Catch up with all the news across the county with Bartholomew Hall.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV, I'm Bartholomew Hall.
00:29Here are your top stories on Thursday the 21st of November.
00:33Not just a bump in the road, amount of people in Kent claiming money for pothole damage
00:38triples in a year.
00:40Completely busted the tyre, had to drag the car out of the garage.
00:44We've lost a legend, Medway Labour reacts to former Deputy Prime Minister's death.
00:50But his legacy I say for us in Kent is HS1, my goodness, every time we can travel to London
00:55quickly it was thanks to John.
00:58Live in 3, 2, 1 on World TV Day, we're taking a look back at KMTV's viral moment.
01:20But first this evening in breaking news, a man has died after being hit by a lorry on
01:24the M2, causing the coastbound motorway to be closed since Wednesday evening.
01:29Commuters have been diverted and delayed throughout the day and our reporter Kristen Hawthorne
01:33is by the side of the M2 now where she joins us.
01:36Kristen, thank you for being here, what's the latest that you can tell us?
01:39Yes, so as you can see behind me there is usual congestion at this time, other than
01:45that the traffic is free flowing, further down the M2 that is not the case.
01:50This does follow after a man in his 50s has been confirmed dead after a lorry hit him
01:54on the M2.
01:56The crash happened between Junction 5 for Sittingbourne and Junction 6 for Faversham
02:00at about 10 past 8 last night, so quite late on into the evening.
02:04Kristen, what more can you tell us about these closures, do we know at all when they might
02:09reopen?
02:10Yes, so emergency services were working throughout the night into the day and the road was expected
02:18to open earlier but investigations are still underway, meaning that the coastbound carriageway
02:23is expected to remain closed, we're not too sure when it will reopen and the London bound
02:29carriageway has been reopened about an hour and a half ago but we're not too sure what
02:32traffic looks like at the moment there.
02:34Of course we can see behind you as you say lots of people wanting to get home, finish
02:38their days, get home from work and the like, what's the advice for them if they do come
02:43across the diversions?
02:46Yes, so the diversions are quite complex and a little bit confusing, if you're planning
02:51your journey to work tomorrow I recommend looking at Kent Online or listening to KMFM
02:55for travel updates.
02:58Thank you very much Kristen for those details.
03:02Next, requests for money following pothole damage in Kent has tripled in only a year,
03:08that's according to statistics by Breakdown Services, as part of a national report people
03:13in the busiest parts of the county aren't surprised, despite more than £50m a year
03:19being invested into the roads, well Finn McDermott was in Sittingbourne today to see how dire
03:24the situation really is.
03:26We've all been there, your car lurches over a bump and all of a sudden you need a new
03:30tyre, well more people in Kent have been submitting compensation requests than before, with 655
03:37to Kent County Council in 2022 and more than 1,800 as the Breakdown Service RAC have found.
03:44To get a sense of how this was affecting people on a local scale I went to Sittingbourne which
03:48has a large amount of potholes despite its often high level of commuter traffic.
03:53I met Richard who was keen to tell me his story after he hit a particularly bad pothole.
03:58I got out and I had a look and I'd bent all the wheel rim in, completely busted the tyre,
04:04I had to drag the car around to the garage, it was, I think it was around £180 it cost
04:10me for a new tyre and a new wheel rim.
04:12Went on to the local council's website to report it only to find that there had been
04:15reports of it before and then three months later exactly the same again.
04:20Probably best I don't say the words that I'm thinking on camera but I'm sure you can imagine
04:26what my opinion was at that time.
04:30Well I'm just leaving Richards Road now and I've already counted 10 potholes and it's
04:35only a short cul-de-sac so it just goes to show the real extent of the issue.
04:42I spoke to the leader of the Swale Independent Alliance group Mike Baldock about what he
04:46thought of the ongoing problem.
04:48We pay our council tax, we're getting our cars damaged on a constant basis.
04:54I've got my wheel damaged earlier this year, £800 for a new wheel, you know this is happening
04:59to people, this is happening to local businesses on an ongoing basis.
05:03There's always wiggle room, excuses, a way for KCC to avoid paying for most of them.
