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00:00Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight, live here on KMTV. I'm Finn McDermid and here are your
00:27top stories on Monday the 14th of April. Driving us mad. Rochester businesses fear a drop in
00:34footfall as parking prices rise. It's unacceptable. Patients say long A&E waits at Kent hospitals
00:42are making them fearful. And roll out the red carpet. We take a look at budding young filmmakers
00:50making their mark in Canterbury. Now businesses across Medway fear rising parking prices will
00:57lead to a drop in trade. A stay for a couple of hours in some of the towns now costs nearly
01:04£3. But the council says it's a necessary move to tackle financial pressures. I headed to
01:09Rochester to find out more. Any kind of parking increase as well as all of the other increase
01:15including rates is a bit tough to swallow. Parking prices have risen in Medway from £2.30 to
01:24£2.90 for two hours. And it's not the first time with it having cost £1.70 to park at
01:29Blue Boar Lane in Rochester for two hours before the 8th of April 2024. Locals are worried for
01:34the effect it could have on the health of their high street while businesses aren't just worried
01:38over whether customers will still want to visit the towns but about how their staff will cope
01:42as well. Well not only is it affecting customers coming into the shop it's also affecting volunteers.
01:47So a lot of the times volunteers drive down and they park up and obviously pay to volunteer.
01:54The main thing that is causing an issue is the fact that obviously they're not able to
01:58afford to come down to help volunteer which then leaves us short staffed and the whole process
02:03of the shop and everything relies on our volunteers. Without them we wouldn't be able to run the
02:06shop itself. Independent shops like Get Ready Comics fear for how it could affect the town's
02:10economy as a whole. Yeah I think a lot of people are starting
02:13to use public transport but ultimately you know I don't know the reasoning behind the
02:18parking charge increase. Everyone's costs are going up it's just unfortunate that those
02:23costs are being passed on to the consumers, people visiting the high street and the shops
02:29themselves. Makes it very very difficult to survive in a market like this. Some are also worrying
02:35the prices could affect Rochester as a tourist spot. Prices they pay over here is just
02:40astronomical compared to what we don't really pay in Australia. It's a strange pricing structure
02:46I guess for the people that want to pop in to just grab something £2.40 is quite high
02:50and then obviously you don't have to pay much more for two hours but yeah it seems high.
02:55I'm okay with them because I'd rather pay a little bit more and park closely to town and
02:59have a safer parking space. It's pretty convenient so I don't think they're that bad to be fair.
03:02Now Rochester as a city has a lot to offer. It's got culture, history and plenty of independent
03:08businesses but those same businesses do worry that if the parking prices keep increasing
03:13they've already gone from £2.30 to £2.90 that they'll see less people parking in the
03:17town for two hours and it could also mean just less people visiting their stores.
03:22But it's not just a problem here in Rochester but even in the other Medway towns like Gillingham
03:27and Chatham. But Medway Council have stood by their decision saying the financial pressure
03:32local authorities across the country are feeling is no secret. Unfortunately this means some difficult
03:36decisions had to be made when setting this year's budget including increasing parking
03:40fees. Despite the increase Medway's parking charges do remain in line with neighbouring
03:44authorities. For locals, businesses and visitors to the towns they say that rising prices are
03:49something they've become used to and while many aren't happy about it they're telling me
03:53they'll simply have to accept the extra cost rather than hope for a shift in gears from
03:57the council. Finn McDermid for KMTV in Medway.
04:03Health experts across Kent say long waiting times and overcrowding in A&E departments mean
04:08many patients are fearful of seeking urgent hospital treatment. New figures reveal that
04:132,446 emergency patients who needed to be admitted to a hospital in Kent last month waited at least
04:1912 hours. Now Medway's total has improved however with 688 patients facing 12-hour waits. This is the
04:27first time it's dropped below 700 since October. Kristen spoke to the public outside the emergency
04:32department at Medway Maritime Hospital to find out about their experiences.
