Angry parents living close by to a new school in Ebbsfleet have slammed the admissions policy – and say they were sold a dream they just haven’t got.
They launched a petition which forced the school to change its criteria and increase its intake after it was revealed that if it was oversubscribed, other pupils would get priority over those who live nearby.
Also in today’s podcast, a Herne Bay mum says she’s horrified after a child found a small blade in chips bought on a Kent pier.
He’d bought the portion to share with his friends and was lucky it was spotted before someone bit into it.
There are calls for bosses in Tonbridge and Malling to put an end to parking restrictions which are threatening the survival of a popular farmers’ market.
Critics say the four hour limit is putting unwelcome pressure on traders and at this rate they’ll have no market left.
You can also find out which KFC outlet in Kent has been ranked as one of the country’s worst when it comes to hygiene.
The Colonel has responded to the claims – saying they have high standards and since the result have been working hard to get things back up to scratch.
And the KentOnline Podcast has been speaking to the owners of a new family entertainment centre that’s opened in Sittingbourne.
The £20,000 refurb to the old Snooker and Sports bar now includes an 18-hole neon crazy golf course, pool room and darts facilities.
Kent Online News. News You Can Trust. This is the Kent Online Podcast. Kate Faulkner. Hello. I hope you're okay. It's Wednesday, September 25th. Thank you for downloading today's podcast. Coming up today will have details on a KFC restaurant in Kent that's been branded as one of the most unhygienic in the whole country. We'll also hear from the Jills Boss after their disappointing loss in the EFL Cup last night. But first taking a look at our top story today. A school in EBS Fleet has been forced to be a part of the pandemic. We'll see you in the next few days. EBS Fleet has been forced to change its admissions policy following backlash from parents. It's after local families discovered they were sixth on the priority list of the new Alcaten Academy with pupils from other schools in the Althea Academy's trust in the queue ahead of them. The school will now increase its intake as part of a revision to the criteria. I've been speaking to Councillor for EBS Fleet Ward on Darkford Borough Council, Danny Nicklin. Local residents, when they heard about the admissions criteria for the Athenia trust impact in the Alcaten school in EBS Fleet, were really concerned that the criteria put local geographical locations sixth on the list and would mean it'd be really difficult for local people who have moved to EBS Fleet for the exact reason in many cases to secure good school places for their children would find it even more difficult. And we've seen this happen before with previous schools where local people struggle to secure places. And you mentioned, I think, before that you've been speaking to some residents who moved there specifically to be able to get a good school place. Yes, indeed. I mean, the Garden City concept is around integrated infrastructure and schools are a massive part of that. And when people move to EBS Fleet, they move with the future in mind. And that is good secure schools for their children. So, yes, I'm myself included. I live locally, the young family will be looking for school places. So, I do speak to a lot of residents who have been in this situation and found themselves disappointed because they weren't able to secure the school within walking distance at their home. I think the point is, is that a lot of the sales offices and developers sold a concept where you could walk to school, ride scooters and bikes and things and it is a lifestyle and to be disappointed in that way obviously is very difficult for parents. So, I totally get where they're coming from and that's why I was welcome to support this campaign. And when you've been in contact with the trust just to sort of raise the concerns of the residents. What has the trust response been? I mean, I'd say that the thing you trust have been very sympathetic and they do understand the wealth of public feeling when they, when residents learned that there were geographical location was sick on the criteria. And they had said that they were welcome to revisit the consultation that they run in conjunction with Kent County Council to revisit the admissions criteria for future admissions. Obviously, I would love for that criteria to be and that admission criteria to be reviewed for this year so that when the applications open in November for next September's enrollment. And if that's something they're prepared to do, I'd obviously welcome that. But I'm always happy to talk to any local trusts that schools are impacted local residency and absolutely to work with them in partnership on making sure we get the right result. The school say once the full revised policy has been agreed, it will be shared with the community. Kent Online News. A former Kent police officer who swindled members of a horse racing betting syndicate out of at least 10 million pounds has been jailed. Mike Stanley ran a group with 6,000 members that collapsed in 2019. The 68 year old from resolution close in Walderslade has been locked up for six years. An Ashford teenager who downloaded inappropriate videos and tried to send explicit messages to another teen has been spared jail. Thomas Devonshire also propositioned a chat room user who turned out to be an undercover police officer. The 20 year old who lives in Leslie Gilbert Lane was given a 12 month suspended sentence. He must attend a treatment program rehab and do 100 hours of unpaid work. He'll also have to sign up to the sex offenders register and be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years. A president workshop instructor for Medway is due in court accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a convicted murderer. 