Catch up on the latest environmental news from across the county with Sofia Akin.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hello and welcome to Kent on Climate live on KMTV.
00:21 I'm Sophia Akin and in this show we discuss
00:23 all things related to environmental issues in the county.
00:27 How's climate change impacting Kent?
00:29 What are communities in the county doing to tackle it?
00:32 And how can you help at home?
00:34 Each week we'll be taking a deep dive
00:36 into a new environmental issue in Kent
00:38 and I'll be joined by expert guests.
00:40 Today we have a very packed show.
00:42 We're talking about solar farms, land slips, orangutans,
00:45 kestrels, ewe lairs and it's waste week.
00:48 A lot to fit in tonight.
00:50 But first up, it's time for a roundup
00:52 of the recent climate headlines from across the county
00:55 with our climate reporter, Kristen Hawthorne,
00:58 including bisons, oil spills and cows confronting litter.
01:01 Take a look.
01:02 - Kent Wildlife Park welcomes two new bison bills.
01:08 The British Conservation Charity Wildwood Trust
01:11 has welcomed two new young bison bills
01:13 at its Kent Park on Wednesday morning.
01:16 These bison are important to the ecosystem
01:18 and will help to manage the woodland.
01:21 - They are perfect, absolutely perfect.
01:24 We couldn't ask for better.
01:25 And this is the matriarch in the bleen,
01:29 came from Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland.
01:31 And so I kept thinking, well, gee,
01:34 if they are just a fraction of what she is,
01:37 they are gonna be spectacular.
01:39 And you can see it.
01:41 They work so well with their bison
01:44 and it's an absolute,
01:45 that's a tremendous privilege to have them.
01:47 - Visitors can see the bison in their enclosure
01:49 opposite the bison platform,
01:51 providing a bird's eye view of the bleen.
01:53 There are now five bisons to find.
01:55 Investigation launched into oil spill
02:00 at the Great River Star.
02:02 During February, an investigation was launched
02:04 into an oil spill at the Great River Star near Canterbury,
02:08 after over 30 reports were made
02:10 of dead animals being found at the location.
02:12 The spill was found to be coming
02:13 from the decommissioned Chartham paper mill site.
02:16 The unknown amount of oil has now been mostly contained,
02:19 yet a spokesman for the Environmental Agency
02:22 has asked the public to continue reporting sightings of oil
02:25 to the incident hotline.
02:26 Rise in litter being discarded at beauty spots in Kent.
02:32 Towards the end of February,
02:34 rangers from the Kent Wildlife Trust
02:36 have reported a rise in the amount of litter
02:38 being discarded at beauty spots in Kent.
02:40 One of these locations includes Heather Corrie Vale
02:44 Nature Reserve in Darnath Valley.
02:46 There are fears that this litter may kill or injure cattle
02:49 that graze the areas.
02:51 So far, several animals have been injured,
02:54 including a Highland cow that had some glass
02:56 from a beer bottle wedged in its hoof.
02:59 Conservation grazing ranger Jess Alam states,
03:02 "It poses a real risk to our grazing animals.
03:05 "They have healthy appetites
03:06 "and will have a chomp at most things
03:08 "as they cannot decipher rubbish from food."
03:11 Now, controversial plans to build an 150 megawatt battery
03:20 at the UK's largest solar park in Faversham
03:22 have been pushed back.
03:24 In its 40-year life, an explosion is likely,
03:26 according to opposition groups
03:28 led by a former Apollo 11 scientist.
03:31 Although councillors voted no last week,
03:33 it's likely the Cleve Hills solar farm
03:35 will challenge the vote,
03:36 leading to what could be a lengthy legal battle.
03:39 Our local democracy reporter Gabriel Morris has more.
03:42 It's divided the local community,
03:46 and it's set to become even more controversial.
03:49 This will soon be the biggest solar farm in the UK,
03:53 and Cleve Hill will cover the equivalent
03:55 of nearly 700 football pitchers.
