It’s been revealed a controversial Park & Ride scheme which reopened under opposition this year is causing more pollution than it prevents and losing almost £30,000 a month.
Council leaders have been accused of throwing money “in the bin” by continuing to run the service on the outskirts of Canterbury.
Also in today’s podcast, a former businessman has appeared in court after preyed on women and children by concealing a secret camera in toilets in Rochester.
He was caught red-handed by one of his victims, he said: “I’ve made a silly mistake. It was just fun."
Figure seen by the KentOnline Podcast show hundreds of parents have repeatedly taken their children out of school for unauthorised holidays.
It comes as education chiefs prepare to clamp down on those who regularly allow their children to skip school without permission.
A “military style” operation took place in Canterbury over the weekend as hundreds of punters queued outside a tattoo and piercing shop during their flash sale.
More than 300 people waited outside Drawn and Quartered in a line that snaked around neighbouring streets to get their £20 tattoo.
And in football we’ll wrap up the weekend action after Gillingham secured a one – nil win over league leaders Notts County.
Defender Max Ehmer says they’re keeping their heads in the game ahead of tomorrow nights Carabao Cup clash with Crystal Palace.
Head on line news news you can trust this is the Kent online podcast Kate Faulkner. Hello hope you're okay. Thank you for downloading today's podcast on Monday September 23rd. Coming up today will hear from an Ashford mum about how she saved her two year old son's life when he started choking on a coin. We'll also have the wrap up from the weekend after drilling and beat top of the table not county but first taking a look at our top story today. The park and riding Canterbury has been slammed as a waste of money after reports it's being subsidized by almost £30,000 a month. The reopening of the service at Starry Road was a flagship policy of the council's new administration but it's now been revealed it's costing taxpayers almost £950 per day due to low user numbers. Andrew Harvey is co-leader of the Green Group at Canterbury City Council. We love park and rides as a party. They work fantastically they take cars off the road and they move people about in an environmentally friendly way. Trouble is the location of this one at Starry is not the best place and it's encouraging more cars to come in and more journeys or really adding to traffic, adding to congestion in Starry at the level crossing which is a black spot. Air quality there is frequently breaching World Health Organisation guidelines and we are only adding to that at the moment. What needs to be done then? If it's not working now I mean I think it's almost if you average it out statistically it's almost one person per journey at the moment and maybe even less actually I think. What needs to be done then to change this and actually make it work? Well there's several things we could do but the main one really is we shouldn't be using big diesel buses. That is pointless when they're having one or two passengers frequently running empty. We could be doing the same job with small mini buses, electric mini buses, plenty of them about now that would do that journey all day long under their range, charge them up at night when our grid is the greenest and cheapest and it would work no end though I feel and also you know they're suggesting that the usage of it is increasing which it is and it's been marketed very well but it needs to be about five fold the usage to make that environmentally friendly if we continue to use diesel buses so I think we should be changing the buses that we're using. I mean why do you think it's not being used when in the first place? That's a very good question. I don't think it's in a particularly good location as I see it that that road, starry road from then it is served perfectly well by buses and trains anyway if you want to go from home bay if you want to go from here you can get a bus that will take you all the way to Canterbury for two quid so it's not much point driving your car to starry and then taking a park and ride bus for the last bit of the journey. And this is an account of a mitter to this, tell us I mean it's actually increasing emissions going into Canterbury City Centre, this parking road is designed to do the complete opposite. It is, it's increasing emissions we know by about 150 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year running those buses it's just insane. It's adding to congestion because we're basically putting one bus for each car journey we're saving. A bus takes up three times the road space of a car. So you're adding to congestion, you're adding to emissions because there's more back cars stuck behind those buses and there's no way it makes any sense whatsoever when we've declared a climate emergency at Canterbury City Council. The council say the restart of the park and ride is moving in the right direction. Kent Online News. A man's avoided prison after admitting to spying on women and children with a camera he hid in two Rochester toilets, 67-year-old Philip Wolmar from Chattenden was caught by one of these victims who noticed a black box stuck to the back of a sanitary bin. The former businessman's been placed on these sex offenders registered for a decade and handed a suspended 21-month prison sentence. A homeless man from Folkestone has been sent to prison after admitting stealing champagne and smoked salmon from two hotels. Carl Brazier Denning has 45 convictions for more than 100 