Join Abby Hook and Bartholomew Hall with all the latest news for Kent, in the morning!
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00:00the government has the Prime Minister has pledged to recruit 3,000 new
00:24neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs over the next year promising more
00:29visible policing and a crackdown on antisocial behaviour that's right it
00:33comes like as towns like Sittingbourne continue to feel the impact of rising
00:37street crime with fed-up residents even forming their own road crews in response
00:42to what they say is a lack of police presence well Kristen Hawthorne has been
00:46finding out how these changes will affect Kent but first here's a small clip of
00:51the Prime Minister's announcement a transformation in neighbourhood
00:55policing thousands of new police officers are set to hit the streets as part of
01:00the government's plan to tackle antisocial behaviour across England and Wales we'll
01:04deliver 13,000 new neighbourhood officers by 2029 and today I can announce the
01:11first step 3,000 new neighbourhood officers by the start of next year all of them
01:19visible on the beat and serving their communities and from this July so just a
01:25few months time every neighbourhood will have a named contactable officer they'll
01:30have guaranteed police patrols in town centres and hotspots particularly at peak
01:36times like Friday and Saturday nights with the announcement of the increase of
01:40thousands of more officers being placed across Britain to tackle antisocial
01:44behaviour I'm wondering how many of these will be placed in Kent and if it will be
01:48able to make a difference to the safety of those in the county we'll be putting
01:51an additional 65 officers into our neighbourhood policing teams they'll be
01:55deployed in every district across the county tackling crime and antisocial
02:00behaviour in our town centres here in Kent concerns about antisocial
02:04behaviour are already running high in Sittingbourne some residents have even
02:08started forming anonymous road crews on whatsapp to deter crime saying police
02:13simply aren't responding quickly enough so visibility for policing is hugely
02:18important we know it's incredibly crucial part of the policing the public's
02:23perception of of policing I would advise anyone who is considering taking part in
02:29or setting up a so-called road crew not to do so apart from anything else they
02:33haven't made themselves aware to us we don't know where they're operating but I
02:37would say I recognize the strength of feeling that people have when they're
02:41affected by antisocial behaviour and I would ask anyone who is to come forward
02:44and tell us what's happening let us know so that we can understand the picture of
02:48that and do something about it together and I certainly want to work with
02:51community groups residents associations and others to provide sustainable
02:55solutions to some of those issues but it's not just more police officers that
02:59will be introduced to the county but named ones for each area as well which MP
03:04Kevin McKenna thinks will help to tackle the issues right now people aren't sure who
03:09to speak to in the police once there's a named neighbourhood team they'll know who
03:13to go to once there's an accountable person for antisocial behaviour they will
03:17know who to contact and say look we've got this whole this whole problem in our
03:20area of antisocial behaviour ASB it's about when people really see the
03:25difference so so I'm hoping that I'm hoping that once we get these named
03:29officers these names neighbourhood policing teams these names antisocial
03:33behaviour officers in it will it will start to be people like right that's who I go to that's that's how I do it and
03:38people will start to see a difference while some locals in Maidstone told me
03:42they don't think neighbourhood policing will make a difference the government
03:46are hoping that bits on the ground will finally bring long-term change
03:49Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV in Maidstone
03:55to the first baby born from a womb transplant in the UK Dr Julian Spinks joins us
04:01now Julian good morning thank you very much for joining us today and firstly is
04:12both when we mentioned in the introduction their saliva tests could identify the risk
04:17of prostate cancer how exactly does that work this test is a genetic test so it
04:23doesn't look for cancer itself it looks for the the genes and the things that are
04:27associated with prostate cancer and the saliva looks for about 130 different
04:33genes and if you've got the right pattern of them it would suggest you have a
04:37higher risk of having prostate cancer and then you go in to do screening it's
04:42relatively new and there's going to be a little bit of time before we can work out
04:47how best to use it some of the preliminary tests show it makes a
04:50difference but not an enormous difference in predicting prostate cancer and
