Local News

New figures released by Public Health England (PHE) show that the Borough Of Swale has seen 90 new COVID-19 cases in a week - one in six of all positive tests recorded in Kent as a whole.

This recent outbreak has seen the infection rate jump to more than 200 in three areas on the Isle Of Sheppey, compared to a county average (Kent and Medway) of 49.4 per hundred thousand.

Five of the island's wards appear in the Top 6 of the county's hotspots:-                                                                            

                                                   Infection Rate            Number of cases              Weekly Rise

• 1. Sheerness East                     239.6                             16                             10 (166.7%)
• 2. Sheppey East                        231.1                             20                             10 (100.0%)
• 3. Minster South                        222.3                             24                            14 (140.0%)
• 4. Minster North                        172.2                              11                              6 (120.0%)
• 5. Kennington (Ashford)             7                                    9                              5 (125.0%)
• 6. Sheerness West                      5                                    9                             -6 (-40.0%)

Kent County Council’s Director of Public Health, Andrew Scott-Clark, told SFM News that the situation is very concerning. "Cases are rising across the whole of Kent and Medway; however, we are seeing a worrying increase in cases across Swale and particularly on the Isle of Sheppey. There are a number of cases associated with residential settings, work-places and secondary schools and while some are contained outbreaks there may also be some community transmission, which is helping the virus to continue to spread. Therefore were urge the public in Swale to play their part by closely following social distancing, regular handwashing and the wearing of face coverings in public places to help keep the number of cases to a minimum.”

* The local numbers are still much lower than in areas such as Manchester (437.5) and Liverpool (642.5), where the tightest restrictions are already in place or are about to be introduced.

Picture: Twitter/@KentSpecials

Almost 2,000 people were without power last night (Friday 9th October) following a collision on Lower Road, Teynham, at around 8.05pm.

Kent Police were called to the scene in which an electricity pole was damaged and a spokesman for UK Power Networks told the SFM Newteam that electricity supplies to 1,877 villagers were interrupted following the incident. Power was restored to 220 of them by about 8.30pm with the remaining 1,657 customers having supplies returned to normal by 9.10pm.

The spokesman went on to say: "our engineers had to safely repair the pole which meant that they had to temporarily interrupt power to 28 customers but their supplies were restored by 11.20pm".

The Leader of Swale Borough council, Cllr Roger Truelove, has called for a renewal of "community spirit" to help people get through the next six months of restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the last few weeks, the government has announced new measures to try to prevent the spread of the virus, including limiting opening hours for pubs, bars and restaurants, making collection of contact details a legal requirement for businesses, and making it illegal for groups of more than six people to gather socially.

Cllr Truelove's Statement reads: “Recent Government decisions have signalled a new phase in the fight against coronavirus. We are anticipating another set of extra responsibilities for our council and I am naturally concerned about unemployment and homelessness increasing. Having had the intense lockdown phase from March to June, we then had a period of comparative respite through the summer, with people patriotically eating out to help out. Now we are embarking on a long six-month winter of hibernation, with the possibility of further restrictions on individual lifestyles. We cannot underestimate the impact this may have on the economy but also on people’s wider health and especially mental health".

“People are going to find restrictions much harder to accept during the winter months and we will need to renew the community spirit of the first lockdown. We must not relax. We have had a comparatively low level of infection compared with some parts of the country and we must continue to follow the public health advice, to regularly wash our hands, wear masks and observe social distancing. At the same time, we must have a vision of our future as we come out of this crisis. Much will depend on the competence of our government, especially in tackling the severe economic climate. But as a Council we have to have a clear idea of where we want to go."

“We will continue to fight to protect Swale from unrealistic planning demands from government; to seek ways to provide more affordable housing; to fight the climate emergency locally, to work more closely with community voluntary groups, to build a local economy with wider job opportunities and make improvements to our town centres, our open spaces, our tourist centres and our heritage to increase our sense of pride in the place called Swale.”

For more information regarding COVID-19 and Coronavirus local please visit the council's website at: http://swale.gov.uk/news-and-your-council/coronavirus.

Swale Borough Councilor (Cllr) Richard Palmer (pictured above) has public condemned the KCC (Kent County Council) Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport, Cllr Michael Payne, for ignoring residents’ concerns about the failure of KCC to fully refund money paid for the KCC school bus travel scheme that could not be used because of COVID.  

Cllr Palmer says that he has raised this with Cllr Payne on more than one occasion, but as yet, Cllr Payne has failed to respond to his concerns.

Cllr Palmer says “the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is clear that refunds must be made for parts of services or contracts not fulfilled owing to the current pandemic. It is time for KCC to do the right thing and issue refunds for periods that could not be used because of lockdown”. Cllr Palmer further states that “It is appalling that KCC has not complied with the Governments advice about refunds, which is on the Government website. This is further compounded by Cllr Payne ignoring this matter. Cllr Payne must now sort this out without delay and issue a public apology to those affected. I have emailed the link concerning the refunds, to Cllr Payne previously”.

The SFM News Team have asked Cllr Michael Payne for his comments on the above but as yet have not had a reply.