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00:00Hello, good evening and welcome to Kent Tonight live on KMTV. I'm Abbey Hook. Here are your
00:26top stories on Friday the 20th of September. Two years and counting. A Chatham man still
00:33waiting for special needs assessment to give son vital support. Three, four, five years
00:39to be assessed. That's ridiculous. A silent start. Medway students say it's a bleak beginning
00:46for freshers week. It's in a really nice location but I feel like it has been quite dead in
00:53the past few years. All roads lead to Dover. Ancient Roman house reopened to the public.
01:00There's still finds that are uncovered, that are yet to be uncovered out on the Roman lawn.
01:17But first tonight, some breaking news this afternoon. A woman has died after suffering
01:22serious injuries following an explosion at her bungalow near Ashford. She was airlifted
01:26to hospital yesterday after the entire house turned to rubble. But this afternoon the fire
01:31service confirmed she passed away. Investigation teams are at the scene alongside a police
01:36cordon. Well Gabriel Morris joins me on the line now from the newsroom. Gabriel, what
01:40have we learnt this afternoon? Well Abbey, this is not the news that friends, family
01:48and of course us wanted to hear tonight. Kent Fire and Rescue confirming to us this afternoon
01:55that a woman who was airlifted to a London hospital following an explosion at a bungalow
02:00in Charing has died as a result of her injuries. Neighbours yesterday at around 11.30am reported
02:06hearing a loud bang and feeling their homes shaking. Now we have seen these dramatic photos
02:13today which show the extent of the damage to that bungalow. If you look closely you
02:18can just about make out the outlines of where the walls would have once been and also you
02:22can see some twisted beams and wooden frames. Now they might be dramatic photos but they
02:28show how serious the incident was and the scale of what emergency services have been
02:33dealing with in Charing, which is one of the most rural parts of Kent. It's a village in
02:38between Faversham and Ashford. Gabriel, what do we know about why this has happened? Well
02:46we still don't know much more other than it's an explosion cause unknown. An investigations
02:51team is at the scene alongside a police cordon. What Kent Fire and Rescue haven't done yet
02:57is ruled out if it's suspicious or not. We can expect to find that out in the next couple
03:02of days alongside the official cause of the explosion. However we can dispel the myth
03:09that a glider hit the building. That is now confirmed to be false. There were some rumours
03:14going around. What we do know though is a woman has died as a result of her injuries
03:18and we still don't have an update on the dog who was reported to walk out of the rubble
03:24yesterday. They were sent to a vet yesterday. Gabriel, thank you very much for those details.
03:33Now a Chatham man says he's been left waiting for two years for an SEND assessment to get
03:39him more support for his son. Trevor Macdonald is worried what will happen to seven-year-old
03:43Matthew who's believed to have autism if he doesn't get additional therapy. Medway Community
03:48Health have apologised saying they're experiencing extraordinary high demand and are talking
03:52to Trevor about what they can offer. Oliver Leder de Sacks has more. He looks so sweet
03:57and innocent doesn't he? He looks so sweet and innocent where he puts a wooden mouth
04:02in his mouth. But unfortunately he has his issues which need to be... I just need a little
04:07bit of assessment, a little bit of intervention. A loving father trying to help his son before
04:14things get worse. Trevor Macdonald has been trying to get an SEND assessment in Medway
04:22for his seven-year-old son Matthew since 2022. The assessment would mean that Matthew, who
04:30is believed to be on the autism spectrum, would have additional pathways to support.
04:36The problem is they can't seem to get one. It's absolutely horrendous. There's no way
04:44to access the system because it's like a closed shop. They will deal with you when they have
04:53to deal with you. When your time arrives, that's when you will be dealt with. But that's
04:59not acceptable is it? The length of time, three, four years, my son's two years, but
05:06the length of time to wait so many children, three, four, five years to be assessed, that's
05:11ridiculous. Trevor says he's called Snapdragons dozens of times over the last two years, but
05:17says he can't seem to get through. He's now worried it could take another year until Matthew
05:25is assessed for his needs. And that could have a significant impact on his life.
