Local News

Children and young people in Swale who receive free school meals are being offered the chance to take part in a range of activities to help them reconnect with their lives before the pandemic.

Swale Borough Council have been working with local providers to subsidise a range of activities – from swimming sessions to cinema tickets – thanks to £12,500 of funding from Kent County Council’s Reconnect programme.

Cllr Richard Palmer, cabinet member for communities at the council, told SFM News: "Since the pandemic began, we have all struggled, but I do think that sometimes we forget about the impact on our children and young people. Most parents complain about their kids being on screens too much, but for large parts of the last 18 months, they – like the rest of us – simply haven’t been allowed out. It’s not just their education that has been impacted, but also their social development has been stifled by the pandemic".

Cllr Palmer went on to add: “Kent County Council are running a range of activities to help children and young people reconnect with the things they used to do before the pandemic. They have kindly supported us with some funding for activities for those children and young people on free school meals so we can help make sure they get the opportunities which we hope will help them reconnect with their pre-covid lives again.”

The activities being supported by Swale Council between Monday 26th July until Sunday 5th September are:

Subsidised swimming tickets at Faversham, Swallows and Sheerness pools:

Faversham Town Pool sessions will run between 9am to 2pm, and 2:30pm until close, every day. Under 10s must be accompanied by an adult). To book visit www.favershampools.com/booking or call 01795 532426

• Family ticket £15 / single child £3
• Tickets for Swallows/ Sheerness will be available from reception at each leisure centre
• Family ticket £10 / single child £3
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Subsidised activity mornings at The Light Cinema, Sittingbourne:

Activity Club mornings at The Light. You can join in the fun Monday to Thursday between the 9th and 19th August, from 9am until 11:30am. You will be able to either:

• Watch a film + popcorn and a drink, or take part in a bowling game with popcorn and a drink (these will be running on alternate days);
• There will be a craft activity each morning (Monday - Thursday) between the 9th - 19th August
• Single Child Ticket: £1.99 / Family Ticket £7.96 Prebooking is essential, and will be available from the week commencing 26 July.

To find out information on how to book please contact stephcarbutt@swale.gov.uk

Subsidised heritage & education tickets for:

• Raybel - Learn about the history of the local trading ship and take part in fun activities such as clay making (9 August), wood construction (16 August) and drawing and painted wood (23 August) for just £3.00 per person, or a Pizza Oven workshop at £4.00 per family from 30 July to 1 August. To book please visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/raybel-charters-cic-ltd-31079547521,
• Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway - Take a ride with your family and friends on Wednesdays and Sundays throughout the summer holidays. Tickets are £10. To book call 01795 424899 or email bookings@sklr.net
• Bluetown – Throughout the summer they will be offering discounted family annual passes (£10) or single day visit (£2.50) tickets. To book please call 01795 662981.
• Medway & Swale Estuary Partnership - Based on Minster Leas Beach there will be two 1/2 day activities on the 30th July and 27th August from 10am to 12:30pm. These activities are free of charge and will include Rock Pooling / Bird Watching / Clay Art. To book please contact: info@msep.org.uk.

To benefit from any of the above activities a valid Reconnect Pass/free school meals letter must be presented. Failure to present these at your bookings will mean access is denied.

Swale Borough Council have confirmed that the temporary road closures in Sittingbourne, Faversham and Sheerness will be removed from next Monday (19th July) following the Government’s latest announcement on the easing of restrictions.

The council said that "closures were put in place last summer to help encourage visitors back to town centres after the first lockdown by creating space to safely social distance and with restrictions coming to an end on Monday 19th July, the closures will be removed allowing traffic to use the high streets again".

Cllr Monique Bonney, cabinet member for economy and property at Swale Borough Council, told SFM News: "we can confirm the temporary road closures in our town centres will be removed from that date. The Government has taken the view that despite rising cases the restrictions can be eased, but we are urging people to remain cautious and behave sensibly. The vaccination programme is helping to reduce the impact of the pandemic, but we aren’t out of the woods yet. We all need to do what we can to keep each other safe, and to try to avoid restrictions being reimposed later in the year. If restrictions are reintroduced in future, we will consider using the temporary road closures again as an option to help people use the town centres safely.”

Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport, has approved Highways England's (HE) proposed improvements for the M2 junction 5 Stockbury Interchange following a public consultation.

The decision can be viewed on Programme Officer’s website. 

Highways England's South East Regional Director, Chris Welby-Everard, told SFM News: "improving the Stockbury Interchange will bring real benefits to drivers who use this junction daily, and it will improve the flow of traffic around this junction, providing a safer and more integrated network for everyone. I’d like to thank everyone for their engagement and contribution to the development of this scheme to date. We will now progress to the next phase, ready for work to begin in September.”

It is believed that the work would cost in the region of £92M. The existing roundabout will be replaced with a flyover, to provide free-flowing movement on the A249 and two new slip roads will be created with a left-turn for traffic travelling from the A249 southbound to the M2 London-bound and a left turn from the A249 Sheppey-bound to the M2 coastbound.

The (current) A249 Maidstone Road to the Stockbury roundabout will be closed, with the road being re-routed to link with Oad Street. The existing junction of Oad Street with the A249 will be closed with a new link provided south of the existing Oad Street to connect with the roundabout.

The main construction work is expected to start in September, with preparation works taking place beforehand.

The Mayor of Swale, Cllr Paul Stephen has offered his condolences to the family and friends of former Mayor Lesley Ingham, who passed away last week.

Lesley was the ward councillor for Sheppey East from 2007 to 2018 on Swale Borough Council, serving as chair of the licensing committee for several years and as the borough's Mayor for the 2016-17 civic year.

Cllr Stephen told SFM News: “On behalf of Swale Borough Council, I would like to offer my condolences to the family and friends of former councillor and Mayor of Swale Lesley Ingham who sadly passed away recently. During her year as Mayor of Swale, Lesley showed her caring manner to everyone she met. Lesley was respected and liked by all her peers and performed her duties as Mayor with great gusto along with her Mayoress, Ms Ashlee Brawn, her daughter. Lesley supported and promoted her chosen charity, Perthes’ Disease during her mayoral year and raised over £600 for the charity. Family and friends were very important to Lesley and she will be sorely missed by all that knew her.”

Cllr Ken Ingleton, who represents Minster Cliffs, told SFM News: “Lesley was a very pleasant and accommodating woman who worked very hard for her locality and for the people she represented.”

Mrs Ingham’s daughter, Ashlee, thanked everyone for their kind words, thoughts and prayers and told SFM News, on behalf of the family: “The support we have had from our close friends and family has been overwhelming. There are far too many people to name individually, but I’m sure they know who they are.”

It is understood that a funeral service will be held on Friday 25th June.