Catch up on all your latest news from across the county with Cameron Tucker.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV. I'm Cameron Tucker and here are your top stories
00:28on Wednesday the 8th of January. A lorry load of problems. Rural Tunbridge community says
00:34no to HGV Park. There are fatalities on quite regular occasions on a Friday afternoon where
00:40the lorries are joining and any traffic joining the motorway just on that junction. Brace
00:44for impact? Snow warning in force as Kent's temperatures set to drop. So really take extra
00:50time, extra care on those rural roads in particular. And a record year. We asked Canterbury what
00:57all the song and dance is about with vinyl on the rise. It's just quite cool. It's a cool time
01:02wasn't it when real music was made sort of like live in a studio. First tonight's controversial
01:17plans for a 200 bay lorry park in Rootham will be put forward for approval. The application by
01:23service station giant Moto has already been refused twice by Tunbridge and Morling Borough
01:28Council. Councillors and officers cite its location on Greenbelt land but developers say
01:33that's outweighed by a need for another truck stop in the county. Local democracy reporter Gabriel
01:39Morris has been finding out more. This Greenbelt land could soon be a HGV park catering for 200
01:47lorries at any time. Proposals for Moto hospitality have been in the works for almost three years.
01:54But refused twice by Tunbridge and Morling Borough Council. The outcome was based on the setting of
02:00the area but that decision is being appealed and will now sit in front of an inspector at a public
02:05hearing this week. They will obviously give their last chance to try but I'm confident that we have
02:13strong grounds for refusal for the aspects of Greenbelt and area of outstanding natural beauty
02:19next door to this site. So I would say that those those two areas would be really really strong
02:25refusal grounds for this development. If approved it'll see an amenity building, a fueling station
02:32and a new roundabout just off junction 2A of DM26. But locals say this area is heavily congested
02:40already and an accident black spot. And take a look at this. Just last week a lorry crashed into
02:47the verge of the motorway next to where the service station is proposed. There are fatalities on quite
02:54regular occasions on a Friday afternoon where the lorries are joining and any traffic's joining the
02:59motorway just on that junction. It can take us sometimes five to ten minutes to even exit our
03:03driveway because the traffic is coming down here at speed and then comes off that roundabout at
03:07speed. So again adding more to that will just add more congestion more trouble to us. In a statement
03:12Moto Hospitality says their proposals are aimed at helping to alleviate the national shortage
03:18of HGV spaces nationwide and within the county on a nightly basis. Kent County Council Highways
03:25originally objected to the plans but have recently changed their mind. The local KCC member disagrees.
03:32He says a lorry park is needed but Rootam is the wrong location. The likely coming and it will be
03:38decided next May by the minister of the third Thames crossing means that the traffic from that
03:44is likely to join the M20 at junction 6 and a services a moto type or an HGV facility
03:53an enlarged facility at junction 8 specifically for HGVs is the obvious way to go. The planning
03:59inspector will decide whether or not to give planning permission to this location. If not it'll
04:05be back to the drawing board but there are currently no proposals from Moto for a location
04:11further down the M20. Gabriel Morris in Rootam. Next up snow sub-zero temperatures and gritters
04:20out in force. The yellow weather warning is in effect across Kent. Drivers are being asked to
04:25exercise caution and with the amber cold health alert extended until Sunday health bosses are
04:31urging the public to be prepared. Our reporter Bartholomew Hall has been keeping an eye on the
04:35conditions and is standing by from Medway tunnel. Bartholomew a bit of deja vu you're obviously in
04:41the same spot yesterday. Not quite Christmas postcard weather though looking a bit a bit
04:48bleaker than that. No not at the moment Cameron. This evening we are having a mixture of rain and
04:54sleet here in Medway. I mean as I've been stood here I've seen the odd snowflake fall as temperatures
05:00have been dropping. I don't think you need me to tell you it is absolutely freezing out here at the
05:04moment. Very cold indeed but elsewhere in Kent we have seen some snowfall this evening. We can see
05:09these pictures from Tentenden near Ashford as well as Hawkins where there has been a lovely light
05:14dusting this evening. Cars moving it out of the way so if you are traveling anywhere near there do
05:19be careful this evening and Met Office forecasters telling us that if we are going to be seeing any
05:25snow today it will be happening over the next couple of hours or so so it is really touch or
05:30touch and go at the moment as to how much disruption we'll see. This is why we have the
05:34yellow alert in force until midnight tonight naturally it has slightly changed today whereas
05:39it was going to be covering all of Kent it's now not covering the sort of far eastern parts of the
05:45county and as well we can see that an amber alert for the far southwest of England has been brought
05:50in so it's all because of this weather system that's moved in from the channel and is moving
05:54more northeasterly as we go into this evening. The computer models were kind of disagreeing
06:00exactly where it would land but I mean we're definitely keeping our eye on it this evening.
