Catch up with all the latest news from across the county with Oliver Leader De Saxe.
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00:00Hello, good evening and welcome to Kentonite live here on KMTV.
00:29I'm Oliver, leader of the Saks and here are your top stories on Monday the 17th of March.
00:36Hitting a roadblock as Canterbury cut through closed off, Kent wasn't filled in a day as
00:44ancient Roman statue dug up in tenum and raised a glass as Kent celebrates St Patrick's Day.
00:53Well first, tonight a road described as a godsend in Canterbury to be forced to close
00:59in order to complete improvements designed to keep pedestrians safe. Locals have been
01:04angered by the change, with some even creating a petition to reopen Chaucer Road. Well Finn
01:10McDermott joined me earlier on the sofa to discuss the controversial roadworks.
01:16So Finn, lots of concerned residents in this part of Canterbury, why are they so up in arms?
01:23Well it's all to do with this cut through road, a route called Chaucer Road. Now this
01:28road links the busy A257 and Canterbury Crown Court through the new build estate which is
01:34called the Royal Parade. This route has been described by residents as a godsend as they
01:40can avoid the city centre which is notorious for its congestion. Currently the road, which
01:45was formerly a military access road, it needs improvements to make it safe for residents
01:49like pavements needing to be built and there's currently serious concerns about the risk
01:53of accidents on this route. Now these improvements were supposed to be implemented by Taylor
01:58Wimpey who managed the estate and works were supposed to have been completed before the
02:03250th home was built but they've now built 357 homes. The improvements haven't been made
02:10and to make matters worse, building on the site has ground to a halt due to concerns
02:15of water pollution and as the Taylor Wimpey vehicles themselves no longer have access
02:20for construction, the developer has now decided to close it and all these different aspects
02:26really haven't gone down well with locals in the area. Some have even started a petition
02:31to bring back access. Others though say this improvement has to come before it's reopened.
02:36Because we live here and it's not very safe, my son's in a wheelchair, it's not very safe
02:41to bring him out and down, we're quite happy that it's shut at the moment. If they were
02:45to put the footpaths back in then it wouldn't be a problem with it being open but when they
02:50are open the traffic is coming up and down so fast, like I've been knocked by a car,
02:55my daughter just got missed by a car and we've had our car hit as well coming out of the
02:59gate so ideally it would be good if they could make this safe before they opened up the gates.
03:06When we moved here it was never open in the first place, camp was shut, the gates were
03:10shut, they only opened it for access for the workmen to come so we're more than happy
03:15to wait because we never had access this way originally anyway so we don't mind at all.
03:21Now a Taylor Wimpey spokesperson says the closed off section of Chaucer Road was never
03:25intended for vehicular use in its current condition and for the safety of road users
03:30and pedestrians the decision was made to close the road until the improvement works have
03:34been completed. Plans to deliver the improvement works are under discussion with all parties
03:39and it's hoped that the next phase which will be carried out on Little Bourne Road will begin shortly.
03:44Very interesting one that, well thanks for joining us more on Kent Online.
03:49Now new research has revealed just one in three employees with a neurological difference
03:54such as ADHD or dyslexia feel supported or valued whilst at work. It comes as this week
04:00is Neurodiversity Celebration Week, a worldwide initiative aimed to challenge stereotypes
04:05and misconceptions around neurological differences. Earlier we spoke to Dr Louise Morpeth, CEO
04:12of coaching platform Brain in Hand.
04:15Good morning yes, lovely to be here. So what we wanted to understand was if you are neurodivergent
04:22so as you've said that could mean someone's got ADHD, they're autistic, dyslexic or a
04:27mixture what sort of things are going on for them in the workplace. We had a kind of hunch
04:33that people might feel that they weren't getting the right supports but to be honest we were quite
04:38surprised that about one in only one in only one in three people actually felt that they were being
04:44supported and I think given how much people are becoming aware of neurodiversity and how they're
04:52kind of understanding themselves and what they might need in the workplace it probably really
04:57isn't a surprise but it does show us that there's an awful lot we could do to make workplaces better
05:02for neurodivergent people. And what does that support look like? I know when we when we talk
05:07about education settings and we talk about maybe exams for just as an example we talk about extra
05:11time in exam times for reaching those deadlines but how does that translate into the workplace?