03:59 But much of the power will be generated in the daytime
04:02 when demand is lower.
04:04 So what do you do with all that energy?
04:06 Well, it needs to be stored in a battery,
04:09 and it's a big one, a 150 megawatt battery.
04:13 The proposed location, just over my shoulder.
04:17 This former NASA rocket scientist and local
04:19 believes there's a high probability
04:22 there could be a major incident.
04:24 In the 40-year life of the solar power station,
04:31 there is likely to be an explosion.
04:33 The fire can propagate from a single small battery,
04:37 and there are millions of small batteries in this.
04:40 The problem is that a fire or overheating in one battery
04:47 can actually spread to enabling batteries,
04:49 and that's called thermal runaway.
04:51 For the batteries, work can't commence
04:54 till local councillors approve the safety management plan.
04:58 And as they came to vote on Wednesday evening,
05:00 they were met by protesters.
05:03 The residents there at Graveney wouldn't say that the solar farm
05:07 itself is a problem.
05:08 The problem is the safety of the batteries,
05:10 that the battery safety plan, as it stands,
05:14 does not have any warning system in place.
05:18 It doesn't have any evacuation plans
05:20 for approximately 30,000 people who could be impacted.
05:25 Inside the chamber, councillors heard from a battery consultant
05:29 who reassured members the local fire service will be ready.
05:34 But discussing batteries proved to be a confusing topic.
05:39 I know when we sit on the planning committee,
05:41 we look at loads of things to do with planning,
05:44 but as Councillor Birkin said,
05:46 I think this is way beyond the realms of planning.
05:52 So I'm having a bit of difficulty with the chair, sorry.
05:56 But after a lengthy four-hour debate,
05:59 the management plan was voted down.
06:02 And I think it was the right decision this evening
06:04 to reject the officer's recommendation
06:07 and not proceed with this plan.
06:09 Could be expensive now for the council.
06:12 Well, we have a robust reason for not running
06:14 with the officer's recommendation,
06:16 and I'm very confident that we will win at appeal.
06:20 The decision is a victory for now for the protesters,
06:23 but they know the battle will continue.
06:26 Gabriel Morris, New Graveney.
06:29 Gabriel joins me now.
06:30 So firstly, is it the renewable energy that they're against
06:33 or what exactly is it that they're against?
06:35 Well, you would have seen some protesters in my report just then.
06:38 They're from the local community.
06:40 Now, some of them have been against the solar park
06:43 since the get-go.
06:45 It was first announced about five or six years ago.
06:48 The DCO, which from the government,
06:50 was approved back in May 2020.
06:53 And at that time, there was much opposition, as I said,
06:55 from some of those opponents.
06:57 Now, many of them aren't actually against solar power,
07:00 per se.
07:01 What they are against is the scale of the solar farm.
07:04 It's absolutely huge.
07:05 I actually walked one perimeter of it,
07:08 and that took me around about an hour to walk it.
07:11 And you've got to think.
07:12 You've got to do that another three times to finish it.
07:14 So if you were going to do a circle walk,
07:15 you'd be talking three or four hours
07:17 to walk the actual perimeter of it.
07:18 It is the UK's largest solar park,
07:21 and it will power some 20,000 homes.
07:24 Now, that issue is, as you've seen in my report,
07:27 that, well, the problem is when most people use energy,
07:33 it's in the evening or in the morning
07:35 when getting ready for work.
07:37 Now, solar power is only in the daytime,
07:40 so you've got to be able to store that energy somehow,
07:43 and batteries are needed.
07:45 And that's why I had to go to Swale Borough Council,
07:47 the local authority, to have that approved.
07:50 Swale Borough Council, as you saw last Wednesday,
07:53 they didn't approve it.
07:54 There was a bit of a debate there.
07:56 We saw one of the councillors walking out.
07:57 Yeah, Andy Booth.
07:57 I wanted to ask you.
07:58 You were there when that happened.
07:59 What was that like?
08:00 Well, he didn't walk out midway through the meeting.
