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Catch up on all the latest news from across the county with Chloe Brewster.
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01:00Which is not acceptable for everybody's use.
01:02One more to go.
01:04Second mask removed from Sheppie Warship.
01:07Because of the visibility, you don't see a lot.
01:10Probably, I think we had about a foot of visibility this morning.
01:13And fancy fundraising.
01:15Chatham Man dons flamboyant costumes for Cancer Charity.
01:19Yeah, I'll be honest, it's really blown me away.
01:21It's turned into one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.
01:34A resident in a Dover village is investigating the blue badge renewal process after Kent County Council rejected his application.
01:41KMTV saw him during his appeal and it was only after we challenged them that the council changed their minds.
01:48The months-long process left him feeling angry and frustrated at a system he says is supposed to help him.
01:54And now he's looking for answers.
01:57Nehla Mohamed met up with him again and this is her report.
02:00Royd is 67 years old and has bilateral arthritis in both of his knees.
02:05At his medical consultation in December, he was told he has 75% bone-on-bone contact, meaning he's unable
02:12to walk more than three metres without support or bear weight without feeling excruciating pain.
02:18In August, Kent County Council rejected his renewal for a blue badge, leaving Royd frustrated.
02:23I spoke to him right after this happened.
02:25They based the rejection on assumptions that at some stage, sometime in the future, I will be receiving medical treatment.
02:33OK, then when am I having this treatment? What is my recuperation period? When, when, when?
02:38So you make an assumption, I cannot properly walk. I struggle, stop, I'm pained, I drag my feet.
02:44And the frustrating part is the deadly silence from KCC. It's shocking.
02:50Living alone, Royd relies on his furniture to get around.
02:53First thing which I do is using the walker, obviously, to then lift myself up from a sofa or furniture.
02:59And because I live, I'm very fortunate to have a very compact area for living, I then generally just use
03:05the walker to, oh, hang on.
03:11I then onto the chair to support myself.
03:14Since I last spoke to Royd, Kent County Council have accepted his application for his blue badge renewal.
03:20But he says the entire process has made him extremely angry and motivated him to investigate what accessibility actually means
03:27to the council.
03:28So that's exactly what he's doing. And he's putting his findings in a book.
03:32Everybody has different abilities. Everybody has different requirements.
03:35And they're using a standard model, which is not acceptable for everybody's use.
03:41When were you checking things? When were you communicating between the departments?
03:44This time next year, I'm going through the same process.
03:47So this is why I'm now determined to drill down into the system to actually find out what has actually
03:53happened, how it has happened and how it can be prevented.
03:56In response, a spokesperson for Kent County Council said,
03:59The presence or absence of a particular condition does not determine eligibility for a blue badge.
04:05We encourage applicants to provide as much information as possible about their condition and how it affects their day-to
04:11-day life.
04:13Adjustments are considered on a case-by-case basis.
04:16Eligibility for a badge can only be determined through a face-to-face assessment.
04:20We encourage all applicants to provide as much information as possible at the point of application to support a timely
04:26and accurate decision.
04:28With his blue badge due to expire again next year, Roy plans to publish his book in the hope that
04:34he and others won't have to fight for accessibility again.
04:38Naila Mahamid for KMTV in Cape Olufairn.
04:42This is the moment an anti-migrant activist slashed a boat in the English Channel with a knife among rising
04:48tensions between the far right and the government.
04:51Daniel Thomas, an activist, is seen here approaching an empty dinghy on the Channel and damaging it.
04:56It came after 50 migrants who had travelled in the boat from Normandy had already disembarked at Dover.
05:03He has since been arrested.
05:05It comes as plans have been shared by the Kent Nationalist Movement for an anti-immigration protest in Han Bay
05:10next month.
05:11Kent police say they're monitoring the situation and will provide a proportionate response.
05:17Work to remove the masts from a Second World War shipwreck off the coast of Sheerness is almost complete.
05:22Just one mast is left to be removed from the SS Richard Montgomery, which is estimated to still contain around
05:291,400 tonnes of explosives.
05:33Our reporter Justine Latter was there last week to see the work begin and joins me in the studio now.