05:17So there's a lot of different types of support because obviously dyslexia is quite different
05:21from autism but the sort of common supports that are available are things like flexible work
05:27schedules, being able to work from home, perhaps a bit of private work space. So those are some of
05:34the common things and we saw quite a lot of that in our survey but there are other sort of smaller
05:40things and I think perhaps employers really worry that it's going to cost them a lot of money.
05:43But if I think about some of my autistic colleagues there's some really simple things
05:48that we've done. So a lot of autistic people are very sensitive to sensory inputs like
05:54bright lights, loud noises and strong smells. So in our office we say please don't eat at your
06:02desk because the smells might be a bit offensive to other colleagues who are sitting there. So that's
06:06something really that doesn't cost us anything probably is quite nice for other people who are
06:11not autistic but something that can be done to make the workplace a little bit more inclusive.
06:16Now that's a little example and there's obviously other things that maybe take a little bit more
06:21effort. For example if you're a manager and you have a neurodivergent colleague you might
06:28need to learn a bit more about them to better manage them. There might be a need for much
06:34clearer ways of communicating, being very clear about expectations, helping with things like
06:39managing workload and juggling lots of tasks but a lot of these things are good for people who
06:46aren't neurodivergent because they make workplaces better. So those are a few examples.
06:52And you're talking a lot about how businesses and workplaces can change and what they can
06:56adapt as well but I suppose what advice would you give to those people who are neurodivergent
07:01whilst at work as well because they'll want to take some steps themselves to try and
07:06make it easier if they are struggling in a workplace that perhaps just isn't listening to them.
07:11Yeah I mean the first thing and we know this from, I mean I know this from colleagues but also
07:15from the researchers, are they in a workplace where they can actually feel they can say
07:20they are autistic or they have ADHD. So that's the first step and then there are things you'll
07:27find I mean guaranteed with one in five people being neurodivergent they will have colleagues
07:32who are neurodivergent as well so it might be a case of seeking out other colleagues and finding
07:37out how they've adapted to that workplace or whether together they could ask for certain
07:42things as accommodations. There's quite a lot of good technology out there now if you're dyslexic
07:48there's really great tools for helping with reading and writing. We're a tech platform,
07:53there are lots of other technologies that are out there as well.
07:57And what's the message to bosses because I'm sure there'll be many business owners who have been
08:02working in their fields for decades and had you know many many employees come through their doors
08:07and they'll have their set way of doing things and maybe hearing you know the example that you gave
08:11before about eating at your desk if that's something that they've done and they've embedded
08:15into their workplace culture it might be a bit hard to maybe bring in some of these suggestions
08:19but what's your sort of message to bosses? Well I suppose the first thing is there's really strong
08:25evidence that if you can help neurodivergent people participate fully in the workplace it
08:30will be better for your business so there's a sort of a bottom line here there's a whole load
08:35of neurodivergent talent out in out there people unemployed only one in three autistic people
08:40are in work in the first place so if you can make your workplace more inclusive you're drawing on a
08:44wider talent pool which will be good for the bottom line but also we know from research that
08:50if you have a mixed group of staff so people with different perspectives that's not just neurodiversity
08:56that's gender ethnicity and the like you're you will have a kind of a healthier culture because
09:02diverse opinions are really good for workplaces so and also I guess I'd reassure them it doesn't
09:08always cost lots of money there are many things we can do to make a workplace more inclusive
09:12that doesn't cost things so I think those would be my three bits of advice. Now this week is food
09:18waste action week a time to actually try and reduce your food waste and help the environment
09:24from meal prepping to freezing food to composting there are many things we can all try and do to
09:30reduce the amount of waste we produce so what do people in Rochester actually do to tackle their
09:36waste? How much food waste do you think is wasted by households on average a year?
