The answer is "Yes."

Cuts by Teresa May and Sajid Javid saw frontline police numbers cut by 20,000. The statistics are clear. Crime has risen. Prevention, detection and prosecutions have fallen.

Increasing police numbers is necessary and will help. However, Even when cash arrives, repairing the damage will take years. Policing Kent brings challenges that need more than extra police numbers.

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Councillor Merilyn Canet got the 2020 tree planting season under way on Friday wih three apple trees.

Planted next to the childrens' playground at Greatness Recreation Ground they will give:

- blossom in the spring

- leafy shade in the summer

- fruit in the autumn.

It will take a few years to get there - and in the meantime there are more to be planted, at Greatnress and elsewhere.

Adapting to climate change is no solution to preventing further global temperature rise, but it has become a necessity in the world we live in. There are obviously limits to our capacity to adapt and we must be honest about it.

For example, rising sea levels can only be managed for a limited time before large areas of low lying land become submerged. This includes areas of Kent; the Isle of Thanet will be an island again, and the oysters may take over Whitstable.

Every day, over 30 people are unnecessarily in our local acute hospitals because their non-acute care can't be transferred elsewhere within the NHS or social care. More generally, most of the pressure on our hospitals comes from patients who would be better cared for somewhere else. This blocks further patient admissions, causing delays in A&E and waits for ambulances who can't go to the next call.

We are sad to announce the death, at home in Eynsford, of Eric Syddique, the longest serving councillor for the village, and first leader of SDP - Liberal Alliance, and then Liberal Democrat, Group on Sevenoaks District Council.

According to the District Council's election records, Eric was voted onto Sevenoaks District Council when it was created in 1973. He was re-elected at five elections before retiring in 1995. Under Eric's leadership the group grew from four members to 11, before becoming the largest group on the council in 1995.

Sevenoaks Liberal Democrat Councillors set out their top priorites

For our Town, District and County Councils, the top priority for action in 2020 is the one most people recognised as crucial during 2019 - starting the journey to cut our dependence on carbon based energy. This needs more than government targets and political declarations. Achieving it means changing the way we travel, heat our homes, organise our lives, what we eat and what we throw away.