04:54it's because we have a real problem prostate cancer the tests we have at the
04:57moment are not ideal process specific antigen PSA which is the most common test
05:03used has a very high false positive rate it also misses some cancers and that's not
05:08an ideal way of screening the evidence is pointing towards the way we should be
05:11using it particularly for people of a higher risk so it may be a combination of
05:15that plus this new test will mean that we limit the number of people having to
05:19have invasive tests also pick up more of the cancers early and of course I mean
05:24there's there's plenty of campaigning around prostate cancer you can see some
05:27of the events that happen around the county because that awareness is so
05:31important because there isn't a screening program like there is for for other
05:35cancers the NHS and doctors don't come to you it's for patients for potential
05:40patients to come forward and to make sure that they're getting themselves tested
05:43so something like this saliva test if it was reliable and easy to use would
05:47potentially replace the need for a screening test if I'm not well it would yes it
05:52would reduce the need for some testing the other thing we've got to be careful
05:55about is all the research has been done on white people so we don't know these
06:00people with black skins have a higher risk and an earlier risk of prostate
06:04cancer and we need to make sure it works for them as well yeah that's what's
06:07something I was going to ask you about doesn't apply to all ethnicity so how
06:10long will we have to wait until it does well it means it needs to be tested on
06:15those other groups and it is really a weakness in the development if they
06:19haven't actually looked at other genetic groups particularly the group with the
06:23highest risk of prostate cancer but like a lot of these things you get
06:27preliminary work done and then there's a lot of fine detail goes in before they
06:31can recommend a rollout right across the country okay all right we wanted to bring
06:35you and some more health headlines this morning I'm going to jump through them and
06:40there's one we've seen and I think we can get the picture up on the screen now a NHS
06:46stamp can you explain to us exactly what this is what's it yes well this is because
06:53of the problem people have we all know these days post isn't as reliable and I
06:57have patients who contact me and say you know the urgent appointment I was due to
07:01have I got the actual letter telling me when it was the day after the
07:05appointment and while so you can send emails and all these other things there
07:08are some people particularly older people still depending on it so the
07:11government has negotiated with the post office effectively an NHS postal rate so
07:16there'll be second class first class an NHS class so that particularly urgent
07:21letters get priority they're sorted out automatically and will go through first
07:25with the system I can't help but think that you still can't help unfortunately
07:29some issues when things are lost in the post when things don't come when when they
07:34aren't as well when there are strikes and things that naturally the whole system
07:37will be affected as well do you think this just shows how much we do need to move to a
07:41full digital world for our health service or will that just still leave
07:46people behind I don't know how we can move forward with the digital world and
07:50still keep the people who perhaps don't have access to it whether that's because
07:53they don't have to work it they don't have Wi-Fi perhaps they can't afford the
07:57internet well we still use belt and braces so we send letters we send text we send
08:02emails you know everything we can there to minimize the chances of thing being
08:05missed but I think we're in a sort of intermediate stage maybe 10 to 15 years time
08:10there'll be nobody left using letters interestingly in Denmark they then are
08:14going to stop delivering letters their post office and so we'll probably get to
08:18that in the UK but in the meantime we've got to cover everybody not leave anybody
08:21falling into gaps yeah okay let's talk about another health headline that's made
08:28some of the papers and and the news outlets this week a miracle baby girl has
08:34become the first child in the UK to be born and to a mother using a donated
08:39womb and tell us a bit more about this because Grace her name is Grace Davidson
08:45she was born without a functioning uterus she actually got her sister's womb back
08:49in 2023 and it was the UK's only successful womb transplant yes it's like
08:56science fiction isn't it really and it's giving an option to people like that
09:02person who didn't have a womb to start off with so it wasn't a question of being
09:05ill or anything like that it just wasn't there and very kindly assisted donated the
09:09womb there have been transplants have happened in other parts of the world