05:38Justine, what is this latest update?
05:41So, Chloe, the second of the three steel masts have now been removed by crews on the water.
05:46Like you said, work started last week and the first mast was removed on Sunday.
05:52The masts are being removed as the hull of the shipwreck is continuing to deteriorate
05:56and the removal is being funded by £9.5 million from the government.
06:01The diving and the cutting work is being led by the dive supervisor, Jason Murphy.
06:06The diving team is made up of seven people, five of which are ex-armed forces personnel
06:11and they are the ones cutting the 82-foot-tall masts from the wreck.
06:15And you can see that they are really large masts and I went down to the shipwreck last week
06:23and Jason told me a bit about how they're getting these huge masts out of the water.
06:28Because of the visibility, you don't see a lot.
06:31Probably, I think we had about a foot of visibility this morning, which is quite good for us.
06:38So, a lot of it is done by feel, so when we're looking for items to cut, it's done by
06:42feel.
06:42And we've also got a sonar, so I can actually see what's on the seabed
06:47and I can see where the diver is and I can assist him to get where he needs to be
06:51to do the work that he needs to do.
06:54Well, as you say, they are pretty big there.
06:57They're not going to fit in any old museum.
06:58So, what's happening to them now?
07:00So, once all three have been removed, they're going to go to the historic Chatham Dockyard
07:05where they can be preserved and restored properly.
07:08The Department for Transport want the masts to go on display somewhere locally
07:12so that people can learn about Kent's maritime heritage.
07:15And the MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, Kevin McKenna, has launched a petition
07:19asking the authorities to allocate one of the masts for the Isle of Sheppey,
07:23but no decision has been made as of yet.
07:25And as I mentioned just before we had our conversation, it's still full of explosives.
07:31It must be still worrying for people.
07:33What is the heritage of that?
07:35So, you know, the ship was built in the USA in 1943 as part of the Allied war effort at
07:43the time
07:43and it did sink off the coast of Sheerness in 1944 when it was carrying around 7,000 tonnes of
07:51explosives
07:52and half of the cargo at the time was removed.
07:55But like you said earlier, 1,400 tonnes still remain on the ship
08:00and the government has said that, you know, the risk of a major explosion from the remaining munitions would be
08:07remote.
08:08Thank you so much, Justine.
08:11£60 million, that's how much money Medway Council has spent from the government over three years
08:17and asking for more help isn't off the cards yet.
08:20But do residents feel Medway Council's financial troubles in their day-to-day life?
08:24Our local democracy reporter Megan Shaw has more.
08:27An unexceptional cabinet meeting from Medway Council confirming that further exceptional government support is not off the table.
08:36Medway Council has already used over £60 million in EFS.
08:41That's exceptional financial support from the government to help cover day-to-day spending over the last three years.
08:48But there might be more to come.
08:50The Unitary Authority expects a £360 million shortfall over the next five years
08:56and is expected to overspend an additional £26 million by the end of this financial year.
09:02When we're spending £1.35 million every single day on effectively three services,
09:08adult social care, children's services and temporary accommodation,
09:13the vast majority of Medway residents, thankfully, don't have to access those services.
09:18They are accessed by a relatively small amount, but the impact is great across our community.
09:23This year's budget implemented controversial income generation strategies
09:27like higher car park tariffs and hiking up council tax.
09:31Could we see these again?
09:33As always, we'll be looking as we move towards February at all of the options.
09:37So nothing's off the table yet.
09:39We'll always be looking at the options that we do on a regular basis.
09:42But former Conservative turned party trailblazer Andrew Lawrence is more wary.
09:47It's not £60 million to buy things, it's £60 million to balance the books.
09:52And the long-term projection for the next couple of years is another couple of hundred million.
09:56It's just out of control.
09:59Years of financial struggles and government support might be one thing,
10:03but in Medway, are residents bothered by that?
10:06And importantly, can they feel those years of financial shortfall?
10:11I think life carries on as normal in Medway.
10:13We don't really see the impact of the shortfall.
10:17I mean, the whole country's in debt.
10:20Obviously, eventually, we've got to cut our cloth according to what we can afford.