offences. The 30-year-old is now back behind bars after breaking into the guesthouse earlier this month. Drones are being used to deliver drugs and are the illicit items into a sheppy prison according to a new report. Inspectors say staff at Swaleside must tackle the issue if it's to improve. There's also been an increase in self-harm and violence since September last year and assaults on staff are also a concern. The daughter of a woman who died after an explosion at a bungalow near Ashford has said she will always be in her heart. Charlame Burville was flown to hospital after the blast on Canterbury Road in Charing last week but passed away the following day. You can retributes at Kent Online an investigation into what caused it is underway. Kent Online News. And Ashford Mama's spoken about the moment she saved the life of her two-year-old son when he started choking on a coin. I was in my conservatory with my two-year-old son who is a lovely little boy but he likes to explore putting things in his mouth so I'm really good at you know finding making sure there's nothing dangerous but I'd moved a shelf and was cleaning behind it and obviously I'd missed a penny coin that he had found and I had no idea that he'd found it. He was jumping up and down next to me so I was like you know sweeping and doing what I was doing and I heard him take a really sharp intake of breath and as I turned around he was clearly not able to breathe. He was panicking his eyes were watering and I completely freaked out. It was absolutely terrifying my heart stopped. I and because I didn't know what was in his mouth either I had no idea what was going on like I could see he was choking but I didn't know on what or you know whether it was his saliva so I did then the usual now I tipped him upside down started administering black back blows and nothing was working nothing was moving he was just getting more and more frantic and he's at one point I noticed that his lips were starting to go blue and that's when I went for the life back. I put him on his back which you know is really counter-intuitive when someone's choking to lay him on the back but that's what the instructions said to do so I trusted him the first time I tried to administer it he turned his head so there was no suction able to work and I thought I'm going to do it again this at this point I had 999 and I'd been put on hold so I had my phone on loudspeaker and I'd been put on hold and it was six minutes I think before I actually got even in contact with an operator. By that time the life back had managed to pull the penny out I heard a penny plop on the floor he vomited and then took a massive breath of air in and then I just remember feeling relief and I picked the penny up and I was still on the phone to the operator took another 13 minutes for paramedics to arrive and by which time had I not had the life back serious damage could have been done because no amount of me hitting him on his back or doing any of the manoeuvres that would normally have worked was working because of the penny had managed to lodge itself sideways and the guilt I felt afterwards for missing that any coin I mean it's something that parents are always worried about is your child choking and when you see it in real life it does change how you see things because now I'm always just looking for everything's a choking hazard but that life back literally is what I believe stopped my son from dying or having severe brain damage if I didn't have it I would have had to have waited until those paramedics turned up and then for them to get him to the hospital for them to be able to remove it so in a time sensitive situation it saved his life I believe anyway and that's why I'm doing this interview I wouldn't normally feel comfortable doing things like this but if my doing this interview can save another child or another parent hears it and thinks you know what that's a really handy thing to have Bailey is now expected to make a full recovery Kent online news figures seen by the Kent online podcast show hundreds of parents have repeatedly taken their children out of school for unauthorized holidays more than 13,000 penalty notices were issued in Kent and Medway for the 2022 to 2023 academic year it comes as tougher rules would be introduced including higher fines of 80 pounds and doubling for a second absence the boss of the port of Dover's revealed they want to handle 20% more trade by 2050 dark balusters going to unveil their plans at the Labour Party conference later the Portsmouth described as being at the heart of the nation's economic future and he's urging politicians to support their plans account and redentist says his practice could offer 6000 extra NHS appointments a year if he's given planning permission to expand Peter Chopra who runs Chopra and associates in military road wants to convert the residential property next door known as bakery cottage to create two new treatment rooms he says will help ease long waiting lists but the application is yet to be approved restrictions on the movement of farm animals has been extended from Kent to cover the whole of the southeast it's because the number of cases of blue tongue which can cause problems in cattle sheep and goats the disease was initially discovered in cows in Canterbury last November Kent online news a Ramsgate couple haven't been able to use their living room for nearly a year thanks to a new build leaky roof dad of Tuesday forwards as he complained about the damp patch but the management company said it was nothing to worry about so he painted over it laying a rock say they've dealt with three minor