00:23Welcome to the Kent Politics Show on KMTV, I'm Rob Bailey.
00:27Coming up, we'll find out which Kent area has been rated the third weakest high street
00:32in the country.
00:33But first, how can Kent tackle a youth jobs crisis?
00:37One million young people in the UK are now classified as NEETs, not in education, employment
00:43or training.
00:44Six in ten of them have never had a job.
00:47But quarrying firm Gallagher has launched a new training scheme aimed at creating jobs
00:52for young people, getting people ready for work.
00:54Local democracy reporter Olly Leader found out more.
00:58Training, certification and opportunities for those out of work.
01:04That's what a new skills hub that has just opened at the Hermitage quarry is designed
01:10to deliver in an industry forecasted to need nearly 240,000 new workers over the next five
01:18years.
01:19We're expecting that we can train up to 24 to 30 people at a time and I would think
01:26in the static classroom we'd be looking to do maybe at least a session once a month and
01:34try and get people through and then from the mobile unit even more than that.
01:38Right now, nearly one million young people are not in employment, education or training,
01:46with more than 100,000 estimated to be living across the South East.
01:51Those behind this skills hub hope to capitalise on successes elsewhere to bring down those numbers.
01:58The last couple of years working around other skills hubs nationally, we've had 2,500 successful
02:04achievements.
02:0527% of all those achievers have been NEATS.
02:09The hub has already been making a difference.
02:12In fact, this building here was converted from a container into a training centre by NEATS
02:19while on placement here at the quarry.
02:22It makes me feel very accomplished, very proud.
02:24I've got family, I've got friends who have struggled, they've gone into uni and they've
02:29almost gone 2-3 years without a proper job and it's very hard since they asked for experience
02:35and it's hard because not many are looking for experience.
02:39Thankfully at Kent Skills Hub they are looking for experience, they're looking to give experience
02:44to young people.
02:45The Skills Hub was built in partnership with the Lower Thames Crossing.
02:50The long-awaited construction project to create a second road connection to Essex from Kent.
02:58The training provided here could be critical in getting the tunnel delivered on schedule.
03:05Our target is to get at least a minimum of that 45% of your local workforce.
03:09We would really like to try and increase that percentage because we do think that there are
03:14the opportunities here and there's people here in the local area in order to be able to do that.
03:18But with the number of young people out of work and employment at a 12-year high,
03:24this hub could make all the difference in helping people out of work access those opportunities.
03:31Olly Leader at the home of this quarry.
03:36And here with me is Paul Skitt, the Education Director at Flannery Plant High who were involved in that Kent
03:41Skills Hub
03:42and Councillor James Hodgkinson, Parish Councillor for Upper Hards near Canterbury.
03:46Thank you very much for joining us.
03:48Paul, we've got a bit of a taste there for what kind of activity is going on, what kind of
03:53training is going on.
03:54I think young people looking at this who are currently not in education, work and employment, they might be thinking,
04:00how does this work for me and particularly, does this cost me anything?
04:04How does it work in terms of getting access to this training?
04:08Yeah, thanks Rob.
04:09I'll just explain briefly about the Kent Skills Hub and the partnership around that.
04:13So it's a partnership between Gallagher and Flannery, supported by, as you saw in the video, Lower Thames Crossing,
04:19also the CITB, Construction Industry Training Board and our partners King's Reach.
04:24So that's a partnership, it's a supply chain partnership to deliver the Kent Skills Hub.
04:29We're essentially delivering technical skills training that is funded by government.
04:33So it's funded by national government and local and regional government.
04:37And so to a NEET, somebody not in education and employment and training, it's free, there's no cost.
04:44So we tend to deliver short, intensive technical training programmes, two weeks normally,
04:50where they learn how to operate plant machinery. And as part of that, it's called a skills boot camp.
04:57And as part of that, they're guaranteed an interview at the end of that skills boot camp if they pass
05:01the course.
05:02An interview for a job?
05:03Interview for a job.
05:04So this could directly lead to young people finding work, just from the boot camp alone?
05:09Absolutely. And just to give you some statistics from a national perspective,
05:13we have a number of skills hub across the country. And over the last three and a half years,
05:17we've delivered two and a half thousand to two and a half thousand learners.
05:2281% of those have had successful employment outcomes.
05:25So it's highly, you know, really good employment outcomes leads directly to jobs.
05:29And importantly, plant operators actually earn good wages. So it's not it's not a low paid job.