33 year old Haley Jones in Strewd has been charged with misconduct in a public office. She's due in court alongside 31 year old Jordan McSweeney, who's serving a life sentence for the murder of Zara Alina in illford in 2022. A motorcycle has remained in hospital after being involved in a crash with an Audi in Margate. He was airlifted to hospital with what we're told was serious injuries just before 3pm on Friday. The incident forced college road to close for more than two hours as investigations continue police are appealing for witnesses to come forward. A man's been charged with burgling to co-op stores near Ashford. He was arrested after a shop in Selench was broken into in the early hours of Monday. The 35 year old is also accused of targeting a branch in Favisham last month. He'll appear at crowd court in October. Kent online news. A fire is broken out at a bungalow in Maidstone after heat from a light bulb caused a dried out wasps nest to catch a light. Crews were called to tackle the blaze in the roof of a property on Fortune's Lane just after four yesterday afternoon. One woman was checked over by paramedics as a precaution after breathing in smoke. There's a warning not to swim in the sea on part of the Kent coast after a sewage release. It's been described as an ongoing pollution incident at Shakespeare Beach in Dover. There's also a risk. Tides will bring waste into the harbour. We're told daily tests are being carried out until the beach is safe to reopen. A meeting tonight will decide if a Midway Zoo owner can sell off some of his land for housing. If approved, the controversial plans would see 44 properties built on the site on the Hoop Peninsula. Andrew Cowell set up the Fenn Bell Conservation Project and says they're in desperate need of cash. We started off really rescuing animals many years ago and the place is developed into a zoo which mainly works with education and conservation and projects like that. We take 60,000 visitors a year which is, for a small place, like I said, is amazing. I mean, realistically I think we can get to 100,000 visitors a year. But what we really do is we work with schools, colleges and do a lot of work in the background on conservation and education but really what people will know is always turning up and actually coming to the zoo and families and generally a nice afternoon now. So that's where we earn our money, but the money really gets funneled into other things. So the zoo really is a modern-day zoo. And I know you went through the pandemic and that's a challenging time for everybody but I think it was particularly challenging here at a zoo where you really can have any more coming into it. Yeah, the pandemic was a terrible time for us. I mean, we went from around about the March when we shut down to looking forward to spring and the summer and really, you know, exploding and doing really, really well to absolutely nothing. We were not a pound coming in. We were very, very lucky. We were supported by the local community and we raised around about 50,000 pounds on a go-friendly page. And, you know, today we still didn't have any money given to us by the government, although we paid two business rates here. We never got one pound as a zoo to support the animals. And now you are selling a bit of land. Tell us why you're choosing to do that. Yeah, the land sale is controversial because obviously I fully understand, you know, why people don't want the houses, but they don't want the houses anywhere. So it's sort of a horrible thing to have to do. But the fact of the matter is the zoo has taken an awful big hit with the pandemic. It has taken a massive hit with the cost of living. And we really need to be able to balance our books and move forward. We need to invest into new buildings here. We need to invest into our cesspits. We need to invest into solar panel to drive our electrical bill down. So all these things are really important. And that money is never going to be made. We still have many debts that we borrowed money through the pandemic to survive. And that is causing us to be a financial difference. There have been more than 60 objections with neighbours claiming the properties would be out of keeping. A KFC in Kent has been rated as one of the most unhygienic in the country after inspectors blasted its poor level of cleaning. The fast food restaurant in Canterbury City Centre has been given a two star rating thanks to damaged floor tiles and multi sealant near washing up sinks. The level of cleaning was overall found to be poor and an environmental health officer from Council discovered the water pressure in the main hand wash basin was also low. A spokesperson for the chain says the colonel has the highest of standards and since this result the restaurant team has been working really hard to get things back up to scratch. They'll be getting in touch with officials to arrange a follow up inspection. New figures showed the number of temporary road closures in Kent has