issues and have not been made of any other problems since 2021 horizon management has not replied to the multiple emails requesting a comment it's been confirmed an abandoned charity shop in Maidstone is going to be sold at auction the Save the Children building in Union Street closed during the pandemic and never reopened we've previously told you about complaints as people were still leaving donations outside the man who created a controversial sculpture in Canterbury has said he didn't intend for it to cause any upset the woman submerged in the River Stour has been described as creepy and disturbing Jason Dickens has urged us to go and see it before having an opinion now the man who heads up the Green Party at Kent County Councillors revealed how they're hoping to quadruple their number of Councillors every seat at County Hall will be up for grabs at next May's local elections Councillor Richard Lehman says the climate emergency is much higher on the agenda locally but there's still work to do on a national level he's been speaking to local democracy reporter Simon Finley on the latest edition of the Kent Politics podcast when I was campaigning in 2021 I would meet people on the doorstep who were very happy to vote for me as a Green Councillor to represent them at the County Council but were then quite open in saying that they wouldn't vote Green at a general election and those people you know are cognizant of the differences in now two groups at two parties in terms of economic policy and they're quite happy to vote Green for representative to represent them locally because they know that that area of Green policy is not something that will really hugely come into play obviously it will in certain areas of Council work but are not in the same way that it would in government and I see our role as being one of building that trust you know the Green Party are as far as I'm aware still the most trusted brand in terms of the main political parties in the UK, Kent County Council elections come up next May and it's difficult to see really who of the opposition parties is likely to you know come out top for various different reasons but you know how do you think it will pan out for the Greens and what specific sort of areas in Kent you think you'll be targeting in terms of the best chance of returning the most number of Councillors you can. That's a good question I think we really we're looking at winning or taking at least you know one or two seats in most districts in Kent and as I imagine you would expect we're perhaps looking at taking the greater numbers in the districts in which we have stronger district Council representation and overall across the county I think we're looking at in 2021 we control quadruple the size of the group from one to four and we have added one more since then through a bio-election but if we can quadruple from four to 16 that would be a fantastic result for us but I'm not sure if we'll quite make that but somewhere in that region would be great. So you're not sure you'll get up to 16 but that we'll see I mean we might get up to 20 yeah sure we'll see head to Kent online or I'm listening for that episode in four Kent online news a converted bus designed by TV's George Clark has been officially opened at a nursery in Canterbury the vehicle will be used by children while their current building on spring lane is refurbished the top deck is used for science and food lessons while the lower has a reading zone and even an office in college is from bright horizons it's really exciting and it wasn't a very difficult decision for us to make to include Molly in Canterbury. I mean the background behind it is we're putting our single biggest reefer investment into the nursery as we speak and because of that it's a huge huge investment to take you really to the next level it's going to be absolutely beautiful building same building but just redeveloping it all and because of that we've had to move a lot of the children out and we didn't know where to put them it's a very busy nursery very popular nursery initially we were going to look for some sort of porter cabin where we've done a couple of locations and our property team offered a bus and was designed by George Clark which is quite remarkable and it was it's in such beautiful condition as a nursery with all the regulatory needs all the health and safety and it's just wonderful and you can see how happy the children are playing in it and we've had it in situ now for about eight weeks with our toddler group our two and three year olds and they're just loving it and the parents are loving it and they've got their awning as well as the upstairs and downstairs it's all been split into different levels and it's wonderful it's a new way working for the staff but everyone's really enjoying it and it's just it's a lot of fun for everybody. It must be quite magical for the children because they've got something different to explore can you just describe a bit more about the interior presumably your traditional chairs have all been removed and it's been set out very differently what have you got inside? So upstairs is very much steam based so science and technology and cooking so very very very practical in that sense so the bus itself is is a totally all-encompeted nursery it could run as a standalone nursery it's even got a manager's office which is the the driver's seat which is very strange you've got toilets sinks water everything in there so the upstairs is very open open to science and technology and the cooking and downstairs is a lot of reading areas you've got a reading nook and a librarian a little