04:37Generally I think they've been getting better. I think I've been in and out of hospital myself
04:41quite a bit over the years. Certainly the most recent experience I've had I was in and out
04:47very quickly. That was a couple of weeks ago and yeah I think they are improving. I think
04:51they are pretty much improving. Brilliant. They're brilliant. The staff is brilliant. I understand
04:57they're getting better, much better. I myself experienced it a few weeks ago and I went through
05:03very quickly I have to say. Last time I went I was there for quite a bit. I was almost there for I think
05:08six hours and it was like one hour to see one person each so it was a bit long. We can't be
05:15fearful because that's the only place you can go and they are they are busy they do their utmost I'm
05:21sure you know and you see the staff running about you know there's no one standing or sitting or to my
05:27knowledge and what I saw when I was in there so no I wouldn't be fearful at all. I think it's getting
05:34worse actually yeah definitely worse because the GPs are sending you from the surgery straight to A&E
05:41and there's just and it seems like every GP is doing that now. I can understand why somebody would
05:46not want to go to the NHS because of the wait times and I can also understand why somebody may want
05:51to go towards a more private route of healthcare because my mum has gone to that route herself
05:57and it was a lot more smoother in terms of what happened. Little grandson was there a couple of
06:01weeks ago and I think it was about I think it was roughly about seven hours and he's only six
06:05so it's quite a long wait really. We had a traumatic experience last year and we had to wait a while
06:10um to do with my mum and we were waiting hours and yeah it wasn't great unfortunately there's nothing
06:16you can do because um the NHS staff they're all um understaffed so there's not really anything you
06:22can do however it it needs something needs to be done higher up you know above our pay grades.
06:28On the Kent Morning Show today we discussed the A&E crisis with a local campaigner.
06:33You have to examine why that we have all these people waiting at A&E and why they can't get treated.
06:40The staff have absolutely been fantastic medical staff at A&E are fantastic but you have to look
06:46at the root cause of this and the root cause is that they can't get through to A&E because they
06:52can't get up to the wards because there's people in the wards that can't get at home so that's what
06:59they used used to call bed blocking but it's really called delayed discharge. So if you examine the real
07:05reason is it because there's not enough staff in A&E? I don't think so. Is it because we can't get
07:12people out of hospital possibly but I think the biggest problem and it's been since I can remember
07:17in 2003 and I was a patient for three days in the corridors which is the one thing that we have to
07:23stop we have to stop people being treated in corridors and the answer is that we need more beds.
07:28How much do you think the pandemic has to answer for this because when we're looking we're speaking
07:32with our reporter Daisy earlier when we look at the figures 2019 levels a lot lower for people waiting
07:3912 hours or more and now it's in the thousands for just one month how much does the Covid pandemic
07:45have to answer for this issue? Well I think you're probably still suffering from long Covid there's
07:52many patients suffering from long Covid but unfortunately those two years that you know people
07:58didn't go to hospital so much things like that there's probably a lot of underlying health conditions
08:04becoming worse over a period of time and I think it's just a build-up. I mean obviously
08:10population is increasing, we're getting older, the kinds of illnesses we suffer from are getting
08:15more complex. Yes we can cure more people but unfortunately it's never-ending. The one thing
08:21that worries me at the moment of course is that the the government are so engrossed on trying to cut
08:27staff and save money that I think they're losing the eye and they're not really looking concentrating on
08:33the back of the A&Es again and what the problem is going to be. You mentioned bed blocking a few
08:37moments ago this this term that's that's kind of propped up because of people who are in hospital
08:42who are safe safe and fit ready to leave but they can't for a number of different reasons and
08:48the stats show that there was 409 patients across Kent last month who count in those statistics it
08:55account as sort of bed blocking and because they had no nowhere suitable to go. What needs to change
09:01in order to fix that bottleneck? Is there something that can be done at maybe maybe a more local level
09:07to to help that? Well I think you have to examine what you mean by discharge and how healthy people
09:15are. Two things are in hospital so they're poorly. So you could have a normal person living in a normal
09:22house by himself that becomes ill gets in the hospital and then isn't able to go back to that house
09:28either that they need help during the day, they can't walk, they need handles on, they can't have a
09:35bath properly. So there's an area there that you can send a team out to do the houses up to make sure
09:41they can get in so they can live by themselves. Nobody wants to be in hospital. Then there's the other
09:46people that obviously need a care home and there's this thing called care packages which means that
09:52the patient has to be assessed and in the sum of money by the Kent County Council whoever it is
09:59and put into a care home that's another lot. So they they are people they're very very important
10:07but they're they're not as everybody describes them as well enough to go home yes but they're still
10:13sick people otherwise there wouldn't be a problem and it's that sort of problem we have to source.
10:19There are some fantastic organisations Kent Community Health that that does an absolute
10:24fantastic job in trying to prevent people getting to hospital in the first place and obviously seeing
10:29them when they get home but there is just some things you can't do and there's some things that
10:34people need really help with and that's why I say more beds so we can look after them. And Ken how often
10:41are you hearing from people across Kent who are too afraid to go to A&E to go to an emergency department
10:47for an urgent issue because they just don't want to be put in a corridor or be waiting 12 hours and
10:54are actually not being treated for something quite major?