05:08But the issue is not exclusive to Sittingbourne, so Kent County Council told us in a statement
05:13that with each year KCC invests more than £50m a year in Kent's local road network,
05:19which includes repairing potholes and resurfacing roads and footways.
05:23Despite the money invested and the relentless work our teams do to maintain and repair roads,
05:27the number of defects reported on the roads continues to be exceptionally high.
05:31It's clear that the funding formula for highways investment isn't working and must be changed.
05:36Others in Sittingbourne told me they were most affected as locals and couldn't even
05:40avoid the damaging potholes because of heavy traffic.
05:43If these new statistics are any indication, then the holes in Kent's roads will continue
05:47to be a problem across the county.
05:50Finn McDermott in Sittingbourne for KMTV.
05:54Now dangerous and beyond belief, that's how a Kent County Councillor has described the
05:58latest in a spate of vandalism at a pedestrian crossing in Tunbridge.
06:03This week however, the vandalism has turned slightly sinister with a ransom-style note
06:07being written sending a mysterious warning to the local authority.
06:11Abbey Hook has more.
06:14Not a ransom, but a not-so-clear message to Kent County Council.
06:18It reads, KCC, this is the last of the button.
06:22This cost you big time.
06:24You know what you did in 2012.
06:27This pedestrian crossing in Tunbridge was found destroyed and vandalised this week.
06:31But it isn't the first time it's been left in pieces.
06:34It's been damaged multiple times and targeted ever since Mark Hood joined the council in
06:392021.
06:40We've got a huge amount of school children who use the crossing every day and lots of
06:46elderly people live here.
06:47So it's placing them in huge danger.
06:50It's got to the stage where the cost is meaning that officers at the county council are reviewing
06:56exactly how we go forward and whether or not to downgrade the crossing.
07:03It seems to be the only pedestrian crossing in Tunbridge to be targeted, but councillors
07:07and residents alike say it's putting children in danger with ship-borne roads so close to
07:12schools.
07:13We've got email addresses.
07:15If someone's got a problem with the council, it's much easier to get on your computer,
07:19on your laptop, send us an email rather than cut out pieces of lettering and stick them
07:24to a destroyed panel.
07:27It's beyond belief.
07:28While no one seems to know exactly who's behind it and what exactly it even means, it's £3,500
07:36every time it's replaced.
07:38Now Kent Police, the council and residents are on a mission to find the crossing criminal.
07:44Abbey Hook for KMTV in Tunbridge.
07:48Tributes from across Kent's political spectrum have been pouring in today following the passing
07:52of former Labour Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
07:55The MP for Dartford, Jim Dixon, has described Prescott as a giant of the Labour movement,
07:59whilst Gillingham and Reynham MP Nisharba Khan says he was a fierce champion of the
08:04working class.
08:05Joining me earlier was the Labour leader of Medway Council, Vince Maple.
08:09We've seen a number of really warm tributes to John Prescott.
08:13He was a fantastic Deputy Prime Minister and actually part of the reason I first joined
08:17the Labour Party back in the mid-90s, there was a kind of programme called the Rolling
08:23Rose Roadshow, which came to the, as it was then, the Central Hall in Chatham.
08:28He spoke at that.
08:29It was inspirational and I actually joined the Labour Party that night.
08:32We've got a picture actually of you and him a few years ago.
08:35I believe you said it was at Priestfield Stadium where it was taken and you tweeted this picture
08:40today where you said that he was a big supporter of Medway Labour.
08:45In what way did he make his mark here in the town?
08:47Well, one of the things, and that was actually, he had been, earlier in the day at Priestfield
08:51we'd held the South East Conference here.
08:53That picture with my ward colleague at the time, Julie Shaw, and now Bill Esterson MP.
08:59I was taken at the Gillingham Labour Club and he was doing a big social afterwards.
09:03There was lots of curry eaten that night.
09:05I remember it well.
09:07And he was well received wherever he came to, across both here in Medway and across
09:11the county.
09:12And he always kind of referred to himself as, because he was in that changeover, wasn't
09:15he, of the new Labour era, he referred to himself as the old Labour.