09:43A great considerable lot. Wasted per year? Tons. Five? I remember when I was a student
09:51there were news stories about people being arrested for rooting through bins of food
09:58that's just been thrown out that is going to waste anyway and I get furious when you see
10:03bakeries or chain stores or whatever that have unused product at the end of the day that the
10:07staff just can't take home they can't sell it anymore just go eat it. In a year oh I'd probably
10:13say it's about 350 400 kilos maybe. People would be shocked and quite disturbed by the amount of
10:19food that we... Well it's actually 6.6 million tons does that shock you? No no no because I
10:28imagined it would be even more. No I know you've got a lot more. Yeah I'm not surprised. Does that shock you? No it doesn't. I know how wasteful my own household is.
10:37That's a lot of food waste I think you know my own family's guilty of it as well we always do our
10:41monthly or weekly shop with the best intentions and then it's too easy to reach for the phone
10:45and grab Uber Eats. I think you know there's a lot to be done with that. Now I've seen the rubbish
10:50outside my neighbour's houses. As individuals I think we could probably plan a little bit better
10:56hopefully we could batch cook more. It's not fun and it's not great and it's not going to do anyone's
11:01mental health any good because I think that's probably what people need more than ever right
11:04now. So at the moment maybe the time's not great but there's there's stuff that you could do the
11:10stuff that we could do. I'm not really sure what it is though. Now shocking footage captured in
11:15Boughton shows that the motor car almost collided with a child on a bike. Dashcam footage shows how
11:21the motorist was traveling through the rural area between Falchion and Canterbury when out of
11:26nowhere a child pulled out in front of the vehicle you just saw that moment just there. It means
11:31people in the local area have called for greater action around road safety with County Council
11:36saying they offer schemes in schools to provide the training required to cycle on the road. But now
11:42it's time for a quick break. Coming up a surprising discovery in Tenham and how do you drink your pint
11:47on St Patrick's Day? Let's find out shall we? See you in a few minutes.
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15:14Hello and welcome back to Kentonite live here on KMTV. Now a statue of a sea god that dates back
15:21to the Roman times was found several years ago in Tenham has become the subject of a new historical
15:28study. The Cambridge University have said that a decapitated statue of Triton is without a doubt
15:34one of the most significant discoveries to have emerged from Roman Britain in recent times and
15:40our reporter Finn McDermott went down to the site where the statue along with the remains of a
15:44mausoleum were found. Back in 2023 during an evaluation dig for a housing development by
15:51London Road in Tenham the Canterbury Archaeology Trust discovered Roman artifacts in a buried
15:57mausoleum including a statue of the sea god Triton. The nature of the statue was particularly
16:02unusual because of how detailed and in good condition it was aside from a missing hand and
16:07head the latter of which they later recovered. This led to a study by the Cambridge University
16:12press into the origins of the statue and the mausoleum itself. Now they say all roads lead
16:17to Rome and that's especially true for London Road even though it now leads to Favisham it was
16:22once a Roman road and that's why some archaeologists have theorized the placement of this mausoleum
16:28containing the statue of the sea god Triton could be here at the Frogner Lane development simply
16:32because of how close it is to that Roman road. I spoke to Dr Steve Willis with the University of
16:38Kent who's also appeared on shows like Digging for Britain and Time Team and advised the Archaeology
16:43Trust on the dig. It's very well preserved there's fantastic sculptural detail there
16:50it's more or less intact with a few parts missing but the the main essence of it is there for all
16:56to see and a sculptural stone from the province of Roman Britain is fairly scarce I mean we think of
17:04the Romans as having lovely marble statues and part of the cultural life of the elite in particular
17:12but in Britain we don't see a lot of that and we tend to where we do find it tends to be
17:18in those areas where the Roman military are for a long time and also those areas which have
17:24could sort of stone that can be carved in that sort of way. In the study they say they believe
17:28the Triton statue was ritually killed before being buried with the decapitation being on purpose
17:34alongside a water tank that it might have been submerged in and the finding of a burnt deposit
17:38suggesting the statue was also burned. They mentioned this could have come from a shift
17:43to Christian idols but couldn't confirm anything specifically. They end the study by saying the
17:47Tenum Triton is without a doubt one of the most significant and exciting discoveries to have
17:52emerged from Roman Britain in recent times. The Frognal Lane development set to be built by Moat
17:57Homes and Chartway Partnerships Group was impacted by the find and they said this study marks another
18:02important and exciting chapter in the history of the Triton, its journey and discovery at our
18:07housing site in Tenum. We are committed to ensuring the unearthed artefacts are preserved and protected
18:12recognising their significant archaeological importance. What will happen to the statue
18:16hasn't yet been determined but it marks an interesting and unique step forward in the
18:20understanding of Romans in Kent and the entire country. Finn McDermid for KMTV in Tenum.