reached an all time high. Permits to shut the highways temporarily have shot up in recent years with more than 16,000 in the last 12 months alone. Much of the work is associated with house building in the county while KCC must carry out essential maintenance and repairs such as pothole patching. Councillor Sean Holden is chairman of the Environment and Transport Committee at KCC. It's universally annoying for all residents of Kent that we have gone from 4,000 to 12,16,000 road closures a year. The county council's job is to make sure that that is not as problematic as it could be for the residents of Kent. I was meeting with the inspectors and the road closure teams and I was reassured that we are bearing down on people who are misusing their permits to close roads or not doing it properly, not putting up diversion signs properly. We've appointed new road closure inspectors to make sure that happens. It's no consolation that we can't cut down the number of closures and these are often by utility companies replacing gas mains, putting in electrical connections and so on or water leaks. We have to do that and we have to allow them to do that. The main thing is that the county council keeps up the pressure on those to do it properly and minimise the disruption to the residents of Kent. I'm satisfied that the team is doing that and that it does have that in the forefront of its mind, but it's still unquestionably very annoying the number of closures we get. Kent Online News. Her mom said she was horrified after her son's friend found a razor blade like object in his portion of chips. The food had come from the view fish and chips on the pier. The staff say it wasn't a razor, but a piece of machinery they used to cut the chips. They received their money back and a replacement serving bosses say they're extremely sorry and have put measures in place to make sure it doesn't happen again. A petition is calling for the reversal of new parking restrictions which are threatening the survival of West Malling farmers market has already reached more than 500 signatures. Tundridge and Malling Council have imposed a four hour parking limit which traders say doesn't allow enough time to set up and then pack away stores. A quarter of storeholders have pulled out already. The council has promised to review the changes in a year. At Kent Online, you can read the full story of a nurse working at Margate's QEQM who went on to shock the world. Kyle Bollinger was also known as the Canterbury Cannibal. He'd once boasted online about how he'd killed and eaten both a five year old and a 39 year old colleague. He'd also tried to lure a school girl from Mexico to whose home in Canterbury where they planned to engage in sex acts before he decapitated her and ate her remains. He now lives thousands of miles away in his native USA. Click on the story on our website for all the details. Kent Online News. She's been on KMM breakfast chatting about her first new music in five years. She's been in California working on a new album which will be out later this month. I was kind of releasing singles and stuff but then I was like no I really want to do a full album and kind of go back to why I love music. What I think is amazing about music and make the album that I've always wanted to and that's why we took so long to make it but I'm so happy that it's fine. I've finally done an out there in the world. It's definitely worth the way and the album is called Enchino. Is that right? Is that the right pronunciation? It's actually Encino. There were two ways and you went the wrong way. I went the wrong way. I actually studied, I don't know if it is Italian but I did study Italian at school and wasn't good at that either. So double whammy but it translates. I think it might be Spanish. Is it Spanish? I think so. I'm doing so well. I tell you all the languages but in English there we go. Hang on, don't judge too any on that one. I was going to say apparently it translates to the word oak which would make sense if you're talking about the music feeling natural and real and live. Was that kind of part of the process? Well that's so cool that you've looked into it and found that because it's called Encino because it's a place in California. It's where I wrote the whole thing and my previous albums I was working with all different producers and writers every single day, all different sounds and meeting those people. This was made in a completely different way. It was just us in a room in a studio in Encino in California. So that's where it got its name from because it's the first time I've ever made an album with just a couple of people and over a long period of time. So I really got to build up a relationship with them where I could talk about anything and write about anything. It's really hard to do that with someone you've just met one day. If you missed the chat you can listen now at kmfm.co.uk Kent Online News. Pleasure centres in Medway are set to receive £1.5 million worth of improvement funding. It's thanks to savings made on the construction of Cossington Park which is replaced the former splashes centre in Rainham. Medway Park in Gillingham and Strewd Sports Centre are set to receive benefits council bosses we'll consider the plans next week. An immersive art display of the royal family has led up Canterbury Cathedral. The Crown and Coronation Show features projections of more than a thousand years of royal history. It's on until Saturday. And a new family