09:19He kind of had that feel to him where he resonated with the working class.
09:24He wasn't afraid to say his mind.
09:26Do you feel that maybe in the direction of the Labour Party that we'll ever see a character
09:30like him again?
09:31Well, I think in our current Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, many would say actually
09:35some of the things, both with their trade union backgrounds, but also their wider kind
09:40of social background, actually they're quite similar individuals.
09:44And I think one of the things which, although John Prescott was often put that way within
09:49the Labour Party, he was quite a moderniser, tried to bring some of the kind of policies
09:53and positioning of the Labour Party to a point, you know, working closely both with Tony Blair
09:59and Gordon Brown.
10:00So look, he'll be much missed, but his legacy, I say for us in Kent, is HS1, my goodness.
10:06Every time we can travel to London quickly, it was thanks to John.
10:09And of course a big supporter of local politics as well.
10:12Something that he would have been happy for us to talk about is balancing the books.
10:15This week has been a difficult week for Medway Council, following the news that council officers
10:20have ranked the risk of the council failing to deliver a balanced budget as very likely.
10:26Obviously, it's been a week of decisions for yourself.
10:29How have you kind of reflected on it?
10:31Well, I'd reflect back on that first comment around the risk register.
10:35Of course, that's in the context if Medway Council's administration did nothing.
10:40I think people will see in our first 18 months of administration, we've had to take some
10:45tough choices.
10:46We were here last year talking about the fact that we had to not fund Christmas lights and
10:51we had sponsors step in.
10:52They've stepped in again this year.
10:54So we've continued to have to make some difficult choices.
10:56We've got something called the FIT plan, the Financial Improvement and Transformation Plan.
11:01We're already 58% of the savings required in the first half of the year.
11:05So we're ahead of schedule on that, which is good to see.
11:08But look, we don't take anything for granted.
11:10We know there'll be some, we hope, positive outcomes.
11:13We're waiting for the granular detail from the national budget back in October.
11:17But we think there's some positives coming from that.
11:20And we'll see, of course, the local government settlement in December.
11:25And of course, our thoughts are with John Prescott's family at this time.
11:29Time now for a short break.
11:30When we get back, we've got news on Labour's dropping of Kent County Councillor Barry Lewis
11:35just a few months before the 2025 local elections.
11:39And a look at one of KMTV's most viral moments with our channel director Andy Richards.
11:44So be sure to stay tuned.
11:45We've got a great discussion on World TV Day.
11:49All that and plenty more after this break.
15:11Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight.
15:13Live on KMTV.
15:14Now a Margate Labour councillor says he's a victim of a witch-hunt following being kicked
15:20out of the party.
15:21Barry Lewis has sat on the county council for the past seven years, but he's not being
15:25allowed to stand again for the party next May.
15:28Labour has cited three reasons but Councillor Lewis insists they've been misinterpreted.
15:34He's been representing Margate at the county council since 2017 and a Labour member for more
15:40than 30 years. Barry Lewis has now been deselected over concerning remarks. According to paperwork he
15:47said to have told a party colleague following an LGBTQ plus event last November that he had
15:52secured the gay vote. Last June another senior member of the Labour team said Councillor Lewis
15:57was excited about having a Nigerian person on board. He is said to have claimed he had 200
16:03Nigerians in his pocket and on another occasion in the run-up to this year's general election
16:08he's alleged to have told an organiser he used third persons to place bets on elections.
16:14So you've been deselected as a candidate for the Labour party.
16:17There was investigation and they raised three issues. Do you dispute those?
16:22I think they were misinterpreted on purpose. The three issues were said in private.
16:30Two of them were jokes and one they were inquiring why I was banned from gambling
16:3710 years ago in betting shops which is to me irrelevant. This is a witch hunt.
16:44Some people might say some of the wording used could have been seen as offensive. Would you say
16:48that was the case? I would deny that completely. Only people that want to see wrong it says more
16:56about them than it does about me. The Labour party has declined to comment on this investigation
17:02but as Councillor Lewis entered a council meeting today he's still a party member but he says he's
17:08considering his position in the group. Like coming out of a bad marriage you wish it was
17:13what it was when it started but after 47 years I'm enjoying the freedom.
