EDITORIAL � 01303 817100 www.kentnews.co.uk for all the news and sport WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 7, 2010 news I 3
MORE than 10,000 potholes have been
repaired on Kent's roads in just over a
month.
Following recent icy weather that caused
severe damage to the county's road network,
about 60 crews have been working flat out
to put things right.
About 6,000 potholes were filled in just
one week in January. Kent County Council
is still planning to spend an extra �1 million
on repairs from March.
Cabinet member for highways Cllr Nick
Chard said:"Since the snow cleared we have
been getting to grips with the work.
Repairing the damage will continue for as
long as it takes and we are appealing for
residents' help."
To report a fault, contact Kent Highway
Services on 08458 247800; click online at
www.kent.gov.uk/highways; or send an
email to kenthighwayservices@kent.gov.uk.
Early retirement
action poll axed
AN OVERWHELMING 83 per cent of people
who voted in a KOS Media online poll believe
firms should not be able to force staff to retire
when they are aged 65.
Just 17 per cent of the 400 people who voted
at kentnews.co.uk think companies should
have this right.
� You can vote on whether Chief Constable
Mike Fuller has been good for the county at
kentnews.co.uk.
PARENTS of children with special edu-
cational needs have attacked Kent
County Council for delaying the school
selection process.
Statements setting out which special-
ist school their 11-year-olds are to go to
after leaving primary education in
September have not been sent out,
meaning they could miss the deadline
for any appeals.
According to parents, meetings took
place last summer with educational psy-
chologists, KCC and schools co-ordina-
tors to decide on placements for special
educational needs (SEN) children.
Subsequent draft statements setting
out which schools the children would
attend were supposed to be with parents
by December.
This meant they would have time to
make representations in the event they
were unhappy with the school choice
and KCC could amend the statement
before the authority's deadline of
February 15. But the statements have
yet to be sent out.
A parent from Gravesend, whose 11-
year-old son suffers from Asperger's syn-
drome and Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), is lead-
ing the fight for parents.
"Specialist units are being closed down
and instead mainstream schools are pro-
viding support for SEN children," he
said. "But some children need to be in
specialist schools because of their condi-
tion and in some cases they can't cope
with social integration with what you
would call `normal' children.
"In the draft statements, KCC say
what school they think the child will go
to, but in some cases this will be
appealed against by parents.
Deadline
"Because of the delay in receiving the
statement, however, we won't have time
to make representations before the
deadline.
"This means children could potentially
miss out on the first term of school while
the appeal process is still going through.
"It could even mean they will have to
be set back a year."
Outlining his own son's case, he
stressed that if placed in a mainstream
school the 11-year-old's condition could
worsen.
"My son has a history of self-harming,"
he said. "We have been told by CAMS
(Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Service) that if he gets put in a main-
stream school he could potentially start
self-harming again due to stress.
"This means the school KCC sets out is
very important and we need to know the
decision so we can start thinking about
appealing, if we need to.
"There are many families in similar
situations who are very concerned about
what's going to happen."
But a KCC official said the delays were
for a reason.
"Kent would rather miss the deadline
than send out a proposed statement that
we know the parent would disagree with
and which could cause distress.
"Our preferred approach would be to
delay the process slightly and send out a
proposed statement that is acceptable to
the parent first time.
"This could still, in theory, be finalised
by February 15. We are very mindful of
parents' rights to appeal and any delay
to this process must be minimal."
A COMEDY film about a group of
travelling Gillingham FC support-
ers hits cinema screens across the
country next month.
The Shouting Men,which was shot mostly at
locations throughout Kent and features a
cameo by Gills chairman Paul Scally, will pre-
miere in London just days before its nation-
wide release on March 5.
Producer Warren Llambias � son of
Newcastle United managing director Derek �
told KOS Media he was confident the film
would be a success.
He said: "It's funny and I promise you it'll
make people laugh a lot. It's proven popular
with test audiences and I think it'll go down
well, I really do.
"I don't imagine we'll be up for any Baftas,
but I think it's a great little popcorn film that
people will come out from saying they had a
really good time. Comedy films don't receive
cinema releases if they're not funny.
"To get to where we have with our first film,
and on a budget of only �500,000, is a real
achievement and we're delighted."
The Shouting Men, which also features
cameos by England football legends John
Barnes and Peter Beardsley, is about a group
of Gillingham fans who travel to watch their
team play Newcastle United in the FA Cup.
However, their trip north goes pear-shaped
when they abandon a wheelchair-bound
accomplice � or a closet football hooligan � who
then complains about his treatment to the
national press. Mr Llambias, who plays one of
the Gills fans, said he wanted the film to
encapsulate the types of supporters found at
lower-league football grounds.
He said: "We needed to pick a club that has
to fight. When you walk around Medway you
see more people wearing Tottenham, Arsenal
and Manchester United colours than you do
Gillingham shirts.
"A small club like that has to fight to get its
supporters, and that's something we really
wanted to dip into. There's also a special type
of camaraderie between the supporters of
teams like Gillingham, and any lower league
fan should be able to recognise that in the film.
EastEnders
"I wasn't a Gills supporter before we began
shooting but I've become quite attached to the
club over the months. I'm sure some support-
ers will remember a couple of years ago when
we first came down here to pick their brains
about what it was like to be a Gills fan."
Filming for the comedy, which also stars for-
mer Lovejoy actor Dudley Sutton and ex-
EastEnder Craig Fairbrass, was completed at
Newcastle's St James' Park stadium in late
2008. Other locations included Gillingham's
Priestfield Stadium, the University of
Greenwich at Chatham, and the Inn on the
Lake hotel at Gravesend.
Mr Llambias admits a spanner was thrown
into the works when Gillingham were promot-
ed from League Two last season and
Newcastle were relegated from the
Premiership, thus making the David versus
Goliath element less prominent.
He said:"It was really frustrating and we did
talk about maybe going back and changing
some of the dialogue.
"But we decided that Newcastle are still a
huge club and will probably be back in the
Premiership next season anyway."
Pothole crews
hit the roads
Anger at
pupils' wait
for special
needs info
By STEVE KNIGHT
steve.knight@kosmedia.co.uk
Gills film premiere
News and sport updated daily online
www.kentnews.co.ukGILLS ON FILM: The Shouting Men follows Gills fans on an FA Cup awayday to Newcastle
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