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Catch up with all the latest news from across the county with Finn Macdiarmid.
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00:22Good evening and welcome to KMTV News, a roundup of the biggest headlines creating Kent's
00:28news agenda. I'm Finn McDermott and here are your top stories on Monday 31 August.
00:34Repairs underway – Historic Road of Remembrance set to reopen next spring.
00:40Overcoming cancer – Modern cancer survivor urges awareness after being dismissed with
00:44menopause symptoms. Paralympic streams – A boy from Folkestone is calling for more guide
00:50runners for visually impaired athletes. Folkestone's Road of Remembrance has been closed
00:56off to the public since early 2024, when a landslip buried it in rubble. Now, over two
01:02years later, repairs have finally got underway, with Kent County Council promising it will be
01:07back open early next year. Our local democracy reporter Megan Shaw was there.
01:11Why should I be worried after all this work that's gone into it? You know, I think, well
01:18you can see it's just impressive, isn't it? In January 2024, the land outside of Marion's
01:25Seaview home gave way, bearing the historic Road of Remembrance in Folkestone under a layer
01:31of rubble. Now, over two years later, repairs seem well underway, with £5 million e-marked
01:39by Kent County Council and construction company Cannes contracted in.
01:43And they keep me informed all along the line what's happening next, then this happens, then that happens.
01:50Now, you can see behind me the work that's ongoing. Soil nails, some of which up to 14 metres long,
01:56are being drilled into the surface of the rock, and they're to stabilise it, to try and prevent
02:01any future landslips from happening. To date, we have completely re-graded the crest line.
02:06We've removed a lot of hedgerow, root balls, trees, and we've installed just over 200 soil nails.
02:13So there's around about 1,000 soil nails to be installed in total. There's some earthworks to go
02:18in, as well as a reinforced concrete wall to go in at the top as well. Early into the administration,
02:23reform-led KCC quickly announced the funding, something the Conservatives,
02:28who ran the council up until May last year, never did. We've come in, we've revitalised it,
02:33we've swapped things around, changed stuff. I managed to find the money out of a budget,
02:37another budget that wasn't going to be used, and that's how we did it. And we want to get it
02:41done.
02:42I think our will to do it is bigger than theirs was. Repairs started in May, yet residents like
02:50Marion can't utilise the road until at least another six months.
02:54And I've spoken to the site foreman, he says they're on schedule, so we're looking to reopen
02:59this road at some point early next year, hopefully, which is brilliant news for everyone concerned.
03:03Can you give a more definitive month, perhaps, when we can see that road open again?
03:07I don't want to give a definitive month at the moment, but it will be springtime next year.
03:13The Road of Remembrance, named so as it was the route that soldiers took to France during the First
03:18World War, seems to be a success story. But it's hard not to address Kent's most infamous landslip,
03:24the one at Gallyhill Road in Swanscombe, which is not only without spades in the ground,
03:30but also without adequate funding to begin to pick up the pieces.
03:34Of course, each project is completely different, each landslip is different, you know,
03:38the geography of Kent is very varied. So Gallyhill, which I imagine is the project you're referring to,
03:43that was a similar cliff collapse that happened between North Fleet and Swanscombe. It's caused
03:48terrible disruption for the residents and again applied to the Department of Transport for funding,
03:53let's keep everything crossed that they give us that funding and we can get that work started,
03:57because again, hugely important project. From Folkestone to Dartford, what seems important here
04:03to residents like Marion is to not feel like they've slipped through the cracks. Megan Shaw in Folkestone.
04:11Earlier today, firefighters were called to a bin lorry that had caught alight in Walder Slade.
04:15As you can see on your screens now, smoke was funneling out of the top of the lorry,
04:19with one witness saying it had burned for quite some time. The fire service responded to the scene
04:24at Snodhurst Avenue using multiple fire engines and they also used local water supply to clear up the flames.
04:29A Medway Council spokesperson said, we're pleased to confirm all crew members are safe and unharmed by the incident,
04:35and our thanks go to the emergency services who were attending the scene.
04:40When Sarah from Marden began to feel constantly tired and ill, despite always being quite healthy,
04:46doctors dismissed her case as simple menopause. Only a few years later, she was battling cancer.
04:52September will mark Blood Cancer Awareness Month and ahead of it, she wants to share her story to make
04:57sure people are aware of the symptoms and how best they can cope. I went down to her home in
05:02Marden to find out more.
05:12Sarah is 67 and has been physically active all her life, whether it's tennis, hockey or other sport,
05:18but in 2011, she started to get tired constantly with repeated illnesses and chest infections.
05:24The doctors told her it was likely menopause, but after more time, she was diagnosed with a
05:29pre-cancerous condition and then underwent chemotherapy for blood cancer. September will
05:34mark Blood Cancer Awareness Month and Sarah wants to share her story so others are more aware of their
05:39symptoms earlier. I first realised back in probably around 2011, I'd been a fitness enthusiast all my life
05:47really and started to realise that I couldn't keep up. It was becoming harder and harder. I was getting
05:53breathless. I couldn't keep as fit. My endurance was going down and it just wasn't right.