06:05Back into the warm of the studio soon but before we do that what word to commuters out and about
06:11this evening? Yeah I mean the roads because of the rain and the sleet and these sort of mixtures
06:18are mixing of conditions as well as the temperatures dropping overnight we could
06:22see some icy roads tomorrow I've been told by Kent County Council that have more than 50 gritters
06:27out on the roads treating all primary routes all a roads and b roads so I mean do be careful if
06:33you're traveling in the morning I have this message from Toby Howell who is from the Kent
06:37Resilience Forum which are in charge of sending those gritters out and here's his advice to anybody
06:41thinking of traveling tomorrow. You must go out just allow extra time when we have that frost
06:47tomorrow morning again make sure you scrape all the ice off your cars before you travel
06:52but it is the 70 percent of the network that's more at risk we've had a lot of flooding we've
06:57got a lot of water out there that's coming off the land so there will be some icy areas
07:02so really take extra time extra care on those rural roads in particular.
07:08Toby Howell from the Kent Resilience Forum there now dramatic video footage which has been viewed by
07:13thousands online shows the aftermath of a crash involving a BMW and four other cars in Dartford
07:19the blue M5 seen here on its roof crashed into the parked cars off of Overy Street on Tuesday
07:24afternoon at least four cars were damaged emergency services were called to the scene just after one
07:30in the afternoon where paramedics treated one person before taking them to hospital
07:36a man from Faversham's been left devastated after his pickup truck was stolen from his front drive
07:41police are investigating after this £25,000 Ford Ranger was stolen
07:46from the property of Jordan Wisby on the early hours of this morning known as relay theft the
07:52keyless method of stealing a car uses a device to trick the car into believing the key is close by
07:58allowing anyone to get inside and start the ignition Kent police recommends keeping such
08:02keys far away from your car whilst at home to prevent such thefts from happening
08:07next with up to 70 people across Kent and Medway admitted to hospital on Christmas Day with flu
08:13symptoms medical bosses are calling for anyone eligible for flu and COVID-19 vaccinations to
08:19take up the offer well here in the studio to discuss this and other health headlines
08:24is KMTV's health expert Dr Julian Spinks
08:27so Julian a massive increase the number of people with flu increased from 11 at the end of November
08:34to 113 at the end of December what was driving this increase well it looks like we're going to
08:41have a worse flu season than for the last few years this is a typical pattern with flu it tends
08:47to develop before Christmas but there are a lot of people who have had a worse flu season
08:52this is a typical pattern with flu it tends to develop before Christmas but the real peak tends
08:58to be in January and February which is why there's still time for people who
09:04haven't been vaccinated who are in the high-risk groups to actually get their vaccinations
09:08yeah I remember a lot of people over the winter period saying that they're experiencing groggy
09:13it was very very clear that something was going round how important is it to be getting jabs at
09:17this time of year and which groups should be really paying attention to that it is very important
09:23for high-risk people because as the name suggests they're at risk of having serious flu ending up in
09:27hospital or even dying the groups are people over 65 people with chronic diseases heart disease
09:33lung disease kidney disease and so on children aged two to three and primary school children
09:39and we mustn't forget pregnant women as well because they're at higher risk and all of those
09:43should have had an invitation the pregnant women may may not have done but if they are pregnant
09:47and they haven't had the vaccine then they should contact their practice and a lot of like I said a