05:34It's a well paid job.
05:34So, James, obviously, the context to this is some incredibly stark figures, isn't it?
05:39One million young people. And the warning is that that will only rise, that figure,
05:44who are currently not in education or work or training.
05:48And some very kind of gloomy surveys around that as well.
05:52One came out this week saying only 25% of people aged 16 to 29 feel like hard work and
05:58talent will actually be rewarded with a career.
06:0175% of young people think no matter how talented they are, no matter how hard they work,
06:06opportunity just might not be there for them.
06:08We're kind of living in an anti-American dream at the moment.
06:11Well, I would agree the economic picture in the county and across the country is bleak.
06:16What we've seen over the last decade, but especially in the last couple of years,
06:21is a drastic rise in the number of young people who are unemployed.
06:25For me, that comes down to two things.
06:27It comes down to the obvious economic pressures that we're feeling right across the county,
06:31but specifically the tax burden being put on businesses.
06:34The cost of employing an 18 to 20-year-old on minimum wage has risen by £4,000 in the
06:39last two years alone.
06:40So there are fewer jobs in the market now.
06:42We need to be equipping young people with skills, and that's why this project is so admirable,
06:47to go on to the future to have a lifetime of earning and developing,
06:51because that's where young people need to be and what they deserve.
06:55So, I mean, that kind of raises an interesting thing because, obviously,
06:58this is a very specific type of employment that this scheme is assisting.
07:03It's people who want to go into construction.
07:04I guess you'd argue that this could be a kind of taster thing.
07:07People who might never have considered that as a career could come along
07:10and maybe find that they fall in love with it.
07:12But what about people who don't want to do that?
07:14Are there similar schemes out there?
07:15Is this something that is kind of more broad?
07:19Absolutely, yeah.
07:20I mean, look, you know, obviously I'm here to support the construction industry,
07:24but there are skills boot camps across multiple sectors.
07:27So you'll have it in engineering, you'll have it in digital, you'll have it in hospitality.
07:31There are skills boot camps across the country that are aimed at really,
07:36yes, training, intensive technical training, but to get people into work.
07:39And obviously you said that there is government funding available to support that training.
07:44But James's point about the fact that just just hiring people now is more expensive than it used to be.
07:49Are there is there the weight of jobs out there to actually kind of bring that million figure down?
07:54I think in certain sectors there probably are.
07:56I think, though, going back to the funding issue, although there is funding for this,
07:59I think to actually to really tackle the neat problem, I think we need to scale up that funding,
08:05particularly where you've got super projects like the Lower Thames Crossing in a particular region
08:08where these are huge national infrastructure projects.
08:11And actually, yes, there is targeted funding to support those people into training and work,
08:15but really that we need further investment if we're really going to start to tackle the neat problem.
08:19James, I hesitate to say you speak for young people,
08:23but you are an elected representative and unusually at a very young age.
08:28Alan Milburn wrote a report for the government very recently warning of a lost generation,
08:32warning that young people now are not because of any kind of educational deficit,
08:38or he says they're not lazy young people, it's just the opportunities aren't there for them.
08:42He hasn't yet reported back what he thinks the solution to that is.
08:46From a young person's perspective here in Kent,
08:48what should government and employers be doing to try and rescue that lost generation, do you think?
08:55Well, look, for me, it's all about opportunity, and as much as we can,
08:58we want to channel that through vocational training.
09:01Around about 70% of young people who go to university, according to some polling,
09:05are dissatisfied with the outcome they receive at the end.
09:0715% of NEETs have a university degree, so the system is clearly broken.
09:12The answer, as far as I'm concerned, is to deliver more of these vocational training packages,
09:17give people a real taste of what real employment looks like,
09:21both while they're at school and in full-time education and beyond that,
09:24so we can support people into the workplace,
09:26because that's how they're fulfilled and how they'll have happy, healthy lives.
09:30And some people would look at that as being part of a very anti-university narrative
09:35that has been going around.
09:37Universities are in crisis at the moment.
09:39Be fair to say that the purpose of university is somewhat being challenged at the moment.
09:45What you've just said seems to be kind of shutting them out of the picture entirely.
09:48Do you think there is a future for university training?
09:50There's absolutely a future for university.
09:52Because you're going to university.
09:53Yeah, I'm going to university next year, so I do believe in university
09:56and the value that a degree can bring.
09:58But I think we've got to a point in this country now where whatever you want to do,
10:02there is an implicit expectation that you will have a degree, and I don't think that's helpful.
