The Weald of Kent voters turning backs on Tories

KentOnline / KMTV

Always assumed to be the safest Conservative general election prospect in Kent on July 4, we met with some residents to discover their concerns and which way they’re likely to vote…

Transcript

00:00The newest and largest geographical seat in Kent, the Wilde, is largely rural with a patchwork

00:08of farms.

00:10Latest polling has the Conservatives taking the constituency.

00:14But what hurdles will the candidates have to face to take the win on the 4th of July?

00:19I'm here at Hope Farm in Kent with our fantastic parliamentary candidate Katie Lamb, working

00:24together to support...

00:26And look who paid a visit to this very farm earlier this year.

00:30I'm so grateful to Steve for coming down here to meet with our farmers.

00:34And despite the government minister in charge of farming coming here, well, the farmer still

00:40hasn't made up his mind who he'll be voting for.

00:44It's very difficult, I think I'd be fairly disillusioned with the political parties like

00:49a lot of other people would in the country.

00:52I don't know how much support we'd get from either party.

00:59It's very difficult to say and I don't think that they are necessarily coming out and having

01:05their voice made very clear to us at the moment.

01:09They say one of the biggest problems is rural crime.

01:12More than 100 sheep were stolen from this farm two years ago and they say they are constantly

01:17facing theft of agricultural equipment.

01:21They would now like to see greater funding to policing.

01:24It does seem to be increasing because there's no, it seems to be free pickings.

01:30So if you want to go, there'll be a spree, so you'll have one month, somebody have a

01:33quad bike, then it'll be in that area, they go round that area and then they move off

01:38to somewhere else and take them all there.

01:40But I know someone who had a quad bike stolen.

01:43The police never turned up to that stolen quad bike.

01:46But it won't just be farmers flocking to polling stations.

01:50Other locals in the world are concerned about speeding and the state of the roads.

01:54You think about the devolution that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have got and also

01:59where you have Unitarian authorities, that money and power and decision making needs

02:03to be made local.

02:04Now there are more and more houses being built in the local area, do you think that's putting

02:07more pressure on this road here?

02:09Oh without question.

02:10I mean there's a large development going on in Horsham and Den and you know if you live

02:14in Horsham and Den, you're going to need a car, so I think they're building roughly an

02:18additional 300 houses, so you're talking probably 500 extra cars with no extra money

02:25for the roads or road support.

02:28There are more than just hamlets in the world.

02:30There are a number of picturesque towns like Cranbrook.

02:33It's also home to TV auctioneer Raj Bisra, who's a central part of the community here.

02:39Today he's been turning his hand from antiques to looking at what new challenges the first

02:44world MP will face.

02:47My job as the Honorary Mayor is non-political but you know you can't sometimes help but

02:51get involved and people come up to you because they think it's a political post and they

02:55start asking you questions and one of the things that is brought up is, as I've mentioned,

02:59the windmill, the roads, the potholes which are absolutely everywhere and also the policing

03:04which we haven't brought up.

03:05You know I remember years ago when I first came to Cranbrook, we had a local policeman

03:10and we saw him on the streets pretty regularly.

03:13From ageing infrastructure to farming pressures, there are a series of challenges in this seat.

03:18Here's a full list of candidates currently standing for the wield.

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