Local News

A day of enforcement action to combat the incorrect and fraudulent use of Blue Badges has been carried out in Swale.

Kent County Council’s Counter Fraud team joined Swale Borough Council’s Parking team as they visited several streets and car parks last Thursday (4th August) to check that the badges were being used by the authorised person and in the correct way.

Throughout the day civil enforcement officers were trained on how to inspect blue badges and taught about the importance of establishing if badges were being used in accordance with the scheme. The inspections took place in Sittingbourne, Faversham and Isle of Sheppey.

Blue badge holders spoken to throughout the day, welcome the news and gave positive feedback about the need for badges to be inspected on the Borough.

In total 209 people had badges inspected and most people spoken to were using the badge in accordance with the scheme. The civil enforcement officers ceased 13 badges that had expired and spoke to an additional 13 people regarding blue badges and answered any queries that arose regarding the scheme.

The eligibility criteria change has increased the number of badges used in Kent and KCC feel that "it is paramount that available spaces are used for legitimate purposes".

Clair Bell, KCC’s Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, told SFM News: "The Blue Badge scheme is there to support vulnerable people in maintaining independence and access to services. Abusing the scheme by using badges not belonging to you, deceased people’s badges and stolen badges for personal gain is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. The Blue Badge Scheme is an important service for people with disabilities or health conditions that enables badge holders to park close to where they need to go. While most blue badge holders respect the rules of their use, KCC along with Swale Borough Council will not tolerate the abuse of the system by the minority who take advantage of the scheme.”

Cllr Elliott Jayes, vice-chair of the community committee at Swale Council, told SFM News: “We were pleased to be teaming up with KCC to tackle the fraudulent use of blue badges. The majority were used correctly and those who were found to be abusing the scheme were dealt with appropriately. We will be cracking down on the misuse of blue badges in Swale, and this joint enforcement day is just the beginning.”

Anyone suspecting misuse of a blue badge can report it directly online at: www.kent.gov.uk/reportfraud.

A plan for futureproofed, accessible, and affordable electric vehicle charging has been agreed by Swale Borough Council.

Councillors have approved the council’s electric vehicle strategy, which outlines how they plan to meet the future demand for electric vehicles in Swale by creating a network of charge points that meet the needs of residents, businesses and visitors by 2030.

The EV strategy was approved at the council’s environment committee meeting last month (Thursday 30th June), the first since it moved to a committee system earlier this year.

Cllr Julian Saunders, chair of the environment committee at the council, told SFM News: “The electric vehicle strategy has been in the works for a while, and I’m pleased to say that we have a futureproofed plan that aims to provide the infrastructure we need to support the move to electric vehicles ahead of our target of net-zero across the borough by 2030. Of course, we have limitations that we must work around, but what we’ve got now is a plan we can start on as we continue to have conversations with Kent County Council and other key stakeholders. We don’t manage the local road network, so when finding solutions for on-street charging such as chargers on lampposts like you see in cities, we need to work with KCC to find and implement solutions. In the meantime, we’re installing council owned charge points in our car parks, which helps us keep charging prices lower for residents.”

Cllr Tim Valentine, vice chair of the environment committee at Swale Borough Council, told SFM News: “We’re delighted to have a strategy that outlines how we create the infrastructure needed as people make the move over to more sustainable vehicles. We’ll be focussing on areas with high levels of on-street parking demand, air quality management areas and solutions for rural areas. As part of the strategy we also agreed on how we move forward installing 18 new charging bays with funding we received from the Government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) in car parks near areas without driveways for charging.

He went on to add: “We received more than £100,000 from the OZEV and contributed £42,000 from our improvement and resilience fund, and plan to install new Pod Point charge points at Albany Road in Sittingbourne, Queens Hall in Faversham, and additional charge points at Rose Street in Sheerness. To meet the funding criteria, we’re installing 7kw chargers - which are suitable for a slow overnight charging - in our car parks by the end of the year.”

You can view Swale Borough Council's strategy at:- www.cee.swale.gov.uk/what-were-doing/planning.

A CCTV image has been released by police as part of an investigation into an assault in Sittingbourne earlier this month.

Officers would like to talk to the man in the image, or anyone who recognises him, in connection with the assault which was reported to have happened on Saturday 2nd July at around 11:00pm inside a pub in West Street.

The victim, a man in his 20s, was inside The Vineyard Pub when he was reported to have been punched in the face by a man not known to him, causing him facial injuries.

Anyone with information is asked to call Kent Police on 01795 419119 quoting reference 46/127711/22 or, alternatively, they can call Crimestoppers free and anonymously on 0800 555 111 or complete the online form on their website:- https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/forms/give-information-ano....

As water supply returns to the Isle of Sheppey, Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) have confirmed that they "will begin to withdraw resources from the island throughout the day".

Between 1-3pm today (Friday 15th July) KFRS will clear hose line from the Ridham Dock area, during which time traffic will be managed with the assistance of Kent Police.

Overnight tonight crews will remove the high volume pump hose on the Sheppey Crossing bridge, resulting in the closure of the carriageway that allows traffic onto the island (northbound), between midnight and 4am. They say that "this hose has been essential for firefighting water and providing water for livestock that would otherwise have used public drinking water supplies".

During the closure, access for traffic will be via the Kingsferry Bridge.