10:06So many of my friends and colleagues from school went to university to study a degree
10:10that they didn't know how they were going to use in future employment.
10:12And perhaps worse, some went to university to study a degree that they knew they wouldn't use in employment, full
10:18stop.
10:19So we need to look at how we're providing pathways to work.
10:22Some of those pathways will be university-based and academia-based,
10:26but some of them do rely on those practical skills.
10:28And I think it's time we stop, if you like, looking down at that as a route
10:31and start extolling its virtues because it is a really, really important route.
10:34So you wanted to come in there, Paul?
10:36Yeah, just to sort of, you know, lead on from that.
10:39I think the problem with our education policy has become, the balance isn't quite right.
10:45So you've got university, which is great for certain people, but it's become,
10:48our education system has become focused on academic attainment.
10:53And I think vocational and technical attainment and preparing people for employment is just as important,
10:58if not more important.
10:59So I think we just need a better balance in our education and skills system.
11:03And really, you know, from a construction perspective, it's, you know,
11:05Flannery and Gallagher and the supply chain to make sure that we're investing in this
11:09and actually we have good pathways for young people to get into construction.
11:12The university plays an important role in social mobility.
11:15Also, there is, people might be quite concerned a little bit about forcing themselves into a pigeonhole.
11:20You go to a kind of skills hub, you learn a very specific set of skills.
11:23What about your future job mobility?
11:25What about your ability to go and work in other countries?
11:28Do those things get affected in any way?
11:29No, I don't think so.
11:30I think actually construction, there's so many transferable skills in construction
11:33that you can go on and progress and work in a variety of different sectors
11:36because a lot of it are still what I would regard as essential skills and behaviours.
11:40So, you know, being reliable, teamwork, good communication.
11:45We do have to stop there.
11:46When we come back, we'll be talking about high streets.
11:48I'm very sorry to cut you off, but we'll be back soon.
12:11If you have to stop there.
12:24When you're on earth, what has changed?
12:25When you're on earth, what has changed?
12:29The lines of science that are not just in 한 gradeак on technology.
12:30We've traveled one more time.
12:30We've traveled to this side.
12:31We've traveled two hours.
12:31I'm very ahead of you.
12:31I'm very excited to work in our city.
12:32I came back in the past year.
12:33I'm ready to take that edge.
12:33I'll take the edge to go.
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15:06Welcome back to the Kent Politics Show on KMTV.
15:09Next, Medway has been branded one of the country's weakest high streets.
15:13In a top Trump-style ranking based on shop closures and footfall, it was given a score of just 12
15:19.4 out of 100.
15:21Only Stevenage and Mansfield scored lower.
15:24But what does that mean for the town's businesses and job prospects in retail and hospitality?
15:29Before we discuss that, local democracy reporter Oli Leder spoke to businesses in Medway about why the towns are struggling.
15:36Vacant shop fronts, dog-eared to let signs and more closures on the cards.
15:41It's little wonder Medway has some of the weakest high streets in the entire country, with just 33 shops per
15:4810,000 people, far below the national average of 41.
15:52High streets have got this added burden of having a building.
15:57We've got certain issues like increased parking prices, anti-social behaviour, increasing business rates.
16:05Between 2024 and 2025, 40 retail units closed across the five towns.
16:13Businesses here in Struth say they're still struggling.
16:17Footfall is down, especially through the alleyway here.
16:20People are just not spending money.
16:23Or people are just going to the bigger retail parks where things are cheaper and they can save money.
16:30The difficulties here are part of a wider national trend.
16:34Nearly 3,000 local retail units were lost across England and Wales between 2024 and 2025.
16:41I think definitely we've talked about downsizing the size of the high street presence just because of the expense.
16:52You know, you've got to staff it and you have to have the right amount of staff just because of
16:58the stealing and all of that aspect.
17:00So if you had a smaller premises, it would be easier to support.
17:05And I think the online, as I say, is so much stronger than the shop premises.
17:11There are local issues at play. Parking charges have risen across the five towns for the last two years.
17:18But Medway Council says car park upkeep is needed and that there needs to be an authority wide approach to
17:25regeneration.
17:26Added to that we've got general inflation because of the war in Iran and wars in Russia, fuel increases.
17:33These are all feeding through into energy prices.
17:36That's really affecting businesses and it's affecting not just businesses but also public bodies like Medway Council ourselves.