tiered seating which is just such a they're two completely separate areas but then we've got the awning so the awning is vast which is very much part of the nursery and inside there is what you would probably see as a more traditional nursery set up with some tables with some chairs with some play equipments we've got astroturf on the floor so there's three distinct locations for the children to go to and as with as with all our nurseries we like children to have free choice to be able to roam to free flow to choose activities that make them happy and engage them so they've got all these different zones within the upstairs of the downstairs and outside so it's wonderful for them what sort of feedback have you had from the children and the staff so far as you say it's been in situ for a little while ahead of its grand opening are they all enjoying it very much yes very much so I think because it's so different and it's actually it's very difficult for us to have to manage such a strange building with you know the tight staircases which are all you know we've gotten very well managed in terms of health and safety it's difficult to manage keeping the children in sight and sound all the time she's very important for our young children but it's been they've taken to it like a doctor water as as have the children and it's just there's a beautiful noise there's great engagement lots of fun and activity there it's been wonderful for everyone and the staff love it they really love it because the rest of the nursery is getting a reefer for them it's just fresh new space which is just unique and I think for children to walk onto a bus and go to nursery in a bus is magical. Three more lions have been rescued from war tour in Ukraine thanks to an animal park in Kent, Vander Amani and Lyra were transported from Keve last Wednesday to temporary locations in Belgium they'll eventually live it there forever home at the Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden which is raising half a million pounds to build it. Meanwhile a lion born at a Kent wildlife park has made its first kill since been returned to the wild. Three-year-old Azee was moved to South Africa from Port Limp, he's the first born in captivity in the UK to successfully stalk a herd and hundreds of people have queued outside a tattoo and piecing shop in Canterbury ahead of a flash sale. Drawn and quartered in wind sheep launched their £20 sale event yesterday attracting more than 300 people who queued in a huge line which snaked along nearby roads. There were 170 pre-drawn designs for customers to choose from and each person could have up to five tattoos with each tattoo taking a few minutes. The team say it was fueled by a desire to thank its loyal customers and acknowledge the cost of living crisis with an affordable vent for everyone. Football now and Jillingham are climbed up to second in the lead two table after beating Nott's County at Meadow Lane, a first half goal from Elliot Nevett was enough to get the win despite a disallowed goal for the hosts in the second half. Here's Jill's assistant manager Anthony Hayes. We're showing like a bit of flexibility, a bit of adaptability to how we want to do things. We're a team that can go and get out of players, get out of teams I should say. We're also a team that if we need to we can block up the pitch and one thing that we've got a real pride in is we defend our box really really well. So yeah we're showing different ways really flexible, really adaptable but we're also being successful at the minute and it's just something that we just need to continue to work on. I think going back to I said to Bonsa after maybe 56, 57 minutes I thought we were going into the game. You could see a bit of a swagger in our play. I thought we had controlled periods with the ball and we limited them to very very little chances like Joey Jones, Dave McGoldrick, Danny Crowley, they've got some really really good players for this level and the amount of times that they've got on it to really hurt us like I think is minimal. I can't remember really many if any moments. So I think that's credit to the players in terms of how they executed what was asked of them. We're getting better. We're awake with them without the ball. That's the exciting thing for us. Here's Gillingham's centre back Max Emma on what new boss Mark Bonner has done for the squad. From day one he's been clear about what he wants from us on and off the ball. The atmosphere in the dress room in terms of all the boys is excellent. Everyone gets on with everyone. The dress room can be a little carnage in terms of with the banter and stuff like that, but it's a real tight knit group. But once we're on the grass working it's work time. There's no messing around then. And yeah, the gaffer has been excellent from day one. We work in hard. We're doing the right things and that's reflecting in where we are in the league now. But like I said, it's early in the season and we're not looking at the league table or such, but we're taking good confidence out of knowing where we are in the league and how much more we can still progress from that. The gills will welcome Crystal Palace to Priest Field tomorrow night in the next round of the Carabao Cup before Stephen Clements makes a return to Priest Field on Saturday with his club Barrow. That's all from us 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 the details on the top stories direct to your email each morning by the briefing to sign up just head to kentonline.co.uk news you can trust. This is the kent online podcast. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
