Podcast: Mystery buyer snaps up areas of land in Rainham, Gillingham and Chatham leaving residents concerned about privacy

A mystery buyer has snapped up plots of land in Medway, leading to fears it’ll affect resident’s privacy and the value of their homes.

The plots of land vary in size from less the an acre to more than seven acres, and some are within feet of people’s properties.

Also in today’s podcast, a man’s been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman in her 80s was stabbed to death near Tunbridge Wells.

Police were called to a disturbance in Bright Ridge in Southborough on Saturday night.

The prisons watchdog says HMP Rochester needs urgent improvement after a decade of decline resulting in a “shocking level of neglect”.  

Inspectors visited last month and found squalid conditions, rising violence and widespread drug use.  Hear from Charlie Taylor who is HM Chief Inspector of Prisons.

The Kent MP hoping to be the next Tory leader has revealed he’d bring back something similar to the Rwanda scheme if he ever becomes Prime Minister.

Labour promised to scrap the policy and have set up a Border Security Command to try and stop asylum seekers crossing the Channel. Tonbridge rep Tom Tugendhat has been speaking on the latest episode of the Kent Politics Podcast.

As new research suggests more than a fifth of customers are asking for the service charge to be removed from restaurant bills, we’ve been finding out what you think.

Rather than leave a tip on the table, it’s becoming more and more common for eateries to add a bit extra onto the bill instead. Reporter Millie Bowles has been chatting to diners in Canterbury.

It’s claimed donations have been left to rot inside a charity shop in Maidstone, after it closed during the pandemic but never reopened.

Save the Children in Union Street still has a full window display at the front and is overgrown with brambles at the back.

And in sport, Gillingham remain unbeaten in league two this season after a 1-0 win over Chesterfield.

Robbie McKenzie scored the only goal of the game at Priestfield on Saturday and we’ve been getting the thoughts of manager Mark Bonner.