09:52lot of people experiencing that grogginess over the holidays a lot of people saying that oh they
09:56felt it was COVID-19 symptoms was that something that was was clear from the numbers was did that
10:01make a bit of a comeback over the festive period well what we're getting from public health is that
10:06the admissions have been a mix so it's been flu there's been COVID and there's been RSV which is
10:11this other virus and it is quite difficult to tell them apart but at least we can protect against
10:17two of them for the highest risk people yeah absolutely like you said vaccinations are there
10:22for those at risk now in other news a new study has come out that's found drinking coffee in the
10:27morning could reduce your risk of death and heart disease I mean very strong espresso get the
10:34palpitations going how much truth is there in this and what how much do we know about the the health
10:40benefits of coffee yes I don't only do bad news it's an interesting study because what it showed
10:45was drinking coffee in the morning reduced your risk of dying overall and particularly about 30%
10:50reduction in heart disease however drinking all day didn't have the same effect so I think maybe
10:57having your morning coffee to get you up and going is a good idea don't drink later in the day maybe
11:01switch over to tea or other drinks we've always got to have a health warning on all of these bits
11:06of research it's the first bit that's shown this it needs to be confirmed and you can't rely on it
11:11as being a way of dealing with unhealthy lifestyles and other risk factors well yeah looking at the
11:17the kind of the effects of caffeine in all its forms some of the long-term ones tell us about
11:24that in general caffeine's a pretty safe thing having excessive amounts of it will do things
11:31like putting your heart rate up and that can trigger irregular heartbeats and so on there's
11:35no evidence it increases heart disease we've just said it may reduce it and so I think that if you
11:40enjoy your caffeine that's fine just don't overdo it. Dr Spinks thank you very much for coming in
11:44as usual we'll be back after the break with more stories from across the county see you soon.
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15:14Welcome back to Kentonite live on KMTV. A former British army soldier who pushed a security guard
15:20at an Ashford hotel housing migrants and smashed a window has been spared prison. The incident
15:26involving Michael Tartt took place last August, a week after the tragic killing of three young
15:30girls in Southport Merseyside. The 38 year old's lawyer said that Mr Tartt is deeply ashamed and he
15:36totally regrets what he did. Our reporter Ben Morris has more details. Ben you've been following
15:41the story what can you tell us? Yes so Michael Tartt appeared at Canterbury Crown Court this
15:49week and this all happened after the Southport killings that unfortunately three children died
15:58in. Now he was arrested under Operation Hockey which was a national operation by the police
16:06trying to calm down the riots that happened afterwards. So obviously this taking place at
16:12Canterbury Crown Court as we were saying earlier what did his defence team say at Crown Court?
16:17So his defence say that his anxiety, his memory loss, panic attacks and nightmares all contributed
16:27to the events at Ashford Hotel but they did argue that any racial language that was used
16:34by Mr Tartt was not directed at the security guard Mr Mohammed. And what was the final ruling
16:42from today? What were the details? Yes so the judge has adjourned the sentencing for psychiatric
16:49and probationary reports and he imposed a three-month prison term suspended for 12 months.
16:57Mr Tartt also has to attend 15 rehabilitation sessions and has a three-month curfew
17:05of 7.30pm to 4am. Now he also has to pay £100 compensation, £1,000 in court costs
17:15and £128 in victim surcharge. Well Ben thank you very much for all those details on that case.