entertainment centre has opened in sitting-born. Game on has opened on the high street after a month of renovations. It includes an 18-hole neon crazy golf course as well as a pool room, darts and a bar Jordan Dutton has been speaking to reporter Kara Simmons. Because it was a snooker club in that before. I didn't want to go down that route again because it's felt so many times. And then thinking about the youngsters and the troubles and all that sort of stuff. Our end goal was always to make this place a family entertainment centre where your mum's dads and the kids can come on and have a good time. We've got all the retro arcade in that. Brings of mums and dads back to their youth. I mean I'm certainly free and some of these games were when I was younger. So I remember it. And it just reminisces you out. And then obviously you've got a family crazy golf in the end as well. So it's all the process. So the first stage is what was done. It's adults only over 18 members. And then we've been hopefully about a much time. It's 28 days. We're then allowed to open. We'll be then allowed to open 10-0 free to allow kids to come in with their mums and dads. And then they'll probably 10-0-4. And then from 4 on we're just still over 18s. So the kids come into the days that when we go to the adults because they need that separation. I think it's quite good to have a separation where the mums and dads can come and enjoy themselves without their kids. And also can bring their kids as well. So that's what we try to create. We've got other bits and bobs going to be happening soon as well. We've got the retro arcades, the old Pac-Man space invaders and all that. That's going to be like an hourly rate. It's all going to be like a free play. So you'll be able to come in, pay whatever we decide. And you've played that for an hour. Just reminisce. And then the game console room as well. Where we'll have the Xbox's play stations and all that. And then the big one is all the parties. We're going to try and do. Kids' parties, adults' parties, corporate events and stuff like that for the local people as well. But the most important thing is that we're trying to get kids off the street. I just had a chat with one of the police officers. He literally just missed him. And he's been looking for some way to do a youth club. And so we've volunteered that you can use this. You can use it for a couple of hours a week on, I think instead of Wednesday, probably. The kids can come in here with their supervision. We'll give it all to them for free. And they can play, give them juice and all that. And they can play and have a good sign for a couple of hours and get some off the street. So we're trying to do stuff for the community as well, which is what we're all about. Yeah, I think everyone needs that. I think so. I mean, sitting alone hasn't got the crazy golf course. And certainly nowhere in Kent, I know, has got the crazy pool. There is no one in Kent. It's got that in the minute. So we are being completely different in that thing. Obviously, we still got our pool tables and that. But, yeah, we're just trying to be a bit different. And again, some return the community out. You can see pictures of the refurb at Kent Online. Kent Online Sports. Football now and Gillingham have lost their second EFL trophy group game against Crystal Palace under 21s. It was a 3-1 defeat at Priestfield last night. Gillingham manager Mark Bonner has been sharing his thoughts on his team's performance. I didn't think it was great. I think it was probably reflective of what can happen when you make loads of changes and you just become a bit of a mix match in your team between some players getting an opportunity. Some players just getting some experience and some players just getting minutes. So it was disjointed, really. We should be offended by the goals we conceded. One from across, one from a corner. The third one from a slip but were too slow on the ball. In the first six, seven minutes of the second half we were good and looked at threat. And then that just kills the game, really. And then probably the moment that sums the game up for me is the penalty that they get. Luke had good save. But we make a poor decision to take a quick free kick. Then we get counter-attacked on. We win the ball back, give it back to them, put them in on goal for an opportunity, 1v1 and then they get the penalty. And I just think the game is littered with mistakes. So many bad decisions, so many errors with the ball. It was just messy, really scruffy. And then at the end, we scored a brilliant goal. I thought the header was a great one. And then we have a little bit of a push towards the end. I mean, it's a nailed on penalty for us that should get given 88th minute to go 3-2 and then who knows. But yeah, too long in the game. We won the level we want to be at. But probably just a little bit of a consequence of, in the end, lots of players going out. And for some tonight, especially some of the younger ones, it won't feel like that's a good night. But it will be somewhere down the line. And then for some that just need the game, it don't feel like a good night tonight. But it will be in the next few weeks when they need to play in the big games we've got coming up. They're now unlikely to progress in the competition. 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 via the briefing to sign up just head to kentonline.co.uk News you can trust. This is the Kent Online Podcast. [BLANK_AUDIO]