05:32Medway Community Healthcare have apologised for the wait time. With Tracey Webb, the Assistant
05:39Director for Children's and Planned Services, saying that like most children's health providers
05:45across the country, they have been receiving an extremely high number of referrals and
05:52that they are looking at every possible solution to the situation. Medway Community Healthcare
06:00say they are planning to follow up with Trevor to make sure he's aware of the support available
06:06while his son waits for an assessment. But with fears that his son's behaviour could
06:12get worse, for Trevor, any wait is far too long. Oliver, lead of the SACTS for KMTV in Chatham.
06:23A van driver who knocked down a seven-year-old boy in Folkestone would have only had a split
06:28second to react. William Brown Jr. died on the Sangley Esplanade near Folkestone back
06:33in December when Stuart Powell hit him into the path of another car. Today, an inquest
06:39has heard it was unavoidable. Kristen Hawthorne joins me now with more detail. Kristen, what
06:43can you tell us? Yes, so the inquest at Oakwood House in Maidstone today heard how the seven-year-old
06:49William Brown was playing football with two other children in his front garden on the
06:54Sangley Esplanade when a ball was kicked onto the road. William then crossed the road to
06:58retrieve the ball but was hit. He stepped onto the carriageway from between parked cars
07:04and from the inquest, it has been heard that the van driver who knocked down and killed
07:08the boy would have only had a second to see him before the collision and was therefore
07:14unavoidable. The grey Peugeot van struck William and threw him onto the path of an oncoming
07:19car back in December last year. Today, the coroner stated that the van driver stopped
07:25and looked back and acknowledging he struck the child but was in shock and left the scene.
07:31After fleeing the scene following the accident, he was arrested 24 hours later after handing
07:36himself in to police. What else was said in the way of evidence at the inquest today?
07:41Yes, so Police Sergeant Mark Myers was on the scene at the time and said in evidence,
07:46it is likely while William was between the parked cars, he would have been masked from
07:50the driver. He would have been visible to the van driver for one second if he was walking
07:55and half of the time if he was running. He went on to say the moment William entered
08:00onto the carriageway, the collision was unavoidable. This information is so important because this
08:05is a story we've actually been following since the beginning. With his family's support,
08:09they've spoken to us a number of times to share what they call William's message of
08:13happiness and joy. We even went on to live stream his funeral and his father, William
08:18Brown Senior, went on to dedicate an ice cream parlour to his son, something the local
08:23community supported and even got a visit from then Home Secretary James Cleverley. The latest
08:28development of course was of the sentencing of Stuart Paul, who was driving the van, who
08:35earlier this year pled guilty and was sentenced to 14 weeks imprisonment and suspended for
08:4112 months. But today, the update of the collision is that on the 6th of December last year,
08:47the collision was unavoidable.
08:49Kristen, thank you for those details.
08:51Now universities across the UK are welcoming thousands of students ahead of Freshers' Week
08:55but things seem to be having a slow start on the Medway campus, as Mahima Abedin's been
09:00finding out.
09:01Here on the Medway campus, there have been some changes made in the past year with the
09:05University of Kent shutting down some courses and the University of Greenwich expanding
09:10its footprint. But as we head into Freshers' Week, it seems these changes haven't had much
09:14of an impact on its students, as what's meant to be a week of fun is taking a slow start.
09:20I don't really see much going on, but just that there's more people, that's already a
09:25big difference.
09:26I would say there's not much in the uni, but I think it's okay.
09:33It's a really nice location, but I feel like it has been quite dead in the past few years
09:40and not a lot of students are coming around to utilise the things that it has to offer.
09:45It's the week where students are being welcomed and what you'd expect to see is loads of students
09:49walking around. There's even activities set up like chess. There's some over there like
09:53Connect Four and Jenga as well, but I've been here for quite a while now and I've not seen
09:58many students around.