17:44It's not all doom and gloom. The little shop opened on Rochester High Street three months ago and is still
17:51going strong.
17:52Something they attribute to keeping costs low and finding a gap in the market.
17:58I think people want to come out. There's a need for it still.
18:02It's all well and good buying stuff online but you can't get all these little local bits and you don't
18:07get the experience of having to look around a shop like this.
18:10A miniature success then. But with slumping footfall and increasing costs, there's no sign things are set to get any
18:18easier or that closures will let up.
18:21Olly Leader in Medway.
18:25And still here with me is Councillor James Hodgkinson, parish councillor for Upper Hards near Canterbury.
18:30And now local democracy reporter Olly Leader is with us too.
18:33Olly, we've just watched your film there.
18:36Medway taking a bit of a bashing in this survey, which was published by money.co.uk.
18:41They're not here with us now.
18:43But if they were, if there was a Medway Labour councillor here on the sofa, they'd be talking about investment,
18:48wouldn't they?
18:48What is what is Labour doing in Medway to try and address this?
18:51I suppose it's an issue that is almost apolitical.
18:54You go to any high street in Kent and you'll see the signs of struggle, closed shop fronts, businesses leaving
19:01the area, moving to that online space.
19:04And it's something we see a lot of in Medway where there are concerns around what has been a previously
19:10industrialised, a previously naval town that's lost a lot of its industry declining.
19:17We've seen issues with crime, Gillingham and Chatham town centres.
19:22It all ties into this issue of regeneration.
19:25Now, it's something Medway council are addressing.
19:27You go down to the bus station at the heart of Chatham and you'll see new buildings cropping up, investment
19:33in the Pentagon centre.
19:35These are the sorts of things that people in Medway do care about, do want to see.
19:40But there's only so much Medway council can do.
19:42I spoke to Harinder for this piece.
19:45He was talking about a wider council wide approach to town centre and urban regeneration.
19:53But that's not always possible within the confines of local government.
19:57Particularly, there are limitations around how councils set and take in business rates.
20:03A lot of this rests with central government who themselves are facing huge financial pressures, as we've seen earlier this
20:10week.
20:10Yeah. I mean, James, obviously, there is money being spent.
20:13There are things like the Pride in Place Fund, which has been put in place by the government.
20:17In Medway, that's going to be spent on – there's a £300,000 pot to spruce up shop fronts.
20:22There's a £400,000 pot to try and bring empty units back into use.
20:26But do you think that that money is being used in the best way to support high streets in Kent?
20:30Look, I think it's very difficult because, ultimately, all of these local government initiatives, however well intended they are,
20:37are constrained by what's going on in the wider economy.
20:39I've already spoken about national insurance.
20:42I've spoken about the minimum wage.
20:44Business rates, as well, were re-evaluated in 2024 that have seen some businesses paying more.
20:49Local measures can have a real impact, though, on the kind of micro level.
20:54So, things like cutting car parking charges does encourage higher footfall.
20:58Pride in Place schemes do work.
21:00Specifically, though, crime and antisocial behaviour from people I've spoken to is a real problem and a real concern.
21:05People sometimes don't feel safe on our high streets now.
21:08And we've absolutely got to give resources and power to law enforcement to deal with that at root cause.
21:14And it's a difficult one because we're talking about how councils don't have an awful lot of money.
21:18They don't have a lot of spending power generally.
21:19One of the things they can do to raise revenue is charge people for parking in a town centre.
21:24Canterbury particularly does that.
21:26£3.80 per hour in Canterbury car parks now.
21:31It's a kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, isn't it?
21:33They could possibly make life easier for businesses by reducing that charge.
21:37They would also give themselves less money to address some of the bigger issues.
21:41How do they untangle that problem?
21:42Well, I think, for me, it comes down to pragmatism.
21:45What we see in Canterbury, for example, is a tourist centre.
21:48You've got the cathedral. You've got the historic city.
21:50So you are also going to have tourist football in there.
21:53Where this is most important, I think, in terms of lowering parking charges,
21:57is in areas of the county where we don't have the tourist income, where we're relying purely on local people.
22:03Because in those areas, the primary objective of the authority has to be to support the businesses.
22:08And the way you do that, as far as I'm concerned, is cutting the car park charges.
22:12Oli, we've seen, as you reported there, some really big brand names leaving high streets.
22:18Medway has been a victim of that. Every town in Kent has been a victim of that.
22:23We've just been talking about NEAT.
