麻豆约拍

Kent's town centres were dealt more bad news this morning when the Local Data Company revealed Margate has the second highest percentage of vacant shops in the country.

36% of stores in the town lie empty. In Dartford, that figure is 27% and in Chatham, 24% of shops are presently unused.

When you compare that to the national average of just 14%, it is a worrying climate for our high streets.

We hear from the author of the report Matthew Hopkinson and Mark Reckless, MP for Rochester and Strood.

Sarah Crysell, owner of Olive Stores in Brenchley, and Michael Green, chief executive of the British Council of Shopping Centres give, also give their verdict on the latest findings.

Also on the programme, environmental campaigners in Kent are beginning a battle today against plans for a new Thames crossing.

Kent County Council wants to build a new bridge linking Gravesend and Tilbury in Essex to ease pressure on the Dartford crossing. It would create 600 jobs and boost the local economy by over 拢300m a year.

But CPRE Protect Kent says it would be devastating for the county if the plans go ahead. It claims the benefits are being vastly exaggerated and the construction would devastate villages like Higham and Thong, damaging greenbelt land, woodlands and impacting on Shorne Country Park, with Meopham and Cobham becoming traffic hot spots.

CPRE Protect Kent spokesman Andrew Ogden tells John and Clare why they are so against the proposal and Mark Brett, Chairman of Shorne Parish Council shares his concerns.

And celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Kent's most famous author Charles Dickens will be held across the country today.

Dickens fans around the world hail him as a master of characterisation, bringing to life characters from orphans to lawyers, widows to businessmen.

We are with Tamsin Outhwaite, who is starring in a new film version of Great Expectations, to find out if people living on the Dickens Estate in Gravesend recognise themselves in his characters.

David Craggs, headteacher at Gads Hill School based in Dickens' old house, tells us what Dickens means to him and Florian Schweizer, Director of the Dickens Museum in London, reveals how they are celebrating his birthday.

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