10:24I think there's elements of it you can see on the street
10:27in the sense of some of the cleanliness of the street.
10:29It doesn't seem to be as looked after as maybe it would be if they had the funds.
10:34We cancelled all the bins being emptied on a Sunday,
10:38which means the foxes get into all the detritus that's left on a Saturday night.
10:44And in the Castle Browns alone, it just looks like a tip.
10:47Medway Council's in a really difficult situation.
10:50One costs are actually going up.
10:53Government put more and more responsibilities on local authorities.
10:56It doesn't actually provide any extra money.
10:58But residents will need to wait until February
11:01to see if they'll be facing the brunt of the deficit.
11:04Megan Shaw in Medway.
11:08A drug that could extend the life of cancer patients
11:11has become available on the NHS
11:13and has restored hope for one woman in Sheppey.
11:17Laura Stamford from Minster was diagnosed with incurable breast cancer in 2022.
11:22Since then, she's been going through chemotherapy treatment,
11:25but now says a new life-extending drug, Nhertu,
11:29could give her extra months to live,
11:31with some living up to three years longer.
11:34It can now be prescribed by NHS England doctors
11:37after it had originally been rejected by the governing body,
11:40on the grounds that it was too expensive to be cost-effective.
11:43Its availability will affect about 1,000 women a year
11:47with the type of breast cancer Laura has.
11:51Now it's time to take a quick break,
11:53but don't go any air because coming up,
11:55we have plenty more to give you.
11:57We'll be joined by Ian Turner, a royal photographer.
12:00He took the first photo of Prince William ever taken.
12:06He also took the last professional photo of Diana,
12:09so he's got lots of interesting stories to tell you.
12:41He's got lots of interesting stories to tell you.
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15:25Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight Live here on KMTV.
15:29Well, they say journalism puts you at the front seat of history,
15:32but our guest today understands that more than most.
15:36Ian Pelham-Turner has been a journalist for 60 years,
15:39cutting his teeth here in Gillingham.
15:41Here, Ian took his first ever photo of the royals
15:44before going on to become the youngest photographer in Fleet Street
15:47and taking photos for the royals on the regular.
15:49He even captured Prince William's first ever photo
15:53and may have caught Diana's last professional one too.
15:56So Ian joins me on the sofa now.
15:58And for anyone who's been watching the news this week,
16:00there's been all that drama with Diana's brother's new book.
16:04I have to say, what do you think of it?
16:06I think the quote was true.
16:09I think Spencer remembers the quote very well.
16:12The royal family have been trying to cover this thing up at the moment.
16:16But I think it was taken out of context at the same time.
16:19Charles is renowned for having a very hot temper and he's had it all his life.
16:24And now he was under tremendous stress.
16:28The, I think from what they were talking about,
16:30was should William and Harry walk behind the cortege?
16:35And the reason that was given was that it was royal duty.
16:41From what I'm hearing now, it was actually to save the safety of Charles
16:45because a lot of people were very worried that if Charles walked by himself
16:51behind the coffin, someone in the crowd might attack him.
16:54And so they used William and Harry and Philip as a means,
16:58along with Spencer as well, as a means of actually protecting him on that particular day.
17:04And you've obviously spent a lot of time close to the royal family.
17:07Although you started your first job here in Gillingham,
17:10you ended up being invited often to photograph the royals.
17:14How did that happen?
17:16Luck. Pure luck.
17:19I mean, I tell everybody, don't think I'm clever because I'm not.
17:22Quite honestly, I think you always say yes.
17:26You always work very hard.
17:27I think with the royal family especially, they like people like myself.
17:31They may not like me so much these days because, you know, I say it as it is.
17:36You know, when I look at some of the events going on at the moment,
17:40things like the Lord Chamberlain's letter,
17:42which was a very unnecessary letter in my opinion.
17:46I recently, I worked with American crews as well,
17:49and I called it an act of cowardice.
17:51I called it an act of cowardice by members of the royal family
17:55issuing another statement like it.
17:57I didn't think it was necessary.
17:58And I think it was purely an attack on Harry and Meghan at the same time.
