Latest SE Kent News
BUSINESS:
A flight training school opening at Lydd Airport, Romney Marsh, has created new jobs at the airport.
The expansion into Lydd of Harvard Aviation, which already has an established school at Redhill Airport in Surrey, has created at least three new jobs, with two flying instructors and an operations / IT manager already on board.
The flight school is one of several companies to move into Lydd airport in the past year. Leading car rental specialist Enterprise Rent-A-Car launched its latest UK branch at the airport in April 2009, while air charter company Trans Euro Air, which offers a range of passenger and cargo air transport services, established operations at the Romney Marsh airport a month later.
Lydd Airport’s Jo Oliver said: "Lydd continues to attract a wide mix of companies who recognise the benefits of being based at a rapidly developing airport. Harvard Aviation has some of the best instructors in the business and supply everything a trainee pilot needs to get started. I’m sure the school will be very successful here."
Last week the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, decided a public inquiry must be held over the £25m expansion plans of Lydd Airport and in June Jersey-based C.I. Travel cancelled its planned weekly service to Jersey from Lydd after poor sales.
Previous coverage in Romney Marsh Times:
> Lydd Airport to go to public inquiry - 28th June '10.
> Lydd airport Jersey service cancelled - 9th June '10.
Links:
> Harvard Aviation
> Lydd Airport
COMMUNITIES:
Two men have each been fined £300 after they were stopped near Old Romney in a crackdown on illegal flytipping on Romney Marsh, Kent.
A total of 89 vehicles were stopped for inspection at a checkpoint, set up by Officers from Shepway District Council and Kent Police, near the Oasis Cafe on the A259 at Old Romney, Romney Marsh.
The inspections checked that drivers had the necessary paperwork needed for carrying waste while police checked the vehicles for road worthiness.
Shepway Council is urging anyone who has work done on their homes or in their gardens to make those doing the work have a waste carriers' licence. "No legitimate trader will mind being asked. Beware of any offer that looks too good to be true. You might get a cheap job done but your old furniture, garden waste or old shed could end up being illegally dumped, and you also have a duty of care for your waste even after it leaves your possession," said Liam Flannery, Shepway Council Environmental Protection Officer.
Links:
> Shepway District Council
> Kent Police
SPORT:
 Dover was the scene of a new world-record after group of surfers became the first relay team to cross the English Channel on stand-up paddleboards and one of the team set a new solo record for the crossing.
Conditions were great for the 21-mile crossing to Calais with light winds and the sun shining enabling the team to achieve a relay benchmark World record of 5 hours and 38 minutes.
The relay team included 2009 UK stand up paddleboarding champion Jock Patterson, Matt Argyle, Chairman of the British Stand Up Paddle Association (BSUPA) and ranked 2nd in the UK for stand up paddle boarding, and Simon Bassett, BSUPA head coach. Welsh longboarding champion Elliot Dudley, who is also SAS’s South Wales Representative, also set a magnificent solo time of 5 hours and 38 minutes, which may also stand as a new World-record, it being the first ever official solo Channel crossing by SUP.
The team set out in support of Surfers Against Sewage and raised almost £10,000 in sponsorship money to support SASs campaigns to protect surfers, waveriders, waves and beaches around the UK.
SAS Director director, Hugo Tagholm, said: "I am thrilled that the riders have completed this massive challenge in support of SAS’s ongoing campaigns to protect the UK’s beaches and seas for all to enjoy. Well done to them all for setting such fantastic new World-records, which we hope the Guinness Book of Records will endorse as soon as possible. I’d like to say a massive thank you to the riders for all their efforts and for contributing so much to our campaigns against marine pollution."
Links:
> Surfers Against Sewage.
Picture Courtesy of SAS.
Traffic around the coastbound exit slip road of the M20 at Junction 10 is easing this afternoon (Friday, July 2nd 2010) after it was closed when an overturning lorry crushed a car this morning.
The driver of the car was rushed to the William Harvey with reported serious head injuries after a Sainsbury lorry overturned and crushed the car just before 7am this morning.
The M20 coastbound exit slip road was closed since while investigations were carried out but traffic conditions are now easing according to traffic monitoring agencies.
> M20 delays as car crushed by lorry at Junction 10
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CRIME & EMERGENCY SERVICES:
Sainsbury's lorry crushes car on M20A woman was rushed to hospital with serious head injuries this morning (2nd July 2010) when her car was crushed by a lorry as it overturned on the Junction 10 roundabout of the M20 near Ashford.
Her car, a Red Ford, was crushed when the Sainsbury lorry toppled over while navigating the roundabout. She was rushed to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford with reported serious head injuries after Police, fire and ambulance crews cut her free just after 7.15am.
Traffic is backing up on the M20 and the area surrounding the coastbound exit slip road of the junction 10 roundabout with delays of upto 15 minutes while investigations are carried out. The Ashford junction is expected to re-open by 1pm.
Update (1pm): Normal traffic conditions are now expected to resume at 3pm.
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POLITICS:
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles has decided a public inquiry must be held over the £25m expansion of Lydd Airport on Romney Marsh in Kent.
Lydd Airport said the decision to call in its plans for a public inquiry was “hugely frustrating” and that the decision would hold up investment in new jobs while campaigners against the expansion said the decision was a victory for common sense and the environment.
The airport plans for a runway extension and a new terminal building capable of handling up to 500,000 passengers a year were approved by Shepway councillors on 3rd March against the advice of the councils planning Officers and Natural England, the government’s independent advisor on the natural environment. Natural England said that expansion should not go ahead as the plans did not properly consider the environmental impact and local areas.
The RSPB, which manages nearby bird reserves, and Protect Kent argued against the plans as did Caroline Lucas, Green Euro-MP for Kent and the South East and Party leader, who wrote to EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik to request an investigation into council decision.
Protect Kent Deputy Director Sean Furey said “Romney Marsh is one of the most beautiful and tranquil landscapes in South East England. We want tourists to come to area to appreciate it and support the local economy, but we have long argued that expanding the airport is the wrong way to go, and would damage internationally important wildlife habitats in the process.
“We are glad that these issues will be explored rigorously by an inquiry.”
Pro-expansion campaigners however have argued that the expansion is vital for the Romney Marshes and wider area as it would bring a vital economic boost to the region.”
Lydd Airport by contrast was frustrated by the latest decision.
Speaking before the announcement on Thursday, Lydd airport’s managing director, Jonathan Gordon, said "It’s regrettable that our multi-million-pound investment plans, which will help boost the economic fortunes of Romney Marsh and create 500 jobs, are on hold again.”
Speaking after news that Secretary of State had called a public inquiry, Lydd airport spokesperson Jo Oliver said the decision was deeply disappointing but they remained confident that they would secure approval.
Further Lydd Airport news from Romney Marsh Times
> Romney Marsh news
News from across the web on Lydd Airport inquiry decision:
> BBC News
> Kent on Sunday
> Kent Messenger
Related Links:
> Lydd Airport
> Shepway Council
> Protect Kent
> RSPB
> Natural England
A armed, armed with what is thought to be a firearm, raided a bookmakers in New Romney, Romney Marsh, on Friday morning.
Police have launched an appeal for witnesses after the man entered the betting shop and threatened staff and customers before leaving with an undisclosed amount of money.
According to reports, no shots were fired and no-one was injured.
> BBC News: Armed robber raids New Romney betting shop
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