09:13including ones from some dead bodies like you would transplant kidneys and
09:18hearts and so on and the tricky bit is womb is it seemingly a simple organism or
09:24organ but it actually does a complex function so to produce something that can
09:29support a pregnancy to allow a fetus to develop and so on it's not so easy it's
09:36at the moment being supported by a sort of charitable trust so the NHS is not
09:41doing this at the moment and I get the impression it's likely very very expensive
09:45you can imagine and well the first baby born as a result of a womb transplant was
09:49actually in Sweden ten years or eleven years ago sorry why is it taking us more
09:55than a decade over here interesting question I think I think there's still
09:58technical problems the numbers worldwide are still very very low but likewise
10:03funding I think that hasn't had a priority and it's something we need to
10:08organize because in the end it's it's I think it's everybody's right to have a
10:13baby if they want to have one and should be assisted by the NHS but at the
10:18moment that's not coming that quickly I'm afraid which just goes to show as well
10:22and just sort of more generally with organ donation how important it can be and
10:26and how lovely it can be in the end when it all goes well and then the stories
10:31that can be led that can follow it is fantastic and I've been at that difficult
10:36day when I was a hospital doctor talking to relatives saying you know would you
10:39consider allowing the organs to be donated and I've had feedback later
10:43because they are delighted because they get some feedback saying it's gone to you
10:46know the organs have gone to these different people and even just simple
10:50things like the cornea the clear bit of the eye can be transplanted and that gives
10:54another person's sight and I remember a relative saying it's as if that person
10:58seeing through my relatives eyes yeah it can be really quiet and can give you
11:03some some essence that the part person's lived on or that something good has come
11:09from an unfortunate circumstance and another health headline Julian a new
11:13breast cancer drug has been approved as well by nice can you explain exactly what
11:17this is and how it could help many women yes and this is another one that's been
11:20around for a long time and it went through an approval process and was
11:23turned down by nice this time around it is being used it's for people with more
11:28advanced breast cancer it's not a chemotherapy or radiotherapy drug it
11:32actually blocks a protein called AKT which actually contributes to growth of
11:38cancers and so basically giving it slows the growth of cancers slows the point at
11:45which people become more seriously ill and there's talk about people getting sort of up to
11:49four or five extra years of life but it's not going to be for all breast cancer
11:52people about 3,000 women in the UK will get it initially
12:05TV now the demand for electricity is expected to increase 50% by 2035 and as
12:12we're moving away from fossil fuels and there's an increasing demand for clean
12:17energy the existing electric network in Kent needs upgrading well however the
12:22proposed plans land on Pegwell Bay a protected area and a wildlife charity has
12:27concerns over the impact the building will have on the environment our
12:31reporter at Daisy page has more the existing electricity network in both
12:35Suffolk and Kent which was originally built in the 1960s needs upgrading the
12:40national grid has proposed the planning of the sea link which will
12:44connected to counties for a subsea cable and a Kent wildlife charity fear that the
12:49fitting of the cable will cause irreversible damage we're worried about
12:53our local seal population we have Kent's largest land haul outs seal site here
12:58just a hundred meters away from where they're proposing to start tunneling some
13:03of the vulnerable migratory birds that five thousands of miles to get here every
13:07year and they need they need time on the mudflats undisturbed to basically feed and
13:13kind of regain energy so that they can continue their journey the trust said that
13:19they support the need for renewable energy but not when it comes to the cost of
13:22wildlife through their campaign rethink the sea link they are asking the
13:26national grid to look at alternative route options as they fear the cost is
13:31being considered over the impact of the environment but national grid say that
13:36Pegwell Bay provides the most balanced option for the project we've done
13:40extensive surveys over a number of years and we've consulted four times with
13:44local communities and statutory authorities and statutory bodies we've
13:48looked at various options around different areas to bring the cable on
13:52shore in Kent and different converter site locations and what we've selected is
13:58what we believe on balance is the most appropriate site that balances the