09:59Although not many people were around to speak to on the Medway campus, a few said there
10:04isn't much to do in the area, but the council says it hopes to work with the universities
10:09to improve student satisfaction.
10:12Of course there's always room to improve and I think in some of the elements which I know
10:15are important to some, particularly things around public transport, Medway needs to do
10:19better.
10:20One of the things I'm looking to reinstate that happened a number of years ago, there
10:24used to be a regular liaison meeting between the council, the universities, the student
10:30bodies as well, making sure the environment is safe, is secure, is fun and also if there
10:36are issues from either organisations, we can make sure that they're tackled in a kind
10:41of supportive way.
10:42Despite some students feeling let down by the start of Freshers' Week, the University
10:46of Kent ranked 40th in the University League table that was released by the Sunday Times
10:51today. That makes it the sixth best university in the South East, but how does it factor
10:57in the different campuses?
10:58We've used two years of National Student Survey and on that basis Kent has gone up, but I
11:04can see, understandably, it's very different which campus you're based at. So you're at
11:09Medway and of course I know that the other campus is, I guess, the bigger campus, more
11:13of the, you know, I would never use that word, but perhaps it's flagship campus, but I mean
11:17depends on where you're based.
11:19The University of Kent has been contacted for a response and we've not yet received
11:23a statement, but for some students it's clear that their university experience might be
11:27quieter than they anticipated.
11:30Mahima Abedin for KMTV in Medway.
11:34Time for a very short break now, but sadness for Kent Cricket as their relegation from
11:38Division One is confirmed and more about the Roman buildings down in Dover you might not
11:43quite know were there. And a special guest at our sister station, KMFM, guess what popstar
11:47it is? Find out after the break.
14:34KMFM, KMFM, KMFM.
15:04Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight live on KMTV. To sport now and Kent's relegation
15:15from Division One of the county championship has been confirmed. A 10 wicket thrashing
15:20by Nottinghamshire sealed their fate as they now prepare for the next season in the second
15:25division. Earlier I was joined by Cameron Tucker with more details of the cricket.
15:30Cam, unfortunately a pretty bleak season on our side.
15:33Yeah, not the way that head coach Matt Walker would have wanted to end his tenure at Kent.
15:38I mean, looking at some of the numbers, I'm not very good with numbers the best time,
15:41but there's not very many big numbers really here to look at for the match. Pretty much
15:45a drubbing by Nottinghamshire, a 10 wicket win as you mentioned there. End of a four
15:52year stay in the Premier Domestic Division for Kent, which Matt Walker had overseen one
15:57of his highlights as the head coach of the club. Kent were pretty lucky really to avoid
16:03an innings defeat at the Spitfire ground. They began yesterday 85 not out and then
16:11it just sort of capitulated from there. Ended up 134 for six. Great performances from Jacob
16:17Duffy and Rob Lord from the Midlands side. Joey Everson and Hakeem Jordan for us. They
16:22did put on a bit of a stand for the eighth wicket, but the damage was already done and
16:26that now leaves not clear. 34 points of the two relegation spots. Kent clearly cemented
16:34at the bottom of that. Their only victory this year coming against fellow strugglers
16:40Lancashire. Like I said, Matt Walker, what a tenure really. It's a bit of a sad note
16:46to end on when you look at he bought the side up from the second division back in 2021.
16:51They won the T20 Blast, they won the One Day Cup the following year, but really opposite
16:57fortunes and not in their favour this year. It's also not really the first season as club
17:02captain that Daniel Bell Drummond would have wanted and we heard from him after the game.
17:07A really tough season. Today kind of summed up where we are as a team this year. Didn't
17:13get off to the worst start earlier in the season, but once the defeats came, it was
17:20quite hard to change that. We just haven't been good enough, bat or ball, all season
17:25really and the numbers show that. So no, it's another day this was coming. Obviously today
17:32it feels terrible, but the way we've been trending, it was heading this way.
