Hopes fence will stop 'illegal encampments' in Sittingbourne park
Part of the recreation ground already has fencing around its edge. The new fencing will cover the rest.Dolley Wooster, chair of the council's environmental services and climate change committee, said: "So far this year, Milton Rec has seen three illegal encampments and residents have expressed their concerns on how it impacts their use of the recreation ground."Each incident also costs local council taxpayers thousands of pounds to remove, along with the costs of cleaning the site, waste removal and carrying out repairs."We need to follow a number of legal steps – welfare checks, legal notices and, when necessary, court applications - which takes up valuable resources."We want to prevent further incidents and have been trying to find ways to retain the original use of the park."Ms Wooster said the fencing would stop vehicles getting into the park without losing the "formal but open feel" of the the area.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
39 minutes ago
- BBC News
'Love locks' being cut from Bristol's Pero's Bridge
Padlocks attached to an historic bridge as romantic gestures are being removed due to fears they are too so-called 'love locks' on Pero's Bridge in Bristol reportedly collectively weigh up to three tonnes, and the process to cut them off began on Monday are thousands of the locks attached by couples to the bridge - which is named after Pero Jones who was enslaved in Bristol in the 18th Century - many with their initials City Council has been approached for comment. Pero's Bridge opened in 1999 and links Queen Square and Millennium Square. It is not yet known what will happen to the padlocks once they are removed. Speaking to the BBC on the bridge, couple Tom Davies and Josh Inoue said the move "makes sense if it's a safety thing"."It's sad though, I hope they came up with another way of preserving it," Mr Davies Inoue said: "You can see a lot of them [the padlocks] are eroded and decaying, but the moment is still there. "Things fade, but memories are forever." The council initially planned to remove the locks before the Bristol Harbour Festival last cleared the bridge of padlocks about 10 years ago - but couples attached new locks and it was covered again within a few years.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Prince Harry's secret tribute to Prince Philip in a personal letter laid to mark VJ Day
Prince Harry has paid tribute to his late grandfather Prince Philip with a letter secretly placed at the National Memorial Arboretum to mark the 80th Anniversary of VJ Day. The Duke of Sussex asked a friend to place the note and a wreath at the Burma Star Memorial in Staffordshire following the national service of remembrance last Friday. The letter was placed after King Charles III and Queen Camilla had left in an apparent effort to avoid distracting from the official royal commemorations, reported GB News. Harry, 40, wrote: 'For me, this anniversary carries an added layer of meaning. My late grandfather, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, served in the Pacific campaign. 'He spoke with quiet humility about those years, but I know how deeply he respected all who stood beside him in that theatre of war. Today, as I think of him, I think also of each of you, of the shared hardships, the bonds forged, and the legacy you leave.' The service - also attended by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer - was hosted by the Royal British Legion and the UK Government at the site in Alrewas, Staffordshire. More to follow King Charles III and Queen Camilla react to veteran Yavar Abbas's reference to the King's cancer treatment during the VJ Day service at the National Memorial Arboretum on Friday Silas Ackah Sarbah lays a wreath on the Burma Star memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum during a reception for VJ veterans and their families in Staffordshire last Friday
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Birmingham City Council to pay out to resident who hired skip
Birmingham City Council has agreed to pay out to a resident in flats who hired a skip to deal with mounting Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found the council "repeatedly failed" to collect the woman and her neighbours' waste since January 2024 - a year before the current bins strike watchdog said the council agreed to pay the resident £300 to recognise "frustration" and £168 for the skip authority said it apologised for any distress caused and had agreed to pay "appropriate compensation along with other actions set out by the ombudsman." The resident claimed the council "repeatedly failed" to collect communal waste containers. The watchdog said it caused "difficulties" for the woman, who was referred to as Mrs and Mrs X reported a number of missed collections last summer, four in September and four in made a formal complaint in October and a skip was hired in an attempt to clear some waste. 'Need to intervene' The ombudsman said the council's response to the complaint apologised for "poor level of service" and that the authority stated crews were given "additional reminders".But issues reportedly continued towards the end of watchdog said the council stated it was unable to comment on what "caused the missed collections as the driver and crew are involved in the industrial action", but "it again suggests the later start times introduced in 2024 are a potential cause".The report stated a number of missed collections were eventually "closed", meaning the council completed them later. Addressing missed collections earlier this year, cabinet member for environment Majid Mahmood said: "We don't want to see a single complaint coming through to customer services because of non-collection."No resident should have to go and pay for their own skip. It's a service that we have to by law provide to residents."If there's specific issues... that's something that we need to intervene with."He added in January that new technology would make a positive difference and the system was being reviewed around tower blocks and has said changes to the city's waste service will provide people "with a better waste collection service" in line with other councils. This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