18:27Another fascinating history piece from Finn McDermid there. But now don't forget you can
18:31keep up to date with all your latest stories from across Kent by logging on to our website
18:36KMTV.co.uk. There you'll find all our reports including this one about a Kent messenger
18:42investigation into Canterbury security bollards which has gone viral online.
18:50This is the moment a Kent online reporter was able to drive through Canterbury's anti-terror
18:55bollards with no questions asked.
19:06Installed in 2020 and costing more than £750,000 these electronic gateways were designed to protect
19:13the city centre from vehicle attacks. Since then they've become notorious for images like this
19:18of cars becoming impaled often due to following too closely behind another.
19:24They're supposed to stay raised 24-7, lowered only briefly for authorised access.
19:29But since January of this year our investigation frequently found them left open,
19:34sometimes for hours. During the day only residents and emergency vehicles can enter the city centre
19:40but before 10.30 and after 4pm permission is extended to delivery drivers and contractors.
19:46However when our reporter drove up at just after 10am in January the bollards were lowered before
19:51he even had a chance to say why he wanted to get through. The council told us it's hugely
19:57disappointed a staff member failed to follow protocol before going on to apologise and saying
20:02that all staff are being retrained. It's also told us it's worked with the manufacturer regularly to
20:07fix reliability issues calling the bollards complex machinery prone to the occasional fault.
20:14But despite the apology several sites continued to be seen out of action.
20:18On two more visits to the bollards our reporter was again able to access the zone with full
20:23stories without being asked for his name, registration or destination address.
20:28A package to deliver in Mercery Lane. Hello I've got a Tesco delivery for a resident.
20:34Please make sure you're out by 10.30 because after that is a pedestrian zone my friend.
20:39Okay thank you. No it's fine just wait for the bollards to go all the way down and the
20:42green lights come on then. Thank you. In response we were told our reporter had given
20:48perfectly legitimate reasons for entry and that these days deliveries can be made by all different
20:53types of vehicles. Despite this some businesses say they're concerned about how worthwhile the
20:58bollards even are. Considering it was here for anti-terrorism now it is very easy to come into
21:04town centre. I think sometimes the bollards are down so it allows vehicles to actually come up
21:10and down the street even though it's one way. There's not many checks involved no number plate
21:14recognition or anything like that. You can literally claim to be anybody and they'll give
21:18you access into the town centre. We also found the council spent £80,000 on maintaining the
21:24bollards since 2023 which is up more than £40,000 on the three years before. So whilst the city is
21:31addressing its security concerns it seems the bollards remain a costly burden to maintain.
21:37Bartholomew Hall for KMTV in Canterbury. Fascinating that one there but for now here's the weather.