17:21A report there from the local democracy reporting service.
17:24Now it's time to take a look at the weather where you are.
17:32It's going to be a cloudy evening across Kent tonight with highs of just one degree,
17:36lows of minus one. Tomorrow morning doesn't promise much warmer temperatures,
17:41lows of two, highs of three. Still mostly cloudy with some patches of sun over Tunbridge Wells
17:45and Dover. As we head into the afternoon it does pick up a little with temperatures of five degrees
17:50pretty much across the board and that sun starting to come out in a lot of places. Here's the outlook
17:55as we head into the weekend. Saturday and Sunday looks pretty rainy as we head into Monday turning
17:59back to cloudy. Finally this evening it would be remiss of us if we didn't celebrate World TV
18:13Day here at KNTV. The United Nations General Assembly established the 21st of November as
18:19World Television Day in recognition of the increasing impact television has on decision
18:24making by bringing world attention to conflicts and threats to peace and security. To talk more
18:30about this is our channel director Andy Richards. Andy thank you for being here. With social media
18:36and the like and these rising new forms of media, how relevant is TV in today's world?
18:42It absolutely is. We've been sat in the office today with the various news channels on bringing
18:48all of that news coming out of Ukraine. It's so important. A recent Ofcom report found that TV
18:56is still the most important way that people get their news and current affairs. They're still
19:04turning to television and it's going to be really important for some years to come. The likes of
19:09Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, all the streamers, yes they do great content but they do very little
19:14news and current affairs so it's really important that it continues. We have up on the screen here
19:19our transmission area. As a local broadcaster we don't necessarily get the same reach as the
19:23as the nationals do but how is it that we can still make that sort of global impact?
19:29Yeah absolutely. So yes, still here and hopefully you're seeing it on screen at the moment. This is
19:35our transmission area here at KNTV. That's actually going to be extended county-wide next
19:41year which is an exciting development for us. Kind of an exclusive there for Bartholomew but at the
19:46moment this is where we transmit to. It's about 240,000 households but we do occasionally make
19:53it to the world stage and I think that's really important to say because it's about how
19:58compelling content can be. Viral moments are very important as well to television and we've had our
20:05own worldwide viral video a few years back. I'll let the following video do the talking.
20:14Little did their neighbours know that in this quiet corner, this quite pretty little corner in
20:18the Kent countryside at the cottage just over my shoulder is where there had been growing cannabis.
20:26That was the moment that would make KMTV go viral. Before we go we thought we'd take a moment to
20:32enjoy this moment of TV gold. Follow that plan. First here it is, your moment of zen. In the middle of this
20:40reporter's live shot about a local cannabis arrest in the UK. Since we shared the clip of our live
20:46broadcast from a known cannabis factory in the small village of Hove, it's been viewed by millions
20:52of people from around the world and been called the television clip of the year. It's hit headlines
21:00on countless platforms both online and in national newspapers. BBC's iconic show Newsnight
21:06even played the clip to its huge audience. From Kent local television station KMTV and to admire
21:13the composure of their reporter Cameron Tucker. Good night. Welcome back to Kent tonight live on
21:20KMTV. Corner in the Kent countryside at the cottage just over my shoulder is where there had been
21:27growing cannabis. And then KMTV went stateside. Jimmy Kimmel showed it to his millions of fans
21:42on one of the US's biggest entertainment programs. This is from KMTV. This is from a small town
21:48outside of London where a little pot farm popped up and caused quite a commotion on this very well
21:54timed edition of Behind the News. Well, last August when it was found that Neil and Yvette
22:05Hartley had been growing almost 90 cannabis plants, little did their neighbours know that in this
22:12quiet corner, this quiet pretty little corner in the Kent countryside at the cottage just over my
22:17shoulder is where there had been growing cannabis. Another juggernaut in America,
22:33The Daily Show were quick to follow suit with Trevor Noah using it to play out the program.