14:01ecology not just in Pegwell Bay but throughout the entire route and also to
14:05provide a solution that's still value for money for British consumers while
14:09residents understand the need for the cable they share concerns over the impact
14:14it could have on the environment four things one is about Pegwell Bay itself
14:18which is a very special and beautiful area I think second thing I would say is
14:22recognizing that as a country as a nation we need more electrical
14:27infrastructure as we move from fossil fuels to renewables the third thing is
14:31whether this is the best place the best location to bring this cable ashore and I
14:36think the last thing to say would be if it goes ahead then how can the adverse
14:43impact be minimized during the construction phase and also afterwards the
14:47sea link also has plans to build inland Minster marshes has been described as a
14:53super highway for nature as it connects Pegwell Bay to the rest of the
14:57southeast but is here when a national grid has proposed the planning for their
15:02converter and their substations the location is a drained marsh which is
15:06used for agriculture and a national grid said it was the only option after a
15:10failed search for a suitable brownfield site there's a little more than three
15:15weeks left for the planning inspectorate to decide whether to move the
15:18national grids application to the next stage then the public can have their say
15:22on how the landscape looks for generations to come Daisy page for KMTV
15:28supporters players and backroom staff of Sheppie United have paid tribute to the
15:33former manager Ernie Batten as his funeral was held yesterday he was beloved by the
15:39town having guided them to two promotions four trophies six finals and is
15:44even credited with saving the club from being without a ground in the early
15:482000s well reporter Finn McDermid went down to Sheppie United's home park to find
15:53out more every supporter will also agree with me without Ernie Batten this
15:59football club wouldn't be here today today Sheppie said goodbye to their
16:03beloved manager owner chairman and to many in the football club and the town a
16:07friend he passed away last month aged 67 and ahead of his funeral today fans
16:12lined the street outside the Sharrock Stadium at Holm Park to honor their most
16:16successful manager when he took over as owner and also as manager he he's given
16:23the Isle of Sheppie's so many memories that live on forever we got the first
16:28round of the FA Cup proper last year which was live on ITV in in all the club's
16:35history you'd never you know that was only a dream it was just in the pipeline you
16:41never expected it to be part of your lifetime and thanks to Ernie we can cherish that memory for a long time
16:48now Sheppie United has plenty of club legends but today they're honoring Ernie Batten he got
16:53them two promotions four trophies and earned them a place in six different finals but it
16:58wasn't just his achievements with the team that mattered it was also his dedication to the club and
17:03locals tell me that Sheppie United and Holm Park wouldn't have been here without him
17:08before the turn of the century Sheppie United were nearing their end they'd sold
17:12their home ground Botany Road to developers in the early 90s to clear a
17:15huge overdraft debt with no home stadium and attendances falling the team
17:19disbanded but when former player turned owner and manager Ernie Batten purchased
17:24and improved the current ground of Holm Park revived the senior team and brought
17:28the club more victories than it had ever seen before no one on the Isle or off it
17:33would disagree that Ernie was Sheppie's greatest manager well Ernie Batten obviously when he left
17:38school early he started playing semi-professional football and he's done a lot of football play for
17:43a lot of clubs and all things like that and obviously he come back and this ground here as
17:49you can see here wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Ernie Batten but Ernie put all the money in
17:54Ernie paid for the pitch and all that everything yeah and slowly built the club up Lee said that Ernie was a
18:00shy reserved man by nature but would have appreciated the support of the town whether
18:05it was fans at the procession or the funeral itself it's the busiest funeral I've ever been to
18:10there were people standing at the back there were people sitting on sides we could have easily filled
18:18a second um promatorium site today um I've just come back to the wake and the clubhouse is packed
18:25the club themselves said you made our dreams come true Ernie your legacy lives forever good night
18:31gaffer Finn McDermid for came TV in Sheppie
18:34we have a table full of decorations of eggs I think we can get a close-up look at that I always
18:45like to bring a little bit of chaos to the morning show don't I we love it so it is estimated that the