17:40Next tonight, if you live in Dover you may not realise it, but on your walk to the shops
17:44you might be stepping over buried Roman buildings, but one of them is now once again being put
17:49on display for the public. After being opened in the 1970s and being poorly maintained,
17:54the council regained control from the trustees in 2023 and prepared the painted Roman house
18:00for its grand reopening that Finn McDermott went to see.
18:04A piece of Dover's history has been opened to the public and it's older than Canterbury
18:08Cathedral, Rochester Castle and the Tower of London. The Roman painted house is an ancient
18:14ruin with unique painted walls and underfloor heating that was excavated all the way back
18:19in the 1970s. Back in July 2023, there was a miscommunication between the council and
18:25the house's trust. Locks were changed and no work or maintenance was done, causing mould
18:30to form and the site to fall into disrepair, according to the Kent Archaeological Rescue
18:35Unit. Afterwards, the lease was returned to the council before it was recently reopened
18:40as part of Dover's Heritage Open Weekend.
18:43Well historians were able to match the age of the Roman painted house thanks to some
18:47minted coins that were found inside, proving it was constructed around 176 AD. Now when
18:55it was dug up in the 1970s, archaeologists were actually looking for part of a much larger
19:00fort.
19:01This fort was called the Classis Britannia and was a naval barracks that sat in the Valley
19:05of Dover, which at the time was called Debris, and had two lighthouses that could guide sailors
19:11to the nearby port. One of those lighthouses would eventually be where Dover Castle now
19:15stands. Now there are a few differing opinions on what exactly the painted house was.
19:20In the building itself, we don't know for sure exactly what it would have been. One
19:26end could have been for something, but we're pretty sure because of the central heating
19:34underneath, the hypercourse, that it was for moneyed people, senators and people with money
19:41coming from a long voyage over from Calais. Here they would need to put their head down
19:46and have a nice hotel to sleep in.
19:47Since the site's opening in the 70s, it's seen a total of 700,000 visitors and the District
19:53Council hope they can continue to get visitors through the door to experience some of Dover's
19:58Roman legacy.
19:59The future could be massively exciting because there's still finds that are uncovered, that
20:05are yet to be uncovered, out on the Roman lawn. This building's only got a certain shelf
20:12life. It's going to take a lot of funding, so we're going to need a lot of help to do
20:18it. But it could be really exciting and it could be a massive project that could be really
20:24significant and important for the whole of Dover.
20:27The house is only the tip of the iceberg, with other structures still being under Dover's
20:31feet, with the District Council planning to turn the Roman painted house, Roman bathhouse
20:36and Roman lawn into a leading heritage-based visitor attraction. They're working with Historic
20:41England to look for funding for the future project.
20:44Finn McDermid for KMTV in Dover.
20:48Always learn a lot with Finn's historical features. Let's take a look at the weather now.
20:56Tonight's looking fairly cloudy across the county. Some clear skies nearer the coast
21:03though. Lows of 15 degrees in Tunbridge Wells. Tomorrow morning, some cloud and some, but
21:09sticking fairly warm for the end of September there, 19 degrees. Warming up to the afternoon,
21:1322 in the middle of Kent there. Some sunshine by the coast too. And here's your outlook
21:19for Kent right up until next week. Some thunderstorms and rain up until Tuesday.
21:25Now, don't forget, you can keep up to date with all your latest stories across Kent by
21:37logging onto our website. It's kmtv.co.uk. There you'll find all our reports, including
21:42this one about landslips, sinkholes and roadworks that residents describe as never-ending.
21:49Rain at work and a familiar sinking feeling for residents here in Swanscombe. Over the
21:55weekend, part of the high street collapsed just a few days after Kent County Council
22:01repaired sinkholes in a similar area.
22:05You see the scale of the road collapse just over my shoulder. It's several metres wide,
22:10several metres deep. There's about six or seven people working to clear debris before
22:15repairs can take place. We don't exactly know when that's going to happen. For some,
22:22that isn't good enough.
22:24Not far from the sinkhole, Michael Cheel is on the lookout for customers. His business
22:29has lost more than £50,000 in the last year following the Galley Hill landslip. And the
22:37recent road closure means there's almost no traffic whatsoever.