18:05And, you know, if you're speaking about kind of your career,
18:08it's been long, it's been 60 years worth of reporting.
18:12What is your favourite memory from that time?
18:15Because I can imagine you've got a lot to choose from.
18:17I have. Obviously, probably one of the best ones was when I took William's first Christmas baby shoot.
18:24In those days, it was, you were given seven minutes.
18:29Now, this had to satisfy the needs of 146 countries.
18:34You were given seven minutes.
18:37And I was told that they would come in.
18:40You could say good morning to them.
18:42They would say good morning back.
18:43Great. That was the first bit.
18:45They would sit down.
18:46After that, you were not allowed to talk to them in any way, shape or form.
18:49You were not allowed to direct them in any way, shape or form.
18:53And there was one of the equerries with a stopwatch.
18:56As soon as they sat down, I went to the stopwatch.
18:58Seven minutes.
19:00Now, Diana decided to bring William's teething ring with her so that he would look up towards the camera.
19:07Fine.
19:08What she didn't realise was that she was hiding her face.
19:12So for four of those very precious seven minutes, I couldn't see Diana.
19:16I bet you were stressed as well.
19:17Stress.
19:18Stress was, you know, I can feel the stress today.
19:22And the reality was that after about four minutes, I made a noise like I was dying.
19:30Diana looked around to see what was happening.
19:32She could see that she was blocking the shot.
19:35She pulled the teething ring away from her face.
19:39William went to grab the teething ring.
19:41And there you see the most famous, iconic picture.
19:43I still dine out in this picture 50 odd years later.
19:47And I think, you know, the reality was that after that, the seven minutes had finished,
19:51the yackery started walking towards and Diana said, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're carrying on.
19:57And so then Diana starts throwing William up and down and cuddling William.
20:01And you could see that Charles was getting aggravated because he didn't think he was in shot.
20:08And I was doing a series of landscape pictures where Diana was cuddling William in the foreground.
20:15And there was Charles sat on the sofa by himself and his face was like thunder.
20:21Oh, so you were in the middle of the drama.
20:23So it was a drama.
20:24And you learnt, I mean, in the end, what we used to know was that in the end, both Charles
20:30and Diana both had their PR teams.
20:33They used to fight against each other to actually get the front page picture.
20:38And, you know, like you say, you were in the front seat of kind of all the royal drama there.
20:43That's why you have such opinions as well on what's going on at the moment.
20:48You also have that moment of the fact that you took potentially the last professional picture of Diana as well.
20:56And you say you took it.
20:58And when you found out about her death, you actually were flying somewhere, weren't you?
21:02Absolutely.
21:02I mean, the reality was, was that I think, and this is a long time ago, so, you know, I'm
21:0875 now.
21:09My memory is not quite as good as it used to be.
21:11But I have a feeling, because I've seen in books, that one of her last engagements in Britain was visiting
21:17privately one of the ballet companies.
21:20And that's one of the shots that I actually took.
21:23And I think this was about 10 days before she died.
21:26And on the night of her death, I'd already knew that she was dead.
21:30I'd been told already four hours before it was going to be publicly released.
21:34I was flying to America.
21:37I came into Tampa Airport and I was walking down the runway and these TV crews were running up the
21:44runway.
21:46And I thought, we've cut into someone's shot.
21:49So we sort of pulled us to the side and they'd come for me.
21:53And so they were doing interviews.
21:54And my agent had gone and sold my rights to Good Morning America for the funeral.
21:58Oh, my gosh.
22:00And now you're here.
22:01And now you're here on KMTV.
22:02Do you know what?
22:03I'm so proud to be here this afternoon.
22:04You've got a fantastic channel.
22:06Oh, thank you very, very much.
22:07And it's nice to be back in Gillingham as well.
22:09It's perfect.
22:11Right.
22:11Well, thank you so much for joining us.
22:12Not a problem.
22:14Now, we're going to take a quick look at the weather.
22:25We're looking at clear skies this evening with temperatures reaching highs of 17 degrees and lows of 13 across Maidstone.
