Sittingbourne

Members of an organised crime gang who burgled stables acrossthe county have been jailed.

Frank Matthews, Jimmy Price and Lewis Collins were arrested after they conspired to steal horse equipment valued at around £100,000 at up to eight separate properties between 3rd May and 17th May 2020.

UK clothing retailer, M&Co, has announced that all of it's stores across the UK, including the branch here in Sittingbourne, are set to close in April.

In a Press Statement the company confirmed that "unfortunately, we haven't received the news we would have hoped for during our administration period. As we haven't received any funded, deliverable offers that would result in the transfer of the Company's stores or staff to a potential buyer, this means that all our stores will close".

Broadband users in the Eden Village area of Sittingbourne have been experiencing outages with their broadband over the past week.

It is believed that the main Open Reach infrastructure in the area is to blame. Cabinet 77, which is the one covering the roads affected, has been relying on batteries that should operate in short power outages, to allow broadband and now digital voice services to continue to operate.

Work to provide the permanent buildings required for the expansion of Borden Grammar School has begun.

The school has already increased its intake for Year 7 admissions over the past two years from four forms to five (up from 120 to 150 pupils) through the provision of two mobile classrooms.

This follows a demand for places due to an increase in the number of births from 2008 to 2012, inward migration and house building in the area. The school was rated Good in its most recent Ofsted inspection, in November 2021.

Local Sittingbourne-based bus company, Chalkwell, have announced that they will be taking over two local bus routes from Arriva next month.

The two routes serve the Murston, Kemsley and Milton Regis areas with a service to and from the Sittingbourne Bus Hub in the centre of town.

A Sittingbourne man is set to appear in court accused of receiving more than £300,000 in illegally-earned funds.

Luke Barling, aged 49 and of Blenheim Road, has been charged with three counts of money laundering, following an investigation by detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.

The money is believed to be linked to alleged fraud offences committed by unknown suspects against 16 victims, most of them elderly, between February and July 2020.

Mr Barling has received a summons to appear at Medway Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 2nd March.

National Highways have today (Tuesday 17th January) given an update on the M2 junction 5 improvement scheme and the eastbound slip roads.

Councillors have agreed the rollout of a low cost, low emission car club to Sittingbourne.

Swale Borough Council will be launching the next local car club to help people access cleaner vehicles, without the expense and hassle of ownership.

Swale BC say "the scheme will be building on the successful trial of the first club set up in Faversham last year. This has been estimated to have saved local drivers almost £24,000, and reduced CO2 emissions by 6.39 tonnes, in the first three months".

Kent Police’s Rural Task Force are investigating the suspected killing of a tawny owl in Upchurch.

The incident is believed to have happened in October 2022 and officers have recently come into possession of images of two men they would like to speak to.

Police Sergeant Darren Walshaw told SFM News: ‘we suspect an owl was killed using catapults and are now issuing photographs of two people who may be able to assist with our enquiries. Anybody who recognises one or both of them is urged to contact our appeal line."

Kent Police are seeking witnesses after 27 sheep were found dead following a dog attack in a field near Sittingbourne.

The ewes, who were all believed to be pregnant, were attacked between Christmas Eve and 1pm on Boxing Day. It happened at a location near Deerton Street, Teynham. It has been reported that barking was heard in the area between 4pm and 5pm on Christmas Day.