There are fears a swimming ban could be introduced in part of Kent following a rise in unsafe levels of bacteria in the sea.
Reporter Oliver Leonard has been investigating this story and joins the podcast to go through the details.
Also on today's podcast, a Kent mum says she's considering legal action over planned changes to council disability payments.
Bernadette John's 29-year-old son Nathan lives in supported accommodation which is funded by Kent County Council.
At the moment he contributes £10 pounds a week, but that's set to increase to £46. Bernadette has been describing what impact it'll have.
A Kent MP has criticised the government's plans to renationalise Britain's railways.
New legislation to bring train operating companies back under public ownership is being debated in Parliament today.
A bridge has been installed as part of a multi-million pound road project near Sittingbourne.
The Grovehurst Road scheme is designed to ease congestion around Iwade and Kemsley with new homes planned. Hear from the man in charge of the project.
Robots are being used to pick fruit at a farm in Kent, because of a decline in seasonal workers.
The tech moves along rows of crops, has two picking arms and even 'eyes' that can tell if a berry is ripe enough.
And in sport, Gillingham are back in action tonight - this time in the EFL Trophy.
They're taking on Peterborough United at Priestfield following Saturday's 1-0 win over Chesterfield in the league.
Kent Online News. News You Can Trust. This is the Kent Online Podcast. Nicola Everett. Hello, thanks ever so much for downloading today's podcast. It's Tuesday, September the 3rd. Hope you're okay. This is our top story today. Again, Mum says she's considering legal action over planned changes to council disability payments. Now Bernadette John's 29 year old son Nathan lives in supported accommodation, which is funded by Kent County Council. At the moment, he contributes £10 a week, but that is set to increase to 46, where Bernadette has been speaking to Gabriel from the local Democracy Reporting Service. My son Nathan, he's 29 and he has lifelong learning and physical disabilities and he lives in a care home in Worthing, which is funded by Kent County Council and he's always paid a contribution towards his care costs, which is worked out on his income and what he can afford. And then I was terribly shocked to get a letter a week ago telling me that as part of these reforms, they intend to put his contribution up per week from £10 per week to £46 per week. Well, you know, it doesn't take any stretch of the imagination to understand why somebody living on benefits can't suddenly live on £35 a week less. How does, I mean, first of all, how does he feel about that? How do you feel about that? I mean, I was desperately upset and actually, I was speaking to you today, not just about my son. This is for all disabled people who are a community who typically don't have a voice, don't have people to advocate for them. And let's just be clear about the people who are getting this money. It's the people who are on the higher rate of PIP, which means that they have severe disabilities. So this additional money is to pay for things like they may need extra heating, they may need a specialist diet, they may have high power costs to run specialist equipment and so on. They're not options in life, they're not luxuries in life. And yet these are the people that the council have chosen to pick on to close the black hole debt that they're experiencing. Was last week the first you heard about these changes for care charges? The first I heard about it was two to three weeks ago I got a letter just saying that they're going to change the system and his contribution would be changing, but there were no figures in it, so fairly meaningless. And then I actually got the letter just with 10 days notice that this is coming in from Monday the 2nd of September. Now as I understand it this decision was taken back in May, so I think my conclusion is that they deliberately sat on it for three months before telling us, giving us no time whatsoever to challenge it. And now, first of all, a pound a week, it might not sound like a lot of money, but if you're a benefit as you're saying, I mean, that's going to have a big impact on your weekly budgets, how much you actually can afford to live on. I mean, what's that going to mean for Nathan? I honestly don't know, I'm frightened to think, because to be honest, he doesn't have enough to live on, really, as it is. You know, here's a small amount of spending money per week, but anything, any big ticket stuff, we were already subsidizing him. He can't afford to buy a winter coat or a pair of boots, or he loves live music. If he wants to go out to a concert that's £25, £30 a ticket, he doesn't have that money, we would have to pay for him. So, we are literally talking about, what do you cut? Do you cut what you eat? You know, these are people they can't, but they can't work in the first place, they can't get a second job, they can't take on overtime, he doesn't have a car to sell. Does Nathan work at all, is his income 100% from benefits? No, he's income is entirely from benefits, he's not capable of working, I mean, he can't cross the road safely by himself, he can't cook a meal for himself. We need people to help him wash and dress. You know, there really is no way he could go out to work. So, we are talking about, you know, Nathan and other people of course, thousands of people are going to be impacted by this. They are probably arguably some of the most vulnerable people in the county, but these changes are going to impact them. How do you feel about that? I mean, nauseated sick, it is literally keeping me awake at night thinking about the impacts on some of these people who won't have anyone to advocate and to fight for them. Now, the council say they're having to take tough decisions due to rising costs of care and a lack of adequate funding from central government. Sophie Fornell is the CEO of Disability Assist, but she's also concerned about the impact this is going to have. At the moment, with the higher costs of living and the increases in energy prices that are going to be happening again this winter, it's going to leave people really struggling to make ends meet. There's a lot of people living in poverty as it is. There's disabled people who have little opportunity to get themselves into a stronger financial position and benefits aren't keeping up with the cost of living. So it's going to have a major impact on a lot of people who are going to have to be making difficult