Sittingbourne

It was Sittingbourne Parkrun's seventh birthday on Saturday (25th February) with event number 290 and a celebration with cheers, cake and coffee.

Parkrun legend, 82 year old John Waterman, completed his 250^th parkrun milestone as part of the celebrations.

Since the event started there has been 6,480 participants with a whopping 8,896 personal bests recorded. All made possible by 752 volunteers including four legged friends Bertie, Milo, Mollie and Blue to name a few.

A dispersal order will be in place over the weekend to tackle nuisance vehicles in a rural area of Sittingbourne.

It will operate from 7pm tonight (Friday 24th February) until 7pm on Sunday (26th February) and covers Sheppey Way, Old Ferry Road, Swale Way and Barge Way near Kemsley Fields.

The order is being implemented by Kent Police due to an increase in reports of nuisance vehicles and dangerous driving in the district at weekends. It allows officers to stop anyone involved in anti-social behaviour and move them on from the area.

A Sittingbourne man will appear before court following break-ins at more than 10 properties including a charity, in rural areas of the town and near Maidstone.

The alleged offences occurred between 30th September and 7th November 2021. Items stolen included power tools, bicycles, quad bikes, as well as valuable machinery including a John Deere lawnmower.

Oliver King, 36, of Glenbrook Grove, was arrested in a vehicle on the A2 after a short pursuit involving the police helicopter, on Monday 7th November 2022.

A convicted sex offender from Sittingbourne is starting a prison sentence after ignoring measures imposed by the courts to prevent him from reoffending.

Lewis Mortimer has been jailed for five years after he was found in possession of a haul of child abuse material, which even included a paedophile manual.

Members of an organised crime gang who burgled stables acrossthe county have been jailed.

Frank Matthews, Jimmy Price and Lewis Collins were arrested after they conspired to steal horse equipment valued at around £100,000 at up to eight separate properties between 3rd May and 17th May 2020.

UK clothing retailer, M&Co, has announced that all of it's stores across the UK, including the branch here in Sittingbourne, are set to close in April.

In a Press Statement the company confirmed that "unfortunately, we haven't received the news we would have hoped for during our administration period. As we haven't received any funded, deliverable offers that would result in the transfer of the Company's stores or staff to a potential buyer, this means that all our stores will close".

Broadband users in the Eden Village area of Sittingbourne have been experiencing outages with their broadband over the past week.

It is believed that the main Open Reach infrastructure in the area is to blame. Cabinet 77, which is the one covering the roads affected, has been relying on batteries that should operate in short power outages, to allow broadband and now digital voice services to continue to operate.

Work to provide the permanent buildings required for the expansion of Borden Grammar School has begun.

The school has already increased its intake for Year 7 admissions over the past two years from four forms to five (up from 120 to 150 pupils) through the provision of two mobile classrooms.

This follows a demand for places due to an increase in the number of births from 2008 to 2012, inward migration and house building in the area. The school was rated Good in its most recent Ofsted inspection, in November 2021.

Local Sittingbourne-based bus company, Chalkwell, have announced that they will be taking over two local bus routes from Arriva next month.

The two routes serve the Murston, Kemsley and Milton Regis areas with a service to and from the Sittingbourne Bus Hub in the centre of town.

A Sittingbourne man is set to appear in court accused of receiving more than £300,000 in illegally-earned funds.

Luke Barling, aged 49 and of Blenheim Road, has been charged with three counts of money laundering, following an investigation by detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.

The money is believed to be linked to alleged fraud offences committed by unknown suspects against 16 victims, most of them elderly, between February and July 2020.

Mr Barling has received a summons to appear at Medway Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 2nd March.