21:48Cloudy skies tonight. Temperatures are almost even split between six and seven degrees. Wind
21:57speeds of 10 miles per hour blowing to the east going into some sort of morning. Those easterly
22:02winds picking up to 12 miles per hour. The day starts off with clear skies and into the afternoon
22:07there's clear skies holding or highs of nine over in Dover and Margate and for the rest of the week.
22:14Cloudy on Wednesday temperatures rising to 19 degrees by Thursday
22:18dropping slightly to 16 on Friday. Sun and clouds.
22:28Now tonight today marks the feast of St Patrick the patron saint of Ireland who is credited with
22:34bringing Christianity to the country. Over the centuries today has evolved from a religious
22:40holiday to a global celebration of Irish culture filled with parades traditional music wearing
22:45green and of course raising a glass at the pub. And on that note we sat down with stout expert
22:52Pete Brown to share his tips on how to get the best out of your Guinness this St Patrick's Day.
22:59So stout a lot of people have thought that it's just Guinness it's not there's lots of other
23:04brands such as Murphy's and Guinness has actually been having a bit of a shortage at the moment so
23:09people are discovering other stouts out there and there's two things about it one is they
23:15beers made out of malted grain but malted barley they drink a little bit more first and so you get
23:22these richer flavors of coffee and chocolate and then the other thing is that with the serve we
23:27all know this iconic serve of the the smooth flow with the kind of swirling slow pour and the thick
23:34tight head that's due to a little bit of nitrogen in the gas mix when it's poured so it gives it
23:39this more mellow sort of style of beer that so it was a kind of more laid-back contemplative drinking.
23:50And I mean I know there's lots of different ways that people enjoy their Guinness people become
23:54very defensive over it why do you think there is this this kind of protection over what you
23:59know the perfect pour? I think anything that we're drinking any stout served in that way
24:08is similar. We love a bit of ritual in our drinking we love a bit of anticipation and
24:15this idea that the stout Murphy's should be poured slowly it takes 118 seconds for the perfect pour
24:23it just builds that anticipation and the other thing to remember is that this is all happening
24:27in pubs you compete at home it just creates a bit more of a special occasion it's like an
24:33everyday treat. We're struggling a little bit with the signal with you Pete but we're going to persist
24:38because this is an important conversation to have on a day like today as well. You mentioned
24:43that Guinness shortage as well of course this is going to really come to a head today and you said
24:49other people there's lots of different stouts and they're turning more towards others in that
24:53shortage as well but will that be a bit of a problem today? So the trade that pubs they anticipate
25:02St Patrick's Day you know pubs are struggling we're not going to the pub as often as we used to
25:06and St Patrick's Day is important for pubs. About half the British population intend on going to the
25:13pub today so pubs have had a long time to get ready for this and it's quite exciting actually
25:18because we've thought about Guinness for years and years and years not really we've got Murphy's
25:24I've just heard that Beamish is coming back and people's local breweries also create really good
25:29stouts so it's a good chance to find out that there are other beers out there and that stout
25:34is a beer just one brand. Pete what is your kind of go-to then tell us what is the what is the
25:42perfect one because I know I mean one one of the suggestions people we were talking about this
25:45morning was putting Ribena in your stout putting Ribena in your Guinness. Yeah Kristen's mum says
25:50that that's her that's her favourite go-to. I personally don't add anything to it but my belief
25:58is that if the brewer wanted it to taste of Ribena then there but I don't judge anybody else for how
26:04they want to drink if you if you want to taste a bit fruitier then then you go and do that there
26:10are there is a little subgenre come out at the moment called plum porter with with people adding
26:15porter and stout are kind of similar styles and people are adding some fruit at source so maybe
26:20the right being of people were right all along. Well there are some fantastic stouts available
26:25across the county but what are your favourites let us know on social media TikTok Instagram we want
26:32to hear about it you may even go on the program but for now you've been watching Kentonite live
26:38here on KMTV more news made just for Kent throughout the evening and join us at 7 a.m
26:43for the morning show see you very soon good night.
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