08:02 It was a very long meeting, four hours.
08:04 He left immediately after it was voted down.
08:08 He was in favour of the batteries being put there.
08:11 And to be quite honest, it's going
08:13 to go now for a lengthy, probably uphill process
08:16 before a decision will be made.
08:18 It's likely that Cleve Hill, the solar partner developers,
08:21 will uphill this decision.
08:23 Could potentially go for a legal process as well,
08:28 and that could prove to be expensive for Swale Borough
08:32 Council.
08:33 The issue is, well, for the councillors,
08:35 is that solar power, batteries, is an issue
08:38 that they're not used to.
08:39 These are trained councillors on planning.
08:41 They approve housing estates.
08:43 Batteries, it's very new to them.
08:44 It's very complex for them to come to a decision.
08:46 When will we find out?
08:48 We don't know.
08:48 OK, great.
08:49 Gabriel, thank you very much.
08:51 Now, emergency repairs to the train line at Newington
08:54 are set to be complete by next Monday,
08:57 following a landslip causing widespread travel disruption.
09:00 Tens of thousands of passengers have
09:02 seen their journeys disrupted last week,
09:04 with rail replacement running between Chillingham
09:07 and Sittingbourne throughout the week.
09:09 Network Rail says that they've spent millions preparing
09:12 for the increasingly wet weather,
09:14 but that costs will increase if climate change continues.
09:17 Oliver Leeder de Sack's reports.
09:19 Men at work as passengers in Kent struggle to get to work.
09:24 Last Friday, Network Rail found a 40-metre crack
09:28 in the rail embankment next to Newington,
09:31 leading to emergency repairs this week.
09:34 The landslip has left passengers in the county
09:36 who rely on the train line between Chillingham
09:38 and Sittingbourne stuck between a rock and a hard place.
09:43 So tens of thousands of passengers
09:45 are using this line, some to commute to London,
09:47 some to go down to the coastal towns,
09:50 and some to go into Canterbury for the universities
09:52 and shop in there.
09:54 So we know this has hugely affected our passengers,
09:56 and we do thank them, but this is all about
09:59 getting our passengers home safe every day.
10:01 And as you can see by the works behind me,
10:03 it's been a serious safety incident here at Newington,
10:06 and the works have been vital to actually stabilise the line
10:10 and make it safe for the future.
10:11 You can see the scale of the work being done here
10:14 in Newington just over my shoulder.
10:16 The embankment is five metres high.
10:19 That is taller than a two-storey building.
10:22 And 4,000 tonnes of gravel is being used
10:25 to stabilise this embankment.
10:29 But Network Rail says that sites like these
10:31 could become more common,
10:33 with climate change getting worse in the county.
10:36 This is the wettest 12 months on record on Kent,
10:39 so our embankments are saturated.
10:41 And unfortunately, over the last few years,
10:43 we have seen quite a big increase
10:46 in embankment or earthworks.
10:48 These types of works are hugely costly,
10:52 and as I've already said, we've spent massively more
10:55 than we planned to in this control period.
10:59 The railway, like probably like everywhere else,
11:00 is facing growing challenges around climate change,
11:06 and it will need a lot of investment
11:09 to ensure that actually we are able to manage that
11:13 as we move forward.
11:14 Works are on track to come to a halt by Monday,
11:18 with services resuming at the beginning of next week.
11:21 But with these emergency repairs becoming more common,
11:25 Kent commuters will have to dig in
11:26 and brace themselves for future disruption.
11:29 Oliver Leeds of the Saks reporting for KMTV.
11:33 Time for a break now, but coming up,
11:35 we'll meet the new arrivals,
11:36 and only two of their kind to be rehomed in the southeast.
11:40 The Sumatra and Orangutan brothers
11:41 came from a zoo in Switzerland
11:43 and are now getting settled all the way in Hithe.
11:46 We've been to visit them and find out
11:47 why they're critically endangered.
11:49 And also, we've been talking to Edenbridge businesses
11:52 in the six months since Ules was expanded into Kent.