22:42I'm not a defeatist. I won't give up. But sometimes you've just got to think to yourself,
22:49what do I do? What can I do? There's nothing I can do. I've just got to try and keep going.
22:55But the more it goes on, the worse it gets. With no passing traffic, I've got no work,
23:02no clients, nothing.
23:04With the recent wave of disruption and Galley Hill still closed, Darthers MP has waded in,
23:11inviting the Roads Minister to come down to the site and calling for a long-term solution.
23:17I think there's a big problem with roads in that area in that they are all built on chalk
23:22surfacing, chalk cliffs effectively, overlooking the estuary. And that makes them inherently
23:29unstable. I think on top of that, you've got a decade of underinvestment in roads under
23:34the last government and by Kent County Council, who haven't got any money. And this is creating
23:39a very unstable situation for Swanscombe. I've actually invited the Roads Minister
23:45to come down and she is going to visit us shortly in Swanscombe to look at Galley Hill
23:49Road. And while she is down, I will be talking to her about the wider problem.
23:55Kent County Council has apologised for the disruption and say the safety of residents
24:00is paramount as they try and figure out exactly what happened.
24:04Well, I think at the moment with what's happened over the weekend, we need to investigate exactly
24:07why it's happened and what, and look at the bigger thing. We are in discussion with the
24:12Department of Transport about various Galley Hill issues. We will continue to do so. But
24:16on the immediate issues raised over the weekend, we just need to find out why that's happened.
24:21With the ministerial visit being discussed for later this week, the community will be
24:26hoping there won't be many more roadblocks in the pathway back to normality.
24:32Oliver Leader of the SACs for KMTV in Swanscombe.
24:36Now, a very special visitor has been to the KMFM studio. Pixie Lott joined Gary and Chelsea
24:43to talk all things new singles, Christmas jingles and Brussels sprouts. Next Friday,
24:48the star is putting out her first album in a decade, which took five years to create.
24:53Well, the full interview is over on KMFM's socials, but let's take a look.
24:57And you said that you love Christmas as well, one of my gals. What's your favourite thing
25:01about Christmas, got to ask?
25:02Gosh.
25:03Apart from the presents, obviously.
25:04Yeah, the presents.
25:06I bet she says sprouts. I bet she says sprouts. You watch, you watch. Here we go.
25:09Oh my God, I've never heard anyone say that's the best thing about Christmas. They're actually
25:13alright though, I don't think they're too bad.
25:15They get a bad rep, they do get a bad rep. Top of them with butter and they're fine.
25:18Also, now the Americans, they put like honey on the sprouts.
25:22See, see.
25:23Yeah, they jazz them up. Moody sprouts.
25:25So sprouts. I told you, I told you it was her favourite thing about Christmas. Unbelievable.
25:29It's a premonition. Anything else?
25:32I'd say my favourite, there's loads of things, but my favourite thing is the music. Of course,
25:36the Christmas music. I'm a supporter of starting it the earlier the better. I know people get
25:41really annoyed if it's before December, but I love the music. I love the cheesy, like,
25:47movies, the rom-com movies.
25:51Yeah, we're on board with Pixielot on that one, the full interview over on KMFM as well.
25:55Now, just before we go, a rare bumblebee species has been spotted in the Romney Marsh area.
26:01The species is known as a shrill barter bee and has not been seen in the area for more
26:05than a decade and have been in decline since the 50s. But after extensive conservation
26:10efforts, they've started to return. The decline was due to the cold and wet weather during
26:15the spring, along with the impacts of climate change and then habitat loss. The Bumblebee
26:21Conservation Trust have been working over the past three years to restore their holding
26:25by planting wildflowers and creating ponds too. It's lovely news there. More bees in
26:31Kent, that's what we like to see, here in the Garden of England especially.
26:34Well, that's all we've got time for this evening. You've been watching Kentonite live on KMTV.
26:38Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you again next week. Bye bye.
26:50you