an awful lot of people set up, they'll pop up shops or maybe selling online and perhaps they could venture back into a high street by trading in a market space? Absolutely. I'm a market stall for a day in Canterbury's around about 50 creds. And if you wanted to try and sell your goods and your products, the legal and decent, well, you can have a market stall in the general market. So yes, that's a really good way and some of the stalks that we've got open in are quite new inches and we're really happy to have them here and we want more. You mentioned the redevelopment of the St George's part of the city. Just describe for anyone who doesn't know Canterbury particularly well, where the market sits and where you need to go to get to it. Okay, well, the market is set up. What some would most people would say outside the marks and expenses and the long market? It's that area of the shopping area just before you go into Rose Lane and into the white fries. But it's all in a pedestrian zone. So I'm used to park and ride, come to Canterbury and our park and ride. It's four quid a day. And you'll be dropped off at white fries, which is literally not even five minutes walk to the market area. And how do you think this is going to add to the whole retail experience of Canterbury? It's bringing back something that people were very, very used to. Do you think it's going to be welcomed as well by tourists and visitors? Because obviously very popular city for people to visit. I hope so. I really do. And I kind of like the idea that people will come to the market, come to our city and maybe the day they come will be a market. And for now, that's going to be the case. Take back that story about they had a bit of fun in the market. There are some nice things to buy and see. And why not? Our city's a great place. It's been a place with markets and traders and everything and nothing for 900 plus years. We've had tourists for that long too. That just happened to be called Peel Groomers back then, didn't they? So yes, we love our visitors. We love the people coming to our city. We hope they join us. As you heard there, the market will run every Wednesday. They'll also be a Christmas market from November. This free bus travel for children in Medway this summer. Council bosses have announced up to three children under 18 can ride for free with a fair-paying adult over the holidays. The scheme runs from this Saturday until September 1st. Social media star Mia Khalifa says Kent is one of the only places she doesn't wear a face mask when out and about because she feels so safe. The 31-year-old whose real name is Sarah Jo became famous after appearing in adult films about 10 years ago. She's now a model and sports commentator and says she visits Kent three or four times a year as her manager lives in Favisham. And the heartstopper creator will be getting an honorary degree from the University of Kent later. Alice Osman, who went to Rochester Grandma School, is being made a doctor of letters for her contribution to art and literature. She was also executive producer of the Netflix adaptation of the books. Kent's online sport. Football first up and England's women have qualified for next summer's euros. They drew Neil Nill with Sweden last night, which was enough to secure their spot in the playoffs. Maidstones Alessia Russo was on the pitch and is expected to be in the squad as the lionesses look to defend their title in Switzerland. Onto cricket and Kent have continued their poor run of form with another defeat in the T20 blast. They were beaten by Glamorgan at Canterbury after falling 13 runs short of the 145 target. The Spitfires is a bottom of the South Group table, with only one game left to play. And finally, a new multi-million pound sport centre in Medway has officially opened. Cozzington Park replaces the old splashes in Rainham and has cost more than £23 million to build. It's got two pools, a gym and a studio and there's actually come in under budget. We've been along to the official opening. My name is Vince Maple, I'm the labour and cooperative leader of Medway Council. When we started the Council looked at it originally, it was going to be a few million pounds to refurbish the old building and it became clear pretty quickly actually that the old building simply wasn't fit for purpose. So a decision was taken and that's taken a number of years to get through. Of course, we've had challenges along the way, but actually this programme has come in under budget, which is fantastic and I want to thank everybody who's been involved in the development of it through to the final build and everything else in between to what we have now, which is a state-of-the-art facility, the most accessible swimming pool, certainly in North Kent, very, very focused on sustainability as well. So lots of photovoltaics for solar power and also things like a green wall which in 18 to 24 months time will look stunning and will help with their quality as well. I'm the Sharba Khan, I'm the MP for Journeyman Rayden. The fact that we're here today, opening it, it's open to the public, it's come on a huge journey in a short space of time in 12 months. When I first came to visit, we were still had just the bare bones of construction and to now be sitting here, being able to look into the pool, you know, using the facilities upstairs is amazing. So it's come a long way in a short period of time and I'm really pleased to be able to open it officially. So my name's Tom, I'm the Business Engagement Manager for Swimmingland. It's absolutely stunning, really, really cool pool. The access into the pool from the health and well-being and diversity inclusion perspectives, absolutely fantastic. The use of the pool pods, which are just incredible, I've never seen these ones before, so it's really nice to see them. And the design of the pool and how it's laid out is absolutely going to help as many people in the community as possible. The number of children that are looking to learn to swim is absolutely outstanding. There is far too many people looking for the opportunity to learn to swim but aren't able to get into programs and get into facilities. So to see a new pool opening, it's going to serve as a local community and get more people swimming is always a great thing. Well, that's all from us for today. Thanks ever so much for listening. Don't forget, you can follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and threads. You can also get details that the top story is direct to your email each morning via the briefing. To sign up to that, just head to kentonline.co.uk. News you can trust. This is the Kent Online Podcast. [MUSIC PLAYING]