18:53average person in the UK will spend around 37 pound this Easter and I think when we go to the shops and
19:00we're seeing the price of eggs um we can kind of understand why even though there are a range you
19:05can get some for one pound but you can always get some for ten pound as well so it is depending on
19:09what you're picking um however with Easter holidays um happening right now as we know um
19:15sometimes it can be quite hard to find some activities that are cost-effective or even free
19:22um so if you like to pick an egg um we have a whole egg to be working with and usually it's kind of a
19:28fun game when you're eating your boiled eggs because obviously you kind of want to keep as
19:32much shell as possible and these are quite little eggs today and so you can just work around um kind
19:39of start decorating them it's completely free on how you would like to decorate them some people like
19:44to do flowers some people just like to paint an egg one color some people like to do spots stripes
19:49all things like that and so let your creative freedom flow I actually had quite a creative idea and
19:57of using felt I've never used felt before so it might be a bit hit and miss but we can we can do
20:02a judge and see who the audiences thinks is the best egg by the end of this yeah okay today I'm
20:09hoping that once these dry as well you'll still be able to crack them and eat them as well and not
20:14waste it so one of them okay so you can start just to draw a face on it you can start and so another
20:25way obviously these are just some things I found lying around my home um so if you want to be take
20:32it even more the step of eco-friendly you can actually dye your eggs with um food so things like
20:40red cabbage um if you boil it add a bit of vinegar you get like a red kind of looking sauce from it um if
20:48you put your eggs in that for around 30 minutes um it will dye them a purpley red color and you can do
20:54this with all different foods lying around your house as well um obviously that one can be a bit
20:59more time consuming and maybe a little bit less creative but I did see this thing that um if you're
21:05dyeing your eggs you can always stick flowers to them put them in some like thin cloth um dip them
21:12in and then once they've dried you can take the flowers off and they're printed with flower prints
21:16so that's quite are you doing a self-portrait there uh yeah I kept in and I did do a face
21:23hold it up to this camera too can you hold up to this there we go you might stand up can anyone see
21:28that he's happy he's happy looking also at ways that we can get out of the house this easter as well
21:37um this actually wasn't my idea it's something I found on social media um and it's using cardboard
21:45painting a picture on cardboard and then going out and about finding flowers and poking it through
21:51the cardboard so you kind of make some art so I did actually go and pick some flowers um very nice
21:56between some of the breaks um from the thing so we've got some daisies and we can have a go at
22:02that in just a moment I was really tough to myself I'm making a bunny look at that oh that's really
22:12cute and that's just this felt um and then some glue and you could probably use any glue for this
22:19um obviously that part isn't eco-friendly but that's looking at more the cost effective side
22:25there um and using things from around your house oh look at that you get a lot more you get a lot
22:32more creativity with with the um with the paint I think I was about to say how are you finding the
22:37pens because obviously this was trying to use different oh that's very pretty yeah this was
22:42trying to find ways that this is always my favorite segment when we just get to forget that we're on
22:49TV I just like the cutaways from it as well me looking very seriously down the camera oh you're
22:55doing quite a few you can always try I feel like the face kind of made him a little bit scary what
23:00you doing but with these lovely as I said once you've had these um you've eaten your eggs inside
23:06or you've blown what you can also do if you want to have a whole egg you can poke a hole at the top
23:10poke a hole at the bottom and blow the egg out and you can use that for scrambled eggs you're not
23:14going to get a boiled egg from that unfortunately but if you scramble it it'd be quite nice
23:18that's my little bunny I think he's a bit more scarier now I've added his added a face on him
23:24um but what you can do when you have your Easter dinner if you have um friends family around you
23:29could put these on the table and it just adds a little bit of something that makes it um lovely
23:34quite fun the camera here just to show what we've got on the table um if I can get it up at the moment
23:41it's on me I feel like yeah go for it there we go so we can show you what's what we've got on the
23:46table here our lovely little arrangement look at that yeah daisy's bunny's very nice I was really
23:53chuffed with that