10:59Funnily enough I'm probably one of those I I wouldn't want to go to A&E at the moment
11:04and I think there's a lot of people in the same situation. The trouble is if you need to go you need to
11:10go but you know when you talk to people and say you may be getting there and you may be on a trolley
11:16for 12 hours or you might be in there for overnight with no relations sitting on a chair in a corridor
11:24is that really what we should be doing in this in this century? Haven't we gone far enough in healthcare
11:30now to make sure that healthcare is suitable for everybody and not just a basic basic help that
11:37people get for real people? Now it's time for a short break but don't worry we'll have more
11:43news from across the county right after this. See you soon.
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14:43welcome back to kent tonight live here on kmtv
15:13now a family's car was smashed following a catapult attack near ashford a town that's now
15:18being called kent's catapult capital the window of a silver volkswagen polo was shattered outside
15:25a home in willsboro on friday evening and when the owners looked inside they found a single metal
15:30pellet fortunately no one was injured but police are now appealing for dash cam footage
15:36now back in february we reported on how a former premier inn in gravesend risked breaching planning applications
15:46we exclusively revealed that developers were advertising studio flats on right move without
15:50the correct permission the film the firm sorry behind the conversion claimed they had posted the
15:55listing prematurely after taking bad advice two months later the company is applying for an hmo
16:00license and an extension to the building the council is expected to make a decision by june though some
16:05tenants are believed to have already moved in
16:12now we often hear about international film awards but how about those breaking into the industry
16:16here in kent well up at canterbury university they had a whole award show dedicated to their short films
16:23recently the film and television awards season came to a close
16:28but there is one more event here in kent that may have slipped under the radar
16:32you may have heard of the oscars or the baftas but here in kent we have the ktv film festival
16:48it's held here at the galbenkin and it celebrates a wide variety of films made by students at the
16:52university of kent many student filmmakers directors and actors gathered to celebrate the achievements of
16:59their peers the whole event was organized and put together by the ktv committee i spoke with the
17:06station manager to get a better understanding of what the young filmmakers festival is all about
17:13um i think it offers a place to show their creativity and their art for even the new directors like this
17:20year it it's a place for them to um show their creativity and like what they can do but it's not
17:26always easy for independent filmmakers with 11 reboots coming out in 2025 and budgets for filmmaking on the
17:34rise i wanted to know why it's important to support those independent filmmakers it allows for diversity
17:42in the industry to be honest because when we always like expect the same big budget type of films to be
17:48made by the same type of people getting those budgets it kind of excludes like people like us or
17:54smaller artists who you don't see all the time who have maybe even better ideas for lower budget
17:59films there's so many like low-income directors they're going to have new ideas that these big
18:04directors couldn't even dream of after the red carpet and screenings of some of the films the awards
18:11were handed out walking with students took home best film and ben signieri took home best director and
18:18best screenplay so when i was uh about six years old i was obsessed with lego and my dad uh downloaded
18:24a stop motion app on his phone and so i just spent like two or three years making just hundreds of
18:29tiny little stop motion uh videos of lego and i just uh sort of decided i want to be a filmmaker and
18:33didn't uh and didn't change my mind so i mean it's quite overwhelming to win these awards uh i
18:39definitely wasn't expecting it especially with the quality of their films are just absolutely amazing as
18:43well but um i mean i'm i'm just really happy that people like to film and that uh it's uh spoke to
18:50them after a promising look into the future of filmmaking the awards were all wrapped up
18:56etalie reynolds for km tv we were joined by etalie on the kent morning show to discuss this further
19:03etalie thank you for joining us bright and early this morning and start by explaining a bit more about
19:08what ktv actually is and what it offers students at the university of kent yeah good morning i don't
19:15mind i've got my cup of tea i'm ready to go um but yeah so ktv essentially at its essence is the
19:21university of kent's uh film television channel at its essence it's just a great way for students to
19:26get involved in con content creating very popular as well i mean so so much so that they're able to host
19:34a whole awards every every year every season so um tell us what that was like tell us um the type of
19:39stuff that was on offer so there was a wide variety of content anything from short films they had their
19:48the winner of their 48 hour film competition a film called walking with students which was like
19:54a mockumentary took home the award for best film and that was really funny that had me chuckling it was
20:00like a david attenborough style documentary about a day in the life of a student uh so that was really
20:05cool you can see that one on the screen now uh very well deserved win in my opinion but yeah there was
20:11a wide range of content so you had this kind of comedy mockumentary but then the winner of best
20:19director best screenplay uh and best score was the one you can see now called asrael and iris iris and
20:25asrael sorry and that was about a man who was very young and very early diagnosed with dementia so
20:32that was a drama so it really went to show that you can create anything on a short budget and it was