22:24We've been talking about one million young people out of work or education.
22:28Would it be fair to say that some of those young people would have been working at Claire's Accessories
22:32or at the local pub, which is now shut, because they're having such a difficult time?
22:36Is this problem on the high streets connected to this problem of young people not being in work?
22:41Well, you should have strewed where I did most of the filming for this piece.
22:45The Iceland there is going to be closing down in the coming months.
22:48This is a major issue.
22:50I mean, it was only earlier this week that the Green leader, Zach Polanski, was talking about how supermarkets charging
22:577p for veg is a sign that they're exploiting their workforce,
23:02that they should be hiring more people, putting more money into the economy.
23:06Obviously, that's a highly controversial take.
23:08I mean, many people on the other side of the political divide say that's ridiculous in a time of economic
23:13crisis that costs a living.
23:15You need cheap goods and services.
23:17But there's no doubt there's a serious question balancing up whether young people think working these minimum wage jobs is
23:25actually worth it in the current economic climate versus businesses wondering if it's worth actually paying for these workers, given
23:33the huge burdens put on them.
23:35And it's a tension that no party seems to have a very clear answer how they're going to address it.
23:41I mean, James, obviously, you are apolitical as a parish councillor, but not in your wider life.
23:47I mean, you're on the right of this debate.
23:49Where do you think that that balance needs to be struck?
23:52Look, at the end of the day, I have worked a minimum wage job.
23:55I know exactly what it's like to do that.
23:57For young people, it can be dispiriting if you're working a minimum wage job on a zero hours contract.
24:03Some weeks you might have tons of work.
24:05The next week you might have no work.
24:07But ultimately, my advice to young people is that some economic activity, a job in whatever form, is better than
24:13no job.
24:14Because even if it's not what you want to land up doing, it's something that you can take forward.
24:18It's skills.
24:20It's experience.
24:21And most importantly, it's a feeling of belonging to the community.
24:24And that's something that we need to see a lot more of in society today.
24:26I want to just, as we approach the end of the program, to talk about what could be a very
24:32important few weeks.
24:33It's a World Cup.
24:34Just started.
24:35England's first game next Wednesday.
24:37We've got three games over the next few weeks.
24:39And normally, this is a time that high streets will be relishing.
24:42Games bring people in to watch the games or just generally kind of get people out of their houses and
24:47doing things.
24:47All of the kickoffs are late.
24:498 o'clock, 11 o'clock, 2 in the morning, some of them.
24:52Do you think that this World Cup is going to be a boon for the high streets?
24:55Do you expect there to be a kind of a lift?
24:57I really hope there is.
24:59I feel like as the tournament progresses, if, and let's hope they are, England are still battling away in there,
25:05I think we will see that sort of increase in footfall that you might hope for.
25:09However, of course, this World Cup presents challenges in terms of timing, but also the hospitality sector is under such
25:16phenomenal pressure
25:17that the question really to be asked is, is a World Cup and the economic uplift that that would bring
25:22really enough?
25:23Oli, I mean, what's your sense?
25:25You're around the halls of power in Kent.
25:27Is there a sense that there's quite a lot hinging on not England's success in the World Cup, but Britain's
25:32success in the World Cup, that this could bring an economic boost?
25:35I mean, England's success is one thing. It's entirely separate from economic success, but both of them are looking quite
25:41difficult at this point.
25:42I think it's one of those things where even places that have been previous hosts to big tournaments,
25:47like the folks in Harbour Arm are saying, it's a bit too late for what they want to do.
25:52It's not the sort of family football that we'd hope for at the moment, just due to those time differences.
25:59Now, there will be some pubs who will be breathing a sigh of relief.
26:02This is a big period of time, and when the weather picks up, that's hopefully going to do next week,
26:07that's going to hopefully drive some more people down to the pub.
26:12But it's one of those things where even if you look at some of the games already, I know it's
26:15over in America,
26:16but you see the empty stalls. This is not being a particularly accessible World Cup.
26:21The timing thing probably isn't going to help some businesses who are trying to attract a wider crowd in.
26:27On a fundamental level, having a World Cup on isn't going to put more money in your pocket if you're
26:33a punter.
26:33It might help with your business, but it's not going to help you if you're trying to buy those pines.
26:37Thank you very much. Well, that's all we've got time for on the show this week.
26:41Kent Tonight will be following on with all the news from around the county, and we'll be back next week.
26:46See you then.
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