choices again about whether to take care, whether to pay for care at all and often it is crucial support, but there are people who do go without. And also a choice between heating and eating again. Do you think this, I know many people had a letter come through the post in the last couple of weeks about these changes? I know a consultation went out earlier this year. Do you think this has come as a shock to some people? Because I know the numbers of people who took part in the consultation were relatively low. Do you think some people just weren't simply just not aware that these changes were on a card and coming? Sophie Yes, there are a lot of people who are really not very engaged with what's going on in the county. People who are perhaps digitally excluded and wouldn't have been so aware of what's actually happening. So I think it will have been a great shock to a lot of people to get a letter through the post to let them know that their costs are going up. Also we sue support people and we do see people who are falling into debt to Kent County Council where they haven't really fully understood what it is they need to contribute to get the care and support that they need and that is very concerning. We understand that Kent County Council have got a massive deficit. We understand that funds are incredibly stretched and so we do know that difficult decisions do need to be made. However, we do strongly believe that impacting on services for people with disabilities who are some of the most vulnerable people in the community and also have the least voice. There are not many people speaking up to them. You see from pages in the newspaper about all sorts of other issues. However, you very rarely see disabled people making headlines. So it is of great concern that actually these people are feeling very left behind and unappreciated, uncared for. You can let us know what you think today by leaving a comment on the story or heading to our socials. Kent Online News. A boy has been questioned after a police officer was allegedly bitten on the hand while making an arrest in Canterbury. They were speaking to a group of e-bike riders about the rules of using them in the city centre when one reportedly tried to ride off. A 17 year old's been bailed. Meantime, a man's appeared in court accused of attacking a police officer in Canterbury. A man's alleged to have happened while a suspect was being arrested in the wind cheap part of the city last Thursday. A 37 year old who doesn't have a permanent address has also been charged with assaulting another man and criminal damage. Four people have been charged with theft and fraud after expensive trainers were swapped into cheaper boxes at the Asher designer outlet. It's thought to have happened on at least three occasions last month with people paying the lower price at the self-service tools. A police have seized more than 400 boxes of shoes from a property in Essex. 45 of them were from Ashford. A Kent MP has criticised the government's plans to re-nationalise Britain's railways. New legislation to bring train operating companies back under public ownership have been debated in Parliament today. Well, Favisham and Mick Hentz-Helen-Waitley is the Conservatives' Shadow Transport Secretary. I agree that the rail sector needs and rail services need reform. In fact, we were planning big reforms and we're in government. And parts of those labour are planning to take forwards in setting up something called Great British Railways, which will bring together track and train. They're doing that in the future. This particular bill today to me is very ideological and labour are really rushing it. It's something that should be given significant time. There is a risk that it could actually be bad for passengers. We know people really care about fares, they really care about robot reliability of trains. There's no evidence it's going to help with those things, but this is ideological and I think it will give them more power to the unions. One of the things that I'm going to be putting forwards today is that there should be an independent pay review body. So in other sectors like for nurses, like the teachers, like the armed forces, it's not just ministers sitting around the table with unions. It's actually an independent organisation which goes out and gets the evidence about what is a fair level of pay, fair to the worker, but also fair to the taxpayer. And I think that should be in place if they were going to do what they plan to do this large organisation of the railways. Meantime, Tumbra Genp, Tom Thuggenhardt's promising the return of honest politics as he prepares to launch his bid to be the next leader of the Conservative Party. The shadow security ministers insisting the party can only win back the trust of the public with him at the helm. Well, if you missed his chat on the Kent Politics podcast, you can search for it now, wherever you get your pods. Kent Online reports. A nurse who was caught having a nap while she was supposed to be looking after a child has been suspended from the profession. The boy's parents raised concerns about the care he was receiving at their Kent home and the agency employing Lorna Dale Willis reviewed CCTV footage. A tribunal found she fell seriously short of the conduct and standards expected. Now, this is one of our most read stories on the site today. Fis, a swimming band could be introduced in part of Kent following a rise in unsafe levels of bacteria in the sea, while reporter Oliver Lennett has been investigating the story and joins me now. Oliver, firstly, which part of the county are we talking about? Hi, Nicola. It's dim church that has now seen a spike in bacteria in the sea. This is, without a doubt, one of the most popular beaches in the county in the summer months, particularly with holiday makers. People come here to use the beach, and that's why it's such a concern for traders in the area. And why are there concerns about the water? Littlestone in St Mary's Bay, which is just a couple of miles away from dim church, both currently have a do not swim morning in place. However, data from the environment agency over the past four years shows that there's more E. coli in dim church than in the neighboring beaches. So people in the village are now questioning whether dim church will soon see a do not swim morning in their area. And what have local people been saying to you? So the two traders that I spoke to in dim church simply feel that if a do not swim morning was to come to the area, then holiday makers will take their trade elsewhere. They believe that it's going