Kent weekly round-up: 18 May - 24 May 2024

The story about a warning being issued over Asian hornets after record sightings proved a popular read this week.

A variety of local issues featured on the BBC News website, BBC Radio Kent and BBC South East Today.

We have picked five stories from the past week in case you missed them.

Business leaders in Kent are calling for Eurostar stops at stations in the county to be reinstated after the company invested in 50 new trains.

Rail services linking the UK to Europe have not stopped at Ashford or Ebbsfleet since March 2020.

The Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce said Eurostar was prioritising profit over the economic support of the county.

Eurostar has said its Kent stations would remain closed throughout 2024.

The rail company has previously cited financial factors and the post-Brexit border situation as reasons for the Kent services not being immediately restored.

Read more here

Residents in Kent have raised concerns about possible pollution after dead marine life washed up on a beach.

The Environment Agency (EA) is investigating after it was notified about "thousands of dead and dying ragworms and lugworms" found on the beach at Minnis Bay, in Birchington-on-Sea.

Thanet District Council (TDC) said it was made aware of a possible pollution incident involving "harmful algae" at the beach and advised the public to "refrain from entering the water".

Resident Jacqueline Bowler, from Minnis Bay, was concerned about the advice ahead of half-term, saying: "All these people with beach huts, well they can’t go into the water. How do you keep children in a beach hut?"

Read more here

BBC Radio Kent sent their reporter Jo Burn along to speak to dog walkers and residents in Thanet.

A baby who choked at nursery died as a result of misadventure, an inquest jury has concluded.

Oliver Steeper died six days after he choked at Jelly Beans Day Nursery, in Ashford, on 23 September 2021.

Coroner Katrina Hepburn told the jury at Oakwood House, Maidstone, that there was "no evidence which would show failures by nursery or its staff".

However, she will now make a Report to Prevent Future Deaths for the Department for Education as "it was apparent from evidence" that staff were "not able to put into place Resuscitation Council guidelines" in an emergency.

Read more here

Veterans gathered to see 80 Tommy silhouettes etched onto a beach in Broadstairs and pay their tributes to the fallen to commemorate D-Day.

The temporary installation at Stone Bay represents the soldiers, known as 'Tommies', who fought in World War Two.

6 June will mark the 80th anniversary since the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1944, the largest amphibious invasion in military history.

Marcus Jones from the Royal British Legion Industries, who was part of the team creating the silhouettes, said the drawings being washed away by the tide was a 'poignant moment' as the soldiers were 'gone but not forgotten'.

Read more here

A man has been arrested after a crash involving a bus and a tractor in Kent left 12 children injured.

Emergency services were called to the collision on A227 South Street, near Meopham, at 15:25 BST on Wednesday.

The bus driver and 12 children were taken to hospital, while four others were treated by paramedics at the scene, police said.

A 33-year-old man from East Sussex has been arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Read more here

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