News July - August 2026

16 July 2026 - Lightning hit put to be rebuilt after community effort
Local Green Man recovery group have bought site of pub which burned down, and are now developing plans for the future.
Kent Messenger

23 July 2026 - Kent to have 4 massive new councils in shake up
Government have announced their preferred options for Kent.  Longfield will go with Dartford, Gravesham and Medway into a North Kent unitary authority.  Hartley and New Ash Green will go into West Kent made up of Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone.  Most of the local politicians quoted in the paper say they will try to get it to work.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

27 July 2026 - Road Accident in Longfield
A woman was hit by a car, suffering bruising, while crossing the zebra crossing outside Longfield Academy.  She thanked "all the amazing people who came to my help."
Nextdoor

30 July 2026 - Kent Academy bosses told to justify pay
Government has questioned pay packages of some academy bosses.  Head of Leigh Trust's pay has risen in 3 years from £300K to £380K.  Local education expert said Leigh's record is good, but points out their pay is higher than the £270K paid to the Chief Executive of Kent County Council who has much more responsibility.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

31 July 2026 - Longfield Crime Report:
Crimes mentioned in e-watch for July were: attempted burglary (Bramblefield Close); attempted car theft (Bramblefield Close); Arson (Banckside); Theft from garden (Banckside)
E-Watch

31 July 2026 - Hartley Crime Report:
Crimes mentioned in e-watch for July were: burglary and theft of car (Essex Road); Criminal Damage (New Barn Road)
E-Watch

05 August 2026 - South East Water publishes 2027-32 Drought Plan
Every 5 years the water company has to review its drought plan, and they have just concluded a consultation to their draft plan.  Climate change means droughts will become more common.

They say demand has increased as people work from home more (that is, don't commute to London outside their area).  They plan to spend £2.1 bn on improvements over the next 5 years in things like fixing bursts, replacing pipes and rolling out smart meters.  They also mention the Broad Oak Reservoir plans, but this will not be on line under the mid 2030s.   The whole of their area is defined as "seriously water stressed" meaning demand is a high proportion of total rainfall.  

For the future they plan to use data such as groundwater levels (in our part of Kent monitoring sites will be at Riverhead and Sweeps Lane, St Pauls Cray) to trigger various levels of drought severity, labelled levels 0 to 4.   Level 1 is developing drought and at this stage they will run campaigns exhorting the public to use less water.  Once they reach level 2 (drought) they will first bring in Temporary Use Restrictions for householders with exemptions (e.g. blue badge holders), with a phase 2 to remove exemptions if things get worse.  In level 3 (severe drought) a statutory drought order will limit use for businesses, again at first with some exemptions which will be removed if things get worse.  Expedients for severe drought include reducing water pressure overnight, transporting water in tankers, laying emergency piping from other areas and increasing abstraction from rivers.  For Newhaven they propose a temporary desalination plant and possibly bringing in drinking water by sea tanker.  Level 4 (emergency drought) requires a statutory order from the government.  They say in 2025 they came within 30 days of having to do this for part of their area.  Level 4 would result in rationing water by turning off supplies at cetain times.
South East Water