22:38So KMTV's Cameron Tucker's been broadcast around the world,
22:43but who is his co-star? We're still on the hunt for the pot plant man.
22:47Well, joining us now alongside Andy is Chris DC, presenter of the Kent Film Club TV show. We've got
22:57a new episode coming out this evening, but let's just reflect that on that very quickly. A huge
23:02reach. Jimmy Kimmel, that was kind of the biggest one, wasn't it? Yes, we never did find out who
23:06Pot Plant Man was, by the way. He did send us a Christmas card, but it just shows you
23:11that really compelling bit of video made it worldwide. And yeah, Cameron still loves it.
23:16And the Americans loved it as well, because Cameron Tucker is also a character in a modern
23:20family. So they did love it. Anyway, more on to film, but TV and film, Chris, they're kind of
23:26one. You know, there's loads of more original films being made for TV now compared to,
23:30say, 20, 30 years ago. Sky Originals, Amazon Originals. But also when you think of the
23:34template like Network in the 70s, where you have all this, that sort of moment of a TV presenter.
23:40I mean, we're here in a studio, you know, anything can happen live on TV. He has a nervous breakdown
23:44and the audience share goes up. So everyone is then thinking, OK, well, we want to watch not for
23:50the news, but for what the presenter does. And it's that sort of line, that very blurred line
23:55between entertainment and news, which I think today we are still struggling with. I mean,
23:59we start with the Pot Plant Man. I mean, actually, it was a serious news story that became a worldwide
24:03sensation. So there's a point at which you're saying, is this entertainment? Is this education?
24:08Who cares? It actually puts us on the map. Absolutely. I would say, I don't know about
24:12you, Bartholomew, but I tend to watch quite a lot of my films on TV now. Yes. And watch,
24:19you know, there's one on Sky that I really want to watch with Kate Winslet. Forgot the name,
24:24but it's World War Two. But it was made predominantly for TV. But I wonder about you,
24:31Chris. You still go to cinema pretty much every night, don't you? I do that. But also, I think
24:36it's my way of saying that it's almost like an industry that is maybe not going to last forever.
24:42And I'm sort of holding on to that. That's the nostalgia theme in me. But also, TV is impossible
24:47because there are too many choices. At least in the cinema, I still have choice, but it's more
24:52realistic. My concern sometimes is that you've just got so much choice that you miss the obvious
24:57things or you just stick to one particular genre. And we were talking earlier about the impact that
25:02TV has on world events. And one of the names, one of the faces we saw in that clip just then
25:07was Emily Maitlis. And we think about Scoop that was made, obviously, influenced heavily by her
25:13interview with Prince Andrew. And I just wondered if there are any more films that come to mind for
25:17you that are maybe influenced by TV or has impacted TV? Well, literally Bombshell that
25:22came out in 2019 with Margot Robbie. And it's actually based around Fox News. I'm surprised
25:28they actually made it. I'm sure there would have been lots of legal steps towards that goal.
25:33But actually saying what happens when issues around the MeToo movement, things that you could
25:37have got away with 20 years ago you couldn't get away with now, and then making a film set in a
25:41newsroom. And it is the most tantalising piece and suspense-laden piece of cinema. Yeah, and I think
25:46what's also really important is that films like that are still made. I think producers have got
25:52a bit spooked around Baby Reindeer, the TV series, with if it's based on a true story, is a true
25:59story. But in terms of journalism and turning that into the big screen for entertainment, I
26:04think that still plays a massive role. I know it's not film, but the Post Office TV series on
26:13ITV. ITV actually lost money making that. Yeah, that was a huge irony. Absolutely. But it absolutely
26:19ended up causing a huge policy change and really, really brought it to the forefront. Although parts
26:25of it were made for drama and weren't quite accurate, but it's still really important. And TV,
26:30very important. And very important as well, it's coming up after the break, is a brand new episode
26:34of Kent Film Club. Quickly tell us who you've got on. We've got Stacey Bowles, who's a film student,
26:38and one of her films is, well actually, I'm going to keep you guessing actually. Keep us guessing,
26:44we'll find out in a moment. Thank you very much for watching. That is it from us. Good night.