11:55 All that and more coming after this break.
11:57 See you very soon.
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15:07 Hello and welcome back to Kentonite live on KMTV.
15:12 Now they share 97% of our DNA
15:15 and are one of the world's most endangered primates.
15:18 Two Sumatran orangutans have been rehomed in Hithe.
15:22 They came over from a zoo in Zurich where they were born
15:25 but the wild population of these solitary mammals is in decline
15:28 because of the demand for palm oil.
15:30 Keepers at Port Lim hope to release them into the wild
15:33 one day under protection and Abbey Hook was lucky to meet them.
15:38 The difference between us and them, just 3% of DNA.
15:43 Sumatran orangutans Hedea and Maloo are the only of their kind
15:47 in the south east of England after being moved from Zurich Zoo in Switzerland.
15:53 These two brothers are actually some of the rarest subspecies of orangutan.
15:57 There's fewer than 14,000 of them left in the wild
16:00 and it's hoped that these two will be suitable one day to be returned back to Indonesia.
16:06 But the increasing demand for palm oil could leave them with no home to head to.
16:11 Indonesia and Malaysia now make up more than 85% of the global supply.
16:17 It's in a lot of processed foods, cosmetics and soaps.
16:21 According to the WWF, palm oil is in nearly half of all packaged products we find in supermarkets.
16:29 Timber and logging has a really big impact on them but nothing to the scale of palm oil.
16:34 So unsustainable palm oil plantations are clearing such vast areas of their natural habitat
16:39 at a rate that this species just can't recover from, can't keep up with.
16:44 It's decreasing the amount of food they have, it's decreasing their habitat
16:47 so it's closing them in tighter together and it's also causing a lot of problems
16:51 for people that are residents of those areas as well.
16:53 So you get a lot of human wildlife conflict which means they're moving into farmland,
16:57 destroying farmland for food and it's causing big issues for humans as well as it is for orangutans too.
17:03 The pair are part of a project to protect the subspecies and educate the public.
17:10 One day they could even be part of a breeding programme for a generation of orangutans here in Hive.
17:16 What's really interesting about them is how different they are to other great apes.
17:19 So yeah, they are a solitary animal, they're also arboreal,
17:22 which means they spend 90% of their time up in the trees, they rarely come down onto the ground.
17:27 So getting a look at how we look after them and how they interact with each other
17:31 when I compare it to the gorillas which are obviously a social species,
17:35 more like humans and chimpanzees and bonobos.
17:37 A solitary species but these brothers have been inseparable since birth.
17:43 So perhaps that's why they've learnt how to share.
17:46 Oh that's really sweet, like a trade.
17:55 Yeah, thank you.
17:56 Okay, I'll take that.
17:58 You just pick.
18:01 Do you think that's like a trade?
18:02 Yeah, so he wants to swap what he has for what I've got.
18:05 Wow.
18:05 And he isn't really getting that I'm letting him pick out of the tree.
18:08 Yeah.
18:08 This subspecies is one of the world's most critically endangered primates.
18:15 Portlem's project now is to be part of the solution.
18:19 Abbey Hook for KMTV in Hive.
18:23 So adorable those orangutans and you can find out a little bit more about them
18:27 over on Kent Online where they've done an article on them as well.
18:30 Now from one animal swinging in the trees to another soaring through the skies.
18:35 Each week we'll be taking a look at a different species of Kent wildlife,
18:39 explaining where you can find them, what they look like and what you can do to help look after them.
18:44 This week our climate reporter Daisy Page took to look at one of Kent's most recognisable birds,
18:49 the kestrel.
18:51 The kestrel. Found all year round.
18:54 This bird of prey can be spotted in a range of habitats from coastal wetlands
18:58 to heathlands and moors by the way of towns and gardens.
19:01 Kestrels are typically seen hovering with their pointed wings held out on the hunt for
19:05 their favourite prey, foals, though they will settle for small mammals and even lizards.