05:58Sarah went through multiple rounds of chemotherapy and her brother donated her stem cells that needed
06:04to transplant correctly. Her condition had a low rate of survival, only 20%.
06:08In June 2016, virtually three years to the date, I was about to go on holiday and my haematologist at
06:17Maidstone gave me a call and said, you need to come up and see us. And I said, well, I'm
06:23going on holiday
06:24tomorrow. And she said, well, you can't because we can't guarantee you'll come back. It had gone off.
06:29The results had gone off a cliff, basically.
06:32And with September marking the start of Blood Cancer Awareness Month, she wanted to mention
06:37how crucial it is to have a support network there to not only keep you mentally healthy,
06:41but physically as well. She's been a hockey umpire at regional and national levels and says that her
06:46hockey club really rallied around her. And even once she left the hospital, they made sure she got right back
06:51on that pitch. People, they've got your back, checking after you, how are you doing? And the hockey
06:56family, I mean, amazing. Not because we both played, were involved in hockey for a long time.
07:01But my umpire, the umpires, the coaches, the people I'd come across umpired with or been alongside,
07:07they were all sort of gunning for you. And that was really nice. So you, I want to get back
07:11on the
07:12hockey pitch. I want to get back to doing that and doing things that they would sponsor you for.
07:17So yeah, that hockey family for me, because that's who I am, has made a huge difference.
07:22Sarah's advice to anyone going through the condition is to make sure you have a support
07:25group there with you that can encourage you both physically and mentally. Finn McDermid for KMTV in Marden.
07:35Plans to turn a holiday park on the Isle of Sheppey into hundreds of homes and a retirement
07:39community have now been submitted. Evergreen Escapes Group are aiming to build on eight caravan sites in
07:45East Church, putting almost £150 million into the project. People are saying that those who have
07:51stayed there are saying they're worried they'll be forced to leave. One man says although he believes
07:56the site is a bit dilapidated, he shouldn't have to leave his home. Evergreen have added a new seven
08:01day bus service would connect the estate to the rest of the island, alongside creating 400 new jobs.
08:08A boy in Folkestone is encouraging more people to become guide runners for visually impaired athletes.
08:13Balthazar Winter, who's already been scouted for the Paralympics, says it's unfair that he and other
08:18visually impaired children can't access local races due to a lack of guide runners in the area.
08:24Sophie Denny has the story.
08:25On your marks, get set, go.
08:29Seven-year-old Balthazar only started running in January, but he already has big ambitions.
08:36My dream for the future is to become a Paralympian. I want to beat the world record for seven,
08:42the age of seven. Balthazar from Folkestone has four percent vision and runs an eight-minute mile.
08:49In fact, he's been scouted for the next Paralympics. However, running with a visual impairment can be
08:55daunting. I feel like I'm going to run into a tree, jump over a brick, like a rock.
09:02To stay on course, Balthazar needs the assistance of a guide runner, someone who is trained to help
09:08visually impaired or blind athletes compete. Usually attached by a short tether, guide runners provide
09:14oral instructions on directions, distances and any obstacles on the course.
09:19You're like going to be telling me what to do, like how much there is going, how late there is
09:26of a person in front of me, like giraffe length. Giraffe length is basically like two meters because
09:31I can't tell meters. So basically I just use the animal as the meter. However, Balthazar can't find
09:38any registered guide runners in Folkestone. His current guide travels over an hour from Rochester
09:44each week so that Balthazar can take part in parkrun. There's a lot of like blind people here or visually
09:51impaired people here. So why, and if those people want to do running, why isn't there like people to
09:57help them do the running with them? Organisations British Blind Sport and England Athletics host
10:03regular guide runner training courses and they say they've seen an increase in interest over the past
10:09few years. So we've seen that from the number of courses that have been put on which have steadily grown
10:15over the last say three years. There was a little bit of a lull just after Covid but it's been
10:21growing
10:22year on year recently and that's really exciting and we want to see more and more people become
10:28guide runners. And Balthazar is already inspiring people to become guide runners. While out filming,
10:35we met Samuel who is now planning to run with Balthazar during the school term. Very interested in it.
10:41I can definitely see myself becoming someone like that because I like spreading positivity and being the
10:47man of the people. Meanwhile, Balthazar wants to encourage the thousands of other blind and
10:53visually impaired children across the county to give running a go. I would just say just go there,
11:00run and be yourself. Sophie Denny for KMTV in Folkestone. And now let's take a look at your weather.
11:13Well, it is looking like a mild one this evening. Lows of 16 down in the south. Bit warmer around
11:18some
11:18parts of the coast and it'll brighten up in the morning. A little bit chilly there in Ashford. Only
11:2215 degrees, only slightly warmer in the east at 17. Heating up a bit for the afternoon. 22 in Dartford,
11:29Maystone and Canterbury. Only 20 in Dover with some calm winds we can see heading east. And here's your
11:34outlook for the rest of the week. 21 with some sun and cloud on Wednesday. Temperatures rising to 23
11:39with that sun returning just before the weekend.
11:49Well, that's all the time we have. Thank you so much for watching. Good night.
12:04Good night.
12:08Good night.