Kent Weekend Briefing
Saturday, 24 October 2026
12 stories · 5-minute read
2003: Concorde made its last ever commercial flight, ending 27 years of supersonic passenger travel across the Atlantic.
On this day in history
The weekend in Kent · Kent’s SEND system is facing a crunch moment: a £109m high-needs funding overspend and an Ofsted-triggered deadline mean the county’s support for children with special needs is under serious scrutiny. Closer to home this weekend, Tonbridge & Malling residents have until the consultation closes to have their say on where nearly 20,000 new homes could be built over the next two decades.
The day ahead in Kent
Weather
Today: Cloudy morning, with showers developing in the afternoon, rain into the evening, high 16°C, low 6°C.
Tomorrow: Clear morning, high 13°C, low 8°C, windy (gusts to 37 km/h).
Travel
Roads: All major Kent routes clear.
Rail: All Kent services running to schedule.
As of 10:30 from National Highways + National Rail.
Coastal tides
Dover: Low 05:18 (1.57m) · High 10:19 (6.42m) · Low 17:40 (1.26m) · High 22:42 (6.43m)
Margate: Low 05:20 (1.14m) · High 11:20 (4.47m) · Low 17:43 (0.73m) · High 23:50 (4.58m)
Tides via tidetimes.co.uk.
5 things to know
- Kent SEND partnership faces 20 November deadline amid £109m funding overspend
- Tonbridge & Malling consults on 19,746 new homes planned across the borough by 2042
- Kent Health and Wellbeing Board called ‘not functional’ as overhaul is considered
- Kent man jailed for stealing vulnerable person’s bank card on 48-hour spree
- Halloween play premieres at Dickens’s Gad’s Hill Place, Higham, on 31 October
£109m
forecast in-year overspend on Kent’s high-needs SEND funding
Kent number of the day
Top Kent Stories
- Kent SEND partnership must publish improvement plan by 20 November as £109m high-needs overspend forecast
Published 09:32 BST
Why it matters · A £109m overspend and Ofsted deadline put Kent’s SEND support under urgent pressure - Tonbridge & Malling council asks residents to comment on plan for nearly 20,000 new homes by 2042
Published 12:51 BST
Why it matters · Nearly 20,000 homes planned for Tonbridge & Malling — residents can shape the outcome now - Kent Health and Wellbeing Board described as ‘not functional’ as council considers overhaul of its role and membership
Published 06:02 BST
Why it matters · Kent’s health board overhaul could reshape how local health decisions are made - Kent man jailed after stealing vulnerable person’s bank card
Published 12:51 BST
Why it matters · Jailing sends a clear warning about financial exploitation of vulnerable people in Kent - Kent Pension Fund to appoint independent overseer as new governance rules take effect
Published 06:02 BST
Why it matters · Governance changes affect the pension security of around 200,000 Kent public-sector workers
Play today’s Kent Daily Quiz
Five questions from yesterday’s Kent Local News stories. One go a day; keep your streak.
Also on KLN Games: Kentle, Where in Kent?, the Kent mini crossword, Headline builder; chess, draughts and the Royal Game of Ur against the computer; and three Kent history games: Dover Castle 1216, the Siege of Rochester 1215 and the Medway Raid 1667. All games →
Weekend reads — the week’s best of KLN
- North Sea oil, Part 1: can Britain turn the taps back on?
Published Fri 05:00 BST
UK North Sea output is 75% below its 1999 peak. In the first of two parts, Kent Local News sets out what has closed, what is left, what the oil companies say, why Norway’s side of the same sea is… - Kent County Council says it has gone to court over the council shake-up. No public meeting considered it.
Published Thu 05:00 BST
The three-month window to challenge the four-council decision closed on 16 October. KCC says it is proceeding with a legal challenge, but has not said what it filed, who authorised it or what it will… - Tonbridge & Malling council asks residents to comment on plan for nearly 20,000 new homes by 2042
Published Fri 12:51 BST
Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council opened a public consultation on its Local Plan, which sets out where roughly 19,746 homes could be built across the borough over the next two decades… - Tunbridge Wells cabinet asked to approve updated planning consultation rules as national scheme of delegation takes effect
Published Fri 09:33 BST
Cabinet considered a revised Statement of Community Involvement on 22 October 2026, reflecting new national planning regulations that from 31 October 2026 will change how planning applications are… - Kent Police arrests 22 suspects in fortnight targeting organised immigration crime
Published Thu 16:51 BST
Road checks at the Dartford Crossing and on the M20, and inspections of high street businesses, led to 22 arrests between 21 September and 7 October, the force says.
Crime & Justice
- Kent man jailed after stealing vulnerable person’s bank card
Published 12:51 BST
Kent man jailed after stealing vulnerable person’s bank card A man has been jailed after befriending a vulnerable person, stealing his bank card and using it on a 48-hour spending spree, Kent Police…
Business & Economy
- FCA issues 19 warnings about unauthorised and clone financial firms in seven days
Published 16:50 BST
The Financial Conduct Authority posted that it had issued 19 warnings about unauthorised or clone firms in a single week, urging consumers to verify any financial business before handing over money… - FCA chief calls for data and technology investment to protect financial markets
Published 12:51 BST
Nikhil Rathi told the Corporation of the City of London’s annual City Dinner that the regulator must invest in data and technology, use its powers more assertively and work with partners to maintain… - UK retail sales fell in September despite third-quarter growth
Published 09:46 BST
Retail sales volumes across Great Britain rose 0.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2026 but slipped 0.4 per cent in September, with warmer-than-usual weather suppressing demand for autumn and winter…
Financial markets
Bank of England (last 7 days):
- Regulators unveil plans to simplify Senior Manager and Certification Regime
- Minutes of the Securities Lending Committee meeting – September 2026
Markets via Yahoo Finance; ONS + BoE via official feeds.
What’s on today
- 16:00 · Daytime Disco for Grown Ups — Ashford
- 19:00 · Take Me Back: The Offspin, Green 182, Some 41 — Folkestone
- 19:30 · Karnataka — Canterbury
Coming up tomorrow
- 19:30 · Shakatak — Canterbury
“Gad’s Hill Place in Higham, where Charles Dickens died in 1870, was a house he had coveted since childhood and finally bought in 1856.”
Kent fact of the day