17:23Now in other news, a well-known Kent artist's new home will have to wait to be built
17:28after he failed to tell the public enough information about his plans. Mr Doodle whose
17:33real name is Sam Cox wants to convert a Dungeness log cabin into a work of art as well as a place
17:39to live. The proposal sparked a mixed reaction from residents as our reporter Kristen Hawthorne
17:45who attended the council meeting last night told me earlier on today. Dungeness is unique because
17:51of its wildlife, flauna, it's Europe's only desert but what we're doing is replacing existing
18:02dwelling so we wouldn't impact at all on the SSSI and Natural England haven't raised any
18:10objection to the proposal at all so there wouldn't be any impact on SSSI. So what this really comes
18:18down to is whether our proposal is well-mannered and respectful of Dungeness and we think it is.
18:28So Kristen you were at the meeting last night, what happened?
18:31Well basically they decided to defer the decision. This was based on a multitude of different
18:37reasons really. The main one being the fact that there was no planning permit or planning
18:41application put on the building beforehand before the council meeting. This is basically
18:45the big yellow page that goes on the building to notify residents and locals that this is
18:51possibly going to be happening. That wasn't done so they felt that there wasn't enough
18:57perspective from the nearby residents on whether or not they wanted this to go ahead.
19:02They also didn't feel like they had enough close-up illustrations. I mean in this picture
19:05you can see it quite far away but maybe if you didn't know Mr Doodle's work you wouldn't
19:10really know what it looks like in close-up. So a very contentious issue as you were finding out
19:17earlier today in Dungeness. Yeah I was there for about three hours and as you'll see in my
19:21report tomorrow nobody was really willing to talk. Everyone wanted to stay quite anonymous
19:26and I do think that it is such an issue in the area. I mean some people they live there, they
19:30say that they're happy that it's a quiet area, they don't want too much tourism whereas other
19:34people think that it is such an artistic place. They themselves like to express their artistic
19:39outlets and have different ways of showing that and they think that something like this would add
19:43to that whereas some people think it would take away. With that yellow weather warning in place
19:48until midnight let's look at the full forecast. Tonight there's that yellow weather warning for
19:58snow whilst rain is to be expected across the county. Dartford and Ashford with loads of two
20:02degrees then tomorrow morning the rain will clear with some clouds to be expected. Wind speeds
20:06reaching at nine miles per hour. Later into the day the clouds will clear bringing sunny weather
20:12three degrees across the board with Tunbridge Wells sitting at just two. Now for the rest of
20:16the week it's looking like partly cloudy weather every day with Friday sitting at a cool two
20:21degrees warming up to an average of four across the weekend. And finally you might be putting one
20:33of these on straight after Kent tonight or tune in to KMFM or a streaming service to listen to
20:39the latest hits. Well in 2024 music consumption was at an all-time high across the county and
20:45country with 2.4 billion pounds in vinyl sales and streaming subscriptions. Oliver Leader de Saxe
20:51has been facing the music in Canterbury today and joined me earlier to test my knowledge.
20:57I want to put you on the spot here because I have the list of the top artists on the charts,
21:02the top albums from 2024. I'd have a chance with the 80s I'm not sure about 2024 but let's give it
21:08a go then. I've got the top three here so what do you think was in number three of all the artists
21:13all the albums of last year what do you think it was? Or number three I'm gonna go with Taylor's
21:19gonna be Taylor Swift's gonna be in the top three I'm not sure bronze medal she probably
21:23pipped it to silver or gold I'm gonna go Sabrina Carpenter with bronze maybe. You know what you've
21:29only gone and done it Sabrina Carpenter obviously a bumper album we all know Expresso off by heart
21:35by now but number two this one threw me off slightly what do you think number two was? Number
21:40two um not I'm guessing not Taylor Swift by your reaction um something obscure maybe uh let's go
21:49with uh Billie Eilish or The Weeknd they had pretty good years I think maybe one of them.
