Home-owners in the Shepway area could face problems getting home insurance after an agreement between the Government and insurers expires in June 2013.

Data from the Association of British Insurers highlights that 7,196 houses in the area are said to be at significant flood risk. Currently, insurers are obliged to provide cover for homes at risk. People in lower flood risk areas pay slightly more in premiums to subsidise those at higher risk, and those in high-risk areas are set to their existing insurance plan.

The ABI is warning that if this obligation does not continue after 2013 then home-owners in high risk areas may find it impossible to insure their homes. The Public Accounts Committee has urged the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to secure a new agreement while working with the insurance industry.

Around £1.1 billion a year is spent on building or improving flood defences and protection. But the PAC says that there is a great deal of uncertainty about whether there was enough money to keep doing this long-term.

Passengers on a bus and a car driver were injured after a collision on Whitfield Hill in Dover on Saturday.

Police were called to the scene at 11am after the bus left the road and ended up in an embankment. Three of the four women passengers on the bus had to be taken to hospital to be treated for minor injuries. The 18-year-old driver of the Vauxhall Astra was treated at the scene by ambulance staff.

The road was closed while emergency services attended the incident and it was re-opened at 3pm.

A training exercise saw soldiers attacked with petrol bombs and missiles at the Kent army base in Lydd.

Soldiers from 3rd battalion, The Parachute Regiment, were pelted by pretend rioters during the exercise in ‘public order training’ last week. This was to prepare The Paras for containing and arresting rioters in case riots broke out again, like those on the streets of Britain last summer.

The Telegraph newspaper reported that Defence sources have confirmed that the soldiers would be ‘ideally placed’ to support police forces if violence returned, especially during the Olympic Games later this year.

The new P&O €180 million super ferry, the Spirit of France, arrived in Dover on Saturday.

At more than 47,000 gross tons and 213 metres long, the Spirit of France can hold up to 2,000 passengers and will run on the Dover to Calais route from next month.

Its sister ship, the Spirit of Britain, began service last year and the two serve the Dover-Calais Strait. They are the largest ferries ever built by P&O Ferries, at a combined cost of €360 million.

A 19-year-old Folkestone man has admitted in court to having sex with an underage girl after meeting her for sex sessions.

The girl had just turned 13 when she met Nicholas Culpan on Facebook and the two began exchanging sexually explicit messages. Two days later they arranged to meet in Folkestone and had sex on the beach before then moving to tunnels, where they were seen having sex again.

The young girl admitted that she was not a virgin prior to meeting Culpan of Canterbury Road, Folkestone.

He confessed at Canterbury Crown Court to knowing the girl was 13 at the time and was given a 12 month jail sentence, suspended for two years and ordered to attend a sex offender’s programme.

A 46-year-old man has been assaulted in Deal after two men attempted to rob him. The Deal resident was walking home along Church path, when two men appeared and demanded money before assaulting him.

The victim made his way to the hospital, who in turn contacted the police. Doctors have reported that he had been hit around the head four times, with what the victim believed was an iron bar. He also suffered cuts to his eye and a fractured cheekbone which will need an operation.

Kent police are appealing for witnesses to the incident. The offenders are both described as white males with dark hair and around 18 years old.

Jamie Pettman of Belgrave Road in Dover, was sentenced for grievous bodily harm at Canterbury Crown Court after he admitted assaulting a 16-year-old boy.

The teenager was waiting for his friends outside a shop in Worthington Street before being approached by two men.

19-year-old Pettman ran at the young man and hit him on the side of the head, resulting in the victim sustaining a serious head injury.

The 16-year-old was transferred from the William Harvey Hospital to Kings College Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for his injury.

Kent’s secondary schools are getting better GCSE results each year according to results confirmed in government figures. 82.5% of students across Kent gained 5 or more A* to C grades in 2011, 3% higher than the national average and an increase of 3.2 percentage points.

However, only 59.4% of GCSE results at A* to C, included subjects English and Maths, although these figures were an increase on 2010 results by 2.6%.
The Department for Education has published details to give parents more information. Schools will be challenged to raise standards in the core subjects of English, maths and science and to make sure that disadvantaged students get better outcomes.

Mike Whiting, Kent County Council Cabinet Member for Education, Learning and Skills said: “The focus on those from disadvantaged backgrounds is absolutely right. Education is one of the things that shapes a person’s life and can also break that generational cycle of low achievement and low aspiration”.

Shoppers in Folkestone have had their personal valuables security marked in a crime reduction drive in the town.

Locals took up the offer of the initiative, which was organised by neighbourhood officers and Shepway Community Safety Unit. More than 500 items were security marked in Folkestone, including bikes and mobile phones.

PCSO Supervisor Amy Edwards said: “Many people receive mobile phones or electronics for Christmas and it is important these items are marked with the owner’s details. If an item is lost or stolen and then recovered, the police will have a much better chance of returning it to the owner”.

The Port of Dover was closed yesterday after a security alert involving two men carrying weapons. Bomb disposal experts were called to the port, a 200 metre exclusion zone was set up and UK Border Agency officials detained the pair. The items were found to be military collectables and were declared safe.

The port is now open but has left heavy congestion on the Dover roads.