19:11 The males and females have similar but distinct patterns, with adult males having a grey head.
19:16 Right now in February, kestrels will be on the hunt for their partner,
19:21 and once paired, rather than building their own nest,
19:24 they will use an old nest built by other birds or natural hollows, ledges or cliffs.
19:29 But while they are currently getting ready to welcome their offspring,
19:33 kestrels are on the amber list for birds of conservation concern.
19:36 Well as I said we'll have more of those reports coming in the next few weeks.
19:41 But now Edenbridge businesses have described the past half year as hell,
19:44 as they say they feel the Mayor of London is pushing them out of the capital.
19:48 Six months ago, Sadiq Khan made the decision to expand London's ultra-low emission zones
19:53 to encompass all of London's boroughs, including those bordering Kent.
19:57 It's a scheme aiming to lower emissions and charges motorists with high-polluting vehicles
20:02 every time they enter the zone.
20:03 Seven miles from the border lies Edenbridge.
20:06 I've been along to find out how it's impacting locals.
20:09 Six months ago, London's ultra-low emission zones were expanded into Kent.
20:14 They now cover all of London's boroughs.
20:17 And in West Kent lies Edenbridge, a mere eight miles from the new low emission areas.
20:24 Businesses here say the past half year has been hell.
20:27 Jonathan started his kitchen business in the middle of the pandemic,
20:31 but said he can't afford to change his van, and this is costing his business.
20:36 If we are doing a kitchen in the area, that's going to be every day we drive into the area,
20:41 then you've got that emission charge, which then we have to pass on to the clients.
20:46 So I've probably lost over 20% of the business.
20:48 Around 20 or so minutes down the road from Edenbridge lies Biggin Hill.
20:53 This is within London's ultra-low emission zones, but it's so close to Kent that for
20:58 those businesses in Edenbridge trying to get from A to B, they have most of the time no
21:02 choice but to come this way.
21:03 And each time they do, it's costing them ÂŁ12.50 if their car isn't compliant with the scheme.
21:09 Gareth owns two hospitality businesses with his wife, Steph.
21:13 He described how he's lost around 10% of his trade,
21:16 as one of his major delivery routes is within the zone.
21:19 He said it's cost him hundreds of pounds.
21:22 In terms of delivery areas, we've had to squash one route altogether up to Biggin Hill.
21:27 People aren't prepared to pay the money, to be honest.
21:29 It's almost like London, in a sense, stay out.
21:33 It's unfair to the businesses of Kent who are trying to operate in the area.
21:37 For local florist Sarah, she's struggling to visit her wholesaler in London.
21:42 I often get things delivered. I have flowers delivered nearly every day.
21:46 You know, that's not cost free for me because those companies have either had to update their
21:54 vehicles or they're having to pay the charge and they're not keeping that to themselves,
21:58 they're passing it on.
21:59 But one campaigner is concerned for the health of her children and future generations.
22:05 She supports the expansion of EULAZ.
22:07 We have businesses on the one hand saying we can't afford it or individuals,
22:13 and we have families saying, look, my kid is sick, my kid is in hospital.
22:17 I can really only reiterate my call to national government to sort this mess out.
22:23 We should not be in a situation where public transport
22:26 is underfunded and therefore people are dependent on their cars.
22:31 TfL says London-wide EULAZ is vital in tackling the triple challenges of air pollution,
22:38 the climate emergency and congestion.
22:40 And latest data shows 95% of vehicles driving in the zone are already compliant with the scheme.
22:46 TfL says the mayor has written to the government to ask for a national scrappage scheme.
22:51 While the Department for Transport says they've invested significantly into Kent's public
22:56 transport, including almost ÂŁ40 million into bus services and ÂŁ3.5 million towards
23:03 Thanet Parkway station.
23:04 Sophia Akin for KMTV in Edenbridge.
23:08 Now in Kent, a little more than 73% of all waste and recycling stays here to be processed.
23:14 But what happens to our waste and more importantly, how do we reduce it?
