I know this is part of a regular series of emails from me, but there are a lot of things not well in the world of bin emptying and rubbish collection in Sandgate at the moment I'm afraid.

The seafront is currently regularly getting strewn with rubbish *again*, and although I have local residents crying out for bigger bins. The issue is that AGAIN they are being emptied too infrequently, and AGAIN the system seems to have reverted to someone who empties and leaves the bags on or by the bin, and then some hours later, sometimes the next day, the bags are being collected.

There is a virtual event to launch the White Cliffs Community Rail Partnership next Thursday, 20th May, at 2pm. The partnership covers the nine stations between Westenhanger and Sandwich (including Folkestone West and Folkestone Central), and you can hear their exciting future plans and ideas.

The event is open to all with an interest in trains, railways, tourism, sustainable travel or has ideas how stations can play a bigger role in our community.

The results are in. By 21 votes out of almost 5,200 cast, I missed taking the "Cheriton, Sandgate and Hythe East" Kent County Council division from the Conservatives.

Election of councillors to Kent County Council for the Cheriton, Sandgate & Hythe East division on Thursday 6 May 2021

Following the Kent County Council election on 6 May 2021, the following Liberal Democrats were elected:

Ian Chittenden - Maidstone North East

Dan Daley - Maidstone Central

Trudy Dean - Malling Central

Antony Hook - Faversham

Richard Streatfeild - Sevenoaks Town

Mike Sole - Canterbury South

Antony Hook said,

Trudy Dean sets out some of the challenges which Kent County Council needs to address to help all children and young persons get the best start in life.

The Liberal Democrats believe that the financing of Education in the UK is too heavily skewed toward Secondary Education at the expense of the all-important formative Early Years and argue for greater funding of Early Years settings. There is a particular need for greater focus on speech development and creative play for children from poorer backgrounds to try to ensure that their life chances are not limited from the start.