22:32Into tomorrow morning, Kemp will see lots of sunshine with temperatures reaching highs of 18 in Dover, while Dartford will
22:36see lows of 16 degrees.
22:38Temperatures will warm up as we go into the afternoon with highs of 26 degrees and other areas hovering around
22:4321 to 24 degrees.
22:44Now for your outlook towards the weekend.
22:47We're sticking with that hot weather on Saturday and it's getting a little bit cooler towards next week.
23:03A man from Lordswood in Chatham has been raising money for charity by walking five kilometres in fancy dress every
23:10day this month.
23:11Neil Banks was inspired to raise money for breast cancer now after his mum was diagnosed with the disease in
23:172021.
23:18Although he's almost at the end of the challenge, he's not planning to stop just yet.
23:23Our reporter Justine Lartford joined him, not also in fancy dress, for one of his walks to see how he
23:28got on.
23:28When was the last time you saw a giraffe, a frog or even a dinosaur walking down the road?
23:36For the people of Lordswood in Chatham, it's become an everyday sight.
23:42Neil Banks has been walking five kilometres around the area every day to raise money for breast cancer now.
23:48For quite a while we've been talking about doing something for charity, but I've always been one to try and
23:53want to stand out when we do something.
23:55Rather than do the same thing that other people are doing, I thought, well, how can we maximise as much
24:00money as possible when we're trying to raise the money?
24:02So he came up with this idea.
24:05It was Neil's mum who motivated him to take on the challenge.
24:09In 2021, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, but fortunately it was caught early and her treatment was successful.
24:18One of the reasons we wanted to raise money for breast cancer now is a while about, I was speaking
24:22to my mum and she was speaking about how,
24:23even though she's won a physical battle in the eyes of medical reasons, she speaks about her mental battle just
24:30starting and still happening even to this day.
24:33So I had about any new bump, lump or any cough that lasts more than a week and the brain
24:38starts going.
24:38The people here in Lordswood have been loving Neil's different and extravagant costumes.
24:44They've been waving, stopping to say hello and beeping their horns.
24:51I think the giraffe outfit is brilliant. It takes a lot of courage to do it and all the plauders
24:57to him really. I think he's done well.
25:00They're absolutely amazing. I love seeing every one, every day. It's a different one. Absolutely brilliant.
25:05But what has walking every day in different costumes really been like?
25:11I obviously expected I'd get seen. I didn't think I'd go for a whole month without being seen.
25:15What I didn't expect though is the positive response from the entire community.
25:20Yeah, I'll be honest, it's really blown me away. It's turned into one of the most rewarding things I've ever
25:25done.
25:25So far, Neil has raised over £2,000, which is double his original target.
25:32I'm wondering people, if we hit a target, we enjoy the moment, then raise the target again.
25:37So I mean, I'd love to finish and get £3,000 now.
25:40Looking towards the end of the challenge, Neil is planning to walk a marathon around Medway next weekend to really
25:48finish off in style.
25:50Justine Larta for KMTV in Chatham.
25:54Now Justine, I absolutely loved your report there. If you had to walk to work in a fancy dress outfit,
25:59what would you wear?
26:00I don't know. I was really loving the giraffe. I think he had a rat costume as well. I would
26:05have loved to see the rat costume.
26:07I think I must go as like a dolphin or something like that, or maybe a cat. That would be
26:11really cool.
26:13Yeah, I mean, you get the, is it the train to work now? So I mean, that wouldn't be a
26:16good look, would it, on the train?
26:18I don't think I'd be able to fit in one of the bits in the train in a massive inflated
26:23costume like that.
26:23I just, I don't know if it would work, but I think it's a great idea.
26:26You know what, if I had to dress up something to go to work, oh, I feel like as we
26:32are a TV channel, maybe I would be a big microphone.
26:36I wonder if they sell those, actually. I would be very, very intrigued by that. Anyway, that was a lovely
26:42conversation.
26:43Audience, please let us know what you would dress up as, if you had to, for charity.
26:47Anyway, this is all we have time for, for Kent Tonight Live here on KMTV today.
26:52Make sure you catch us later on with our evening bulletin. Thank you so much for watching. Goodbye.
26:56We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.