to make things even more challenging in an already difficult time for businesses and just want the issue to be resolved as soon as possible by the agencies. Finally, Oliver, has there been any official words yet from the environment agency? Well, we contacted the environment agency yesterday morning and followed up again yesterday afternoon, but we have yet to receive a response from them. Oliver, thank you ever so much. We will provide you with any updates on that story. The government said to be warned that England's council housing system is broken as bosses from Kent join others from across the country at Westminster. They're suggesting five solutions to secure the future of properties owned by local authorities. Grosham leader John Burden says councils need support to deal with challenges, including high construction costs and climate change targets. A bridge has been installed as part of a multi-million pound road project near Sittingborne. The Groshurst road scheme is designed to ease congestion around iWade and Kemsley with new homes planned. Work started last September and it's due to be finished by next summer. Steve Horton is the regional director of Jackson's Civil Engineering, who are leading the project. Once this project is finished, this will help with the local infrastructure. Our client Kent County council will have forecast traffic flows in the future and decided that this junction needed upgrading. So the infrastructure will be there for when the housing developments take place in the future. So this is future-proofing the local infrastructure system. Good stop. And specifically with the bridge itself, how did that help to sort the traffic flow and stuff like that for the scheme? Well, currently before we started work here, there was one single bridge with around about either end, which obviously reduces capacity and reduces traffic flows. The new bridge will enable a much larger roundabout gyratory system to be implemented over the top of the A249, which will assist traffic flows in the future. Good stop. And just one last question. What's sort of been the main difficulty the teams gave off while you've been on the project? Schemes such as this with major earth work is very weather dependent. So we have had some kind of wet weather earlier on in the spring and over the winter. We've overcome those issues and we're heading towards a completion early summer next year. Kent's online reports. Two people have been charged after an eight-inch hunting knife was found in paddock wood. Police have been patrolling the town following a recent rise in burglaries and vehicle crimes. The weapon was discovered during a search after people were seen acting suspiciously in a VW polo, a 20 and 21-year-old Artewing Court. A tunnel connecting blue water to thousands of homes is back on the agenda after plans were resubmitted. The 80-meter route was initially given the go-ahead in 2020, but work never started and the permission has now expired. Well, if it's approved again, it'll connect the shopping centre with 6,000 properties at EBS Fleet Garden City's eastern quarry. Robots are being used to pick fruit at a farming tent because of a decline in seasonal workers. The tech moves along rows of crops, has two picking arms and even eyes that can tell if a berry is ripe enough. Dr Duncan Robertson is the CEO of Dogtooth Technologies who are behind the idea. The key challenge from the customer perspective is to recruit enough high quality and experience picking labour. Increasingly, it's difficult to persuade young people to take temporary jobs, picking fruit here in the UK. And it's also difficult to find sufficiently skilled labour. Picking is not low skilled works. It means a lot of expertise in practice. And so we think it's inevitable that the robotic automation will help to fill the gap, let by a shrinking workforce. We've built several generations of picking robots. Our fifth generation robot is increasingly made to make a meaningful difference to the harvest requirements on the farm. It's very productive and capable of picking broadly as much fruit during the coastal day as a person. When Kent grows around 40% of the UK's soft fruit at the moment, the robots can harvest strawberries. If you're on the website today, you can see an unfinished home that's been put up for sale in Lenin for £1.5 million. The six bedroom property has a swimming pool complex and is set in 13 acres of land. It's been described as a masterpiece in progress and is looking for a buyer to finish the project. And there are plans to turn one of Kent's oldest pubs into flats. The three compasses in Diehl dates back to the 17th century but could be turned into two properties. The Grade 2 listed building on Beach Street has been run as a restaurant in recent years. Kent's online sports. For ball and Gillingham are back in action tonight. This time in the EFL trophy, they're taking on Peter B reunited at Priestfield following Saturday's 1-0 win over Chesterfield in the league. Now that game saw goalkeeper Glenn Morris become the oldest player to ever feature for Gillingham's first team. I probably feel fitted and I've done for a long time and I feel sharp. You know, that's got, you know, Darren's been brilliant with me. You know, he's been able to keep me ready and my body feels in such, you know, a really good place. So, you know, I train, you know, as hard as anyone I feel. So, I'm in the position ready to play and I feel good. It's a long season, you know, we're not going to get too carried away, you know. Like you said, we had a good start last season. Yeah, I feel that the squad is strong. I feel it's really strong. But, you know, we don't want to start thinking about too far ahead. You know, we just got game Tuesday, Peter Broughton, we got Doncaster, we just concentrate on them. You know, see where we go from there. Kickoff tonight is at seven. You'll be able to follow the match action at Kent Online. We'll have reaction to the result in tomorrow's podcast. And also in bulletins over on our sister radio station tomorrow morning. And it can teenagers set a European record in the S7 women's 200-meter individual medley at the Paralympics in Paris. 13-year-old swimmer Iona Winifred is the youngest member of Paralympics GB and finished fourth in the final. The USA took all three places on the podium. And 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 on the top stories. Direct your email each morning via the briefing. Just sign up to that. Just head to kentonline.co.uk News you can trust. This is the Kent Online Podcast. - Coast. (dramatic music)