20:38such a great show of this independent filmmaking now from businesses going up for sale in maidstone
20:45to renovation work starting a shop in margate companies across kent are tightening budgets
20:49and chasing profits there's plenty to unpack in this week's business roundup here's tim forster
21:00firstly units at the royal star arcade have been put up for sale after yet another business closes
21:06its doors the software company rtms is the most recent business to close its store at the shopping
21:12center in maidstone with the arcade coming under scrutiny in recent years due to the number of
21:16businesses within the premises being put on the market however some argue the shopping center
21:21is in fact at a turning point with new cafes and eateries opening and expanding in the arcade
21:26and that summer will cause businesses to pick up a former electronics store is set to be given a new
21:32lease of life proposals have been submitted to convert the former henry's electronics store in margate
21:37into a new pub for the local community the store was originally opened in 1932 by dennis
21:42henry papad who worked on the then secret radar technology used in world war ii later run by his
21:48son julian the store shut its doors in 2017 with the premises remaining vacant ever since a decision is
21:54expected by may the 26th and finally a 16th century manor estate could be transformed into housing in an
22:03effort to save the site developer historical homes limited has submitted plans to convert hall place
22:09a former medieval manor seat in harbel down canterbury into 30 homes originally built in 1596 the property
22:16boasts elements of tudor georgian elizabethan and victorian architecture with the canterbury
22:21commemoration society saying they feel the plans are acceptable and if done well it could turn out to
22:26be a praiseworthy solution to the neglected site now it's time for the weather
22:43this evening we'll see rain with low wind speeds and temperatures at around 11 degrees highs of 12
22:48up there in margate tomorrow morning staying with the some of those highs of 12 degrees across kent
22:53overcast skies remain and then tomorrow evening the sun will come out just a bit more as temperatures
22:59rise to highs of 17 degrees in canterbury and maidstone might feel a bit cooler however because of
23:04some quite fast wind speeds now here's the rest of the week pretty much the same some sun peeking
23:10through the clouds on wednesday and thursday mostly cloudy on friday highs of 60 degrees
23:18and don't forget you can keep up to date with all things going on in kent by logging on to our
23:22website it's the usual place kmtv.co.uk there you can check out all of our latest videos including
23:28this one about sewage water in the river grom through tombridge wells runs the river grom a gentle
23:34winding stream that weaves quietly through the countryside but beneath the surface something
23:40is deeply wrong a nearby manhole is being choked with overgrown tree roots and has therefore been prone
23:46to overflowing this means that it's pushed more than 333 hours worth of sewage into the river since
23:53last summer underground sewage pipes are also failing with leaks spilling untreated waste into
23:59the waterway due to hundreds of hours worth of sewage both being pumped into this river and flowing
24:04into it from a nearby manhole the ripple effect team who tests the water have found that much of
24:09it is covered by sewage fungus which both pollutes the air and kills both the plants and animals funny
24:15enough today is actually we think is the worst results we've seen the sewage that's been pumped
24:21into the river is actually killing everything so the water the river is actually dead apart from
24:27things that you don't want to see which are mosquito larvae red worms water louse all animals that will live
24:35in really highly polluted river and we're seeing a heck of a lot of them today i'm not an expert in sewage
24:42fungus but i would say that is sewage fungus and that's that's kind of like the end game in a river's
24:48health due to the number of complaints of smells and leaks the problem has sparked political action
24:55yeah so in 2024 southern water which which deal with the sewage in in my patch pumped 300 000 hours of
25:03sewage into our waterways and and this is ridiculous it's not on it it's indicative of a water industry but
25:10also the government and off what the regulator who've lost a grip on the problem we shouldn't be
25:14having a situation where that much sewage is being pumped into our rivers and killing them like this
25:19river here and so southern water have assured me that we brought it to their attention and they've
25:23assured me that they're going to be sending a robot down that to clear out the tree roots and then
25:28they're going to reline the sewer which should mean that normal flow should go through it to the water
25:33treatment plant we've been entrusted with 50 million pounds of our customers money to work differently in
25:38the catchments to make sure we are building truly sustainable solutions we have a team of the
25:43engineers who will be in the catchment with our supply chains investigating but it's not a simple
25:48fix mike martin says part of the challenge is that no one technically owns much of the aging sewage network
25:55some of which dates back centuries there are a number of problems and this is one of them where
26:00it's not clear who owns the sewer and it's something that the government needs to
26:04lay down legislation on to say actually who is it that's going to own all of the sewer network
26:08because that makes it easier for us to repair it and to fix the problems that we have with water
26:13bills set to rise by almost 50 percent in 2025 campaigners hope that this issue will be fixed
26:19sooner rather than later kristin hawthorne for kmtv in tunbridge wells well i'm afraid that's all we
26:26have time for for now you've been watching kent tonight live here on kmtv but don't forget there's
26:31more news made just for kent throughout the evening and you can always keep up to date with us on our
26:36website kmtv.com sorry dot co dot uk thank you for watching and i'll see you soon