Latest news with #EastKent
BBC News
20-07-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Advice against bathing lifted at nine Kent beaches
Advice against bathing at nine beaches in Thanet has been lifted, the local council has confirmed. Thanet District Council temporarily put restrictions in place due to a notification from Southern Water that "storm wastewater was discharged into the sea" as a result of the heavy rain overnight on 18 wastewater is a combination of sewage and surface water. The council added that following on from the recent dry weather, pollution was also possible from surface water users were advised to stay out of the water during this time. The nine beaches where restrictions have been lifted are: West Bay, St Mildred's Bay, Westbrook Bay, Margate Main Sands, Walpole Bay, Botany Bay, Kingsgate Bay, Joss Bay and Ramsgate Western authority said that due to a further discharge by Southern Water on Saturday, the advice not to bath at five beaches on the East Kent coast remains in affected beaches are: Stone Bay, Viking Bay, Louisa Bay, Dumpton Gap and Ramsgate Main district council said it was in contact with the Environment Agency and Southern Water to establish further signs are in place at affected beaches and it is hoped restrictions can be lifted "as soon as possible", it added..
BBC News
07-07-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
South East Water says supply issue improving but not yet fixed
An ongoing water supply issue in Kent is improving but has not been "completely fixed" yet, with about 500 properties remaining affected for a sixth day, South East Water has Wednesday, it said up to 3,000 customers in Whitstable, Seasalter and surrounding areas had no water or low pressure due to the recent the number of affected homes has reduced, the company's water supply director, Douglas Whitfield, could not promise a total resolution by told BBC Radio Kent: "That's certainly what we're hoping [but] I wouldn't like to 100% commit to that because if I do then something else could happen which means that's not the case." Mr Whitfield said the Seasalter area had seen a "good return to supply" and "all those customers should have their normal mains supply back on now", but there were "intermittent" issues around the Wraik Hill and Yorkletts areas."The last area we need to get on is the Wraik Hill area which has benefitted from some boosters which suck water from one of our storage tanks, and they're still currently airlocked," he boosters ran for a period on Sunday night, but "tripped off" on Monday morning, he said."Water will be injected from a tanker into the area," he said, adding that supply should be returned later on Monday. Meanwhile, he said a fault on one of the apparatus on the network needed to be repaired and replaced, but it was a complicated process."It's a very deep main, encased in concrete, and will require us to isolate that main to do the repair. Obviously we can't do that until supplies are back in," he bottled water stations at Sainsbury's on Reeves Way in Chestfield, and at 129C Faversham Road, Seasalter, in Whitstable, remain open on Whitfield also promised customers would be compensated in due for the outage, he said: "This is not the service we want to give to customers... it's been a very challenging week."
BBC News
03-07-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Whitstable and Seasalter water supply problems continue
Thousands of homes in East Kent still have problems with their water East Water has apologised, blaming the heatwave for the supply problems which began on Thursday morning it said about 4,000 customers in Whitstable, Seasalter and the surrounding area were still suffering from "intermittent supply".Incident manager Nick Bell said the bottled water station at Sainsburys in ReevesWay, Chestfield would reopen from 08:30 BST "for customers who may still need to collect bottled water due to issues with their mains supply". Bottled water will also be delivered to vulnerable customers who are registered on the company's Bell said: "We're continuing to use tankers to inject water into our network to support the Whitstable area and help get drinking water back to customers' taps as soon as possible."Once again, we're sorry for the inconvenience to customers and we'll continue to work hard to restore supplies as soon as we can."
BBC News
28-06-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
One person injured after car fire in Ramsgate
One person has been injured after a car caught fire in east Kent, a fire service has said. Emergency services were called to the blaze on Royal Approach Road in Ramsgate just before 20:00 BST on Friday. Two fire engines attended and crews used compressed air foam systems to extinguish the flames. South East Coast Ambulance Service said one person was passed into its care. The cause of the fire was currently unknown, the fire service said. Kent Police has been contacted for comment.
Times
23-06-2025
- Health
- Times
Wes Streeting announces investigation into NHS maternity services
Wes Streeting has announced the launch of a national investigation into NHS maternity services. Speaking in east London, the health secretary said the new rapid review, which will report by Christmas, was intended to provide truth to families suffering harm, as well as drive urgent improvements to care and safety. He told the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) conference: 'For the past year, I have been meeting bereaved families from across the country who have lost babies or suffered serious harm during what should have been the most joyful time in their lives. • 'After my baby died, NHS colleagues mocked me' 'What they have experienced is devastating — deeply painful stories of trauma, loss, and a lack of basic compassion — caused by failures in NHS maternity care that should never have happened. Their bravery in speaking out has made it clear: we must act — and we must act now.' He pointed to 'appalling scandals' in the past 15 years in Shrewsbury, Telford, East Kent, and Nottingham. Officials at the Department of Health and Social Care said the investigation would examine the entire maternity system, including an urgent review into the worst-performing services. The department is also launching a 'national maternity and neonatal taskforce' to be chaired by the health secretary. Labour one year on: send us your voice notesWhat one Labour policy has affected you or your family most and why?Please share your response with us in a voice message on WhatsApp. You can reach us at +44 (0)7353096428. Streeting said giving birth carried risk but 'that risk is considerably higher than it should be because of the state of the crisis in our maternity and neonatal services'. Despite previous government initiatives, inequalities in maternal and neonatal outcomes have become 'more visible, not less', he said, adding that the rate of late maternal deaths has been consistently rising. He said: 'Babies of black ethnicity are twice as likely to be stillborn than babies of white ethnicity, and black women are still two to three times more likely to die during pregnancy or shortly after birth than white women. Tragically, that gap is closing slightly, but partly because more white women are dying in childbirth.' 'It's clear something is going wrong,' Streeting continued. 'Maternity care should be the litmus test by which this government is judged on patient safety, and I will do everything in my power to ensure no family has to suffer like this again.'