21:54That's unbelievable it was The Weeknd's highlight album The Highlights and I thought
21:59it'd be something like Chappelle Roan or Charli XCX they had such a big year but no like especially
22:04Summer for Charli XCX, Brat Summer of course as we all know. And of course you are the most
22:07representative here Cameron and I want to know of course I think you kind of guessed it already
22:12what is in number one? It's got to be the the queen of the queen of music queen of pop Taylor
22:16Swift must have been top surely. Absolutely the talk show poets department what's your favourite
22:21Taylor song Cameron? Taylor Swift right we could that is a good question as long as you don't ask
22:26me to sing it I'm gonna go with uh I'm a big fan of style that's always comes up can fit with any
22:32any tune big fan of that one. Holding to you for that on the karaoke but it's not the only big
22:37albums of this year favourite independent record store there's loads of smaller artists that have
22:42been doing quite well have been picking up support in the niche record shops in fact when I was down
22:48in one at Canterbury earlier today I picked up myself a copy of the English teacher's new record
22:55This Could Be Texas I've been having this one on loop and yes I did blow my weekly salary on it but
23:02it's great and that's the thing with with vinyl as well as lots of people talk about the cost but
23:07there's really going up and and it's really popular so cost obviously not a big issue there
23:12yeah because it's all about the rarity because this is like a limited edition colour vinyl and
23:15it's not the only record being sold but it is that thing where more people are doing it because
23:20it is aesthetic is cool as I've been finding out on the streets of Canterbury 2.4 million pounds
23:28in 2024 that's a 20-year high note for music sales here in the UK with more people streaming and
23:38buying records than ever before well we've been here eight years our eighth year this year and
23:43this has been our best year ever both in the shop and online as well I think there's multiple
23:48reasons for that but certainly the fact that it's more mainstream now you see it feels like a normal
23:55thing to do it no longer feels like a weird niche hobby that people have 2024 was a massive year for
24:01vinyl sales they rose by around 10.5 percent over the last 12 months there's one vinyl which sold
24:09more than anything else this album by Taylor Swift the tortured poets department which sold
24:16more than a hundred thousand copies but it wasn't just Taylor Swift that was setting the vinyl charts
24:23ablaze she is remarkably talented at well obviously songwriting and making making music but also
24:29at selling product I mean she's remarkably business savvy Taylor Swift hasn't been she's
24:35not our top seller we've sold a lot of the cure this year so the cure are back after 16 years
24:40that's an album we sold a lot of Fontaine's DC are back Nick Cave's back it's been a good year
24:45for music across the board but is everyone in Canterbury all aboard the vinyl boom it's not
24:51for me it's to it's to bother them I just said use my use my my cell phone and let's go here
24:56yes if I can afford vinyls yeah I would say do vinyls as well if I could someday maybe no it's
25:03just quite cool it's cool time wasn't it when real music was made sort of like live in a studio
25:10they like the whole thing they're taking out the sleeve the feel of it you know you've had
25:15them in the past where you can kind of they've been so old that you can hear the next track
25:19coming on while the last year may appear pitch perfect for the music industry with so many people
25:25streaming is this translating to artists pockets reality is that about 70 percent of the music
25:33that comes into the digital streaming services is passed straight back to the record label and
25:37the artists so therefore if the value from the music streaming services is going up by eight
25:42percent year on year equally the value going back to the artists is going up by eight percent year
25:47on year but if anything's for certain it's that the county can't get enough of spinning the artists
25:55topping the charts oliver leaves the sacks for kntv in canterbury
26:03well i'm off to go and listen to my spotify now you've been watching kent tonight live on
26:07kmtv there's more news made just for kent throughout the evening don't forget you can
26:11always keep up to date with the latest news across the county by logging on to kmtv.co.uk
26:18we can keep us on your social timelines by liking us on facebook and following us on instagram as
26:24well if you have a story you think we should be covering then get in touch we also have a series
26:28of special programs in victor sport kent on climate kent film club and the kent politics
26:34show to keep you up to date with all of the big stories across the county that's it for me we'll
26:38be back tomorrow with more have a very good evening stay safe on the roads and good night