23:19 A campaign known as Waste Week has set out to teach young people about the fast growing
23:24 rubbish and show them how to dispose of litter correctly.
23:27 Well, Daisy joins us now to talk about Waste Week and how it can help us to be more mindful
23:31 towards the environment.
23:32 So Daisy, first of all, Waste Week, a lot of people wouldn't have heard of Waste Week.
23:36 So tell us a little bit about it, first of all.
23:38 No, so Waste Week actually started on Monday the 4th and it's gonna go all the way to
23:43 March the 10th as well.
23:45 So we've still got a little while, we've been over two days into it.
23:47 And as you mentioned, it is a campaign to educate young people on waste and how to dispose
23:52 of it correctly, because I know that can be quite difficult sometimes.
23:56 Currently, there are 142 schools signed up to this campaign as well, which is really
24:01 cool.
24:01 This campaign also has weekly themes as well.
24:05 And this week is all about batteries.
24:08 And they have a scheme in place.
24:10 So when you sign up, they'll send you a box.
24:11 And if you can fill that up, they send you a ÂŁ30 or they could send you a ÂŁ30 book
24:16 voucher, which I think is pretty cool.
24:19 Isn't it?
24:19 Well, I think it's World Book Day tomorrow as well or coming up.
24:22 Batteries is one I think a lot of people wouldn't know how to correctly dispose of.
24:26 They wouldn't know that they kind of you have to put it in a certain, you know, in a certain
24:30 different recycling bin.
24:32 So how do we just correctly dispose of them?
24:36 Yeah, so in the UK, we actually dispose of loads of batteries each year.
24:41 They've worked out that if you line up each battery end to end that we dispose of yearly,
24:46 it can take us from the UK to Australia and all the way back to the UK.
24:51 So that just kind of puts it into perspective.
24:53 I know we use batteries in everyday life.
24:56 I've got them in my TV remotes and probably in cupboards at home.
24:59 You know, you've got those dead ones lying around.
25:01 And the important thing is to make sure that you're disposing of it correctly.
25:05 And that's not putting it into your normal bin at home.
25:08 It's actually going to maybe a recycling centre.
25:11 A lot of them have designated sections where you have like your gardening area, electronic
25:16 area, and there'll be a battery area.
25:18 And I know sometimes shops also has a designated area for them as well.
25:22 So when you go in your weekly shop, just keep an eye out for those battery disposal.
25:26 Yeah, I was going to say, I know that's how my parents will dispose of them.
25:29 As you say, you can take them to these recycling plants, but my parents tend to go to supermarket.
25:34 That might be a bit more convenient for people if they're already going there to do their
25:38 weekly shop.
25:39 But why is this so important?
25:41 How can batteries impact the environment?
25:44 Yeah, so as I said, obviously putting your batteries into your normal household rubbish,
25:49 that can actually lead them to end up in landfill.
25:52 And the thing about batteries, they can take 100 years to completely break down.
25:57 And that's just the battery.
25:58 The chemicals inside are really toxic and they actually never get like break down correctly.
26:04 So when the battery breaks down itself, the toxins are still there and they can seep into
26:09 our soil, our water.
26:11 And that overall has an impact on our ecosystem.
26:13 And when we're talking about ecosystems, we're talking from birds to bugs to plants.
26:18 Everything around us can be impacted by those toxins.
26:21 And just very, very quickly, how can we be less wasteful?
26:24 How can we reduce the amount of waste we have?
26:26 Yep, so that's just the reduce, recycle and reuse that we all know.
26:31 Like you said, book day coming up, maybe you can recycle some old materials into an outfit.
26:35 Love that.
26:36 Yeah, well, I'm sure we'll be hearing more from you.
26:38 You've always got some brilliant tips, Daisy, so thank you very much for joining us.
26:42 Well, that's all we've got time for on this week's episode of Kent on Climate.
26:46 We'll be back at the same time next week with another episode.
26:50 See you then.
26:50 Goodbye.
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