BBC Business News

Thames Water has been hit with its second big fine this year for failing to reduce leakage.

Industry regulator Ofwat has fined the company the maximum £8.55m it can levy and said it may take further action.

In March the firm was ordered to pay a record £20m for polluting the waterways with 1.9bn litres of raw sewage, including the River Thames at Little Marlow and the River Thame in Aylesbury.

Image source, Environment Agency

Ofwat chief executive Cathryn Ross said Thames's failure to meet its leakage commitments was "unacceptable".

Thames Water said it had outperformed its target for the past 10 years and reduced leakage by 100m litres a day over the period.

"We regrettably missed our 2016/17 leakage reduction target by 47m litres per day, which represents 1.8% of our average daily production," it said.

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning, who's a former fire minister and firefighter, has been speaking following the huge blaze that's engulfed a tower block in London.

"I don't suppose we've ever had a fire like this in the UK," he said.

"We've had plenty of fires in flats in tower blocks but not one that has spread so fast and so badly as this, and taken so many lives and so many people injured.

"I can tell you that the firefighters, even though they trained for this sort of fire, would never in their wildest dreams have experienced it."

Image source, Getty Images

Meanwhile, we've had it confirmed that none of our local fire crews have been involved in tackling the blaze so far.

Bucks and MK Fire has tweeted that its thoughts were with those affected and shared advice to people living in high-rises.

Ben Nye
BBC Three Counties Radio

Thirty-thousand new homes could be built in Central Bedfordshire in the next 20 years, with new villages across the region.

The council's draft local plan, external - unveiled this week - would also mean major expansion to the north and west of neighbouring Luton, and to the south and east of Milton Keynes

Four new villages are planned in Marston Vale, along with a new business park and a series of new villages near Aspley Guise.

There are also four new villages proposed for east of Biggleswade, plus up to 10,000 homes and a business park at the old Tempsford Airfield. The proposed East-West rail link will be key to these developments.

The planned M1-A6 road will also mean thousands more homes north of Luton, with proposals to extend Luton to the west of the M1.

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

A teenager has appeared at court today accused of the murder of Watford teenager Koy Bentley.

The 15-year-old (pictured) died from a stab wound to the chest at a flat on Water Lane on 5 June.

Today a 15-year-old boy, from Willesden, north London, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was remanded in custody by Judge Andrew Bright QC at St Albans Crown Court.

A plea hearing was set for 13 July and a provisional trial date for 13 November.

Image source, Hertfordshire Police

Abdi Karim Ali, 21, of Boundfield Road, Lewisham, who's charged with murder, perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, is due to appear at Hatfield Remand Court today.

A 24-year-old man from Greenwich, arrested on suspicion of murder, remains on bail until 4 July.

No verdicts will be delivered today in the case of the death of Henry Huggins after one of the jurors called in sick.

The jury retired to consider its verdicts yesterday afternoon and will resume deliberations tomorrow.

Two men are accused of killing Mr Huggins, who was attacked in Luton and died after 22 months in a coma.

Stewart Docherty, 42, of Townsley, Luton, denies murder. James Early, 43, of Whipperley Ring, Luton, denies manslaughter.

It follows the summing up of the case yesterday morning.

Image source, South Beds News Agency

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

The fourth flight of Airlander 10 was an unexpected delight in Bedford last night.

Csaba Czeilinger captured the moment it flew over houses on Fenlake Road in the centre of Bedford.

He said: "I didn't expected it will come this close. When I looked out on my window I just see the big airship floating over the houses.

Image source, Csaba Czeilinger

"It was a big surprise."

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

There was much excitement in Bedford last night as Airlander 10, the world's longest aircraft, undertook its fourth test flight.

There was no warning ahead about the flight, and Amanda Andrew took these photos as it flew from its base at Cardington.

Image source, Amanda Andrew

Image source, Amanda Andrew

Image source, Amanda Andrew

Image source, Amanda Andrew

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

Airline Easyjet has announced that its passengers can now use an exclusive terminal at Luton Airport if they are willing to pay up to eight times its average air fare.

Image source, PA

The service, which costs as much as £475 for one passenger, will enable customers to use an executive lounge away from the main airport terminal and be driven to or from the aircraft in a luxury car.

Easyjet insists there is demand for such a product after commissioning research which found that its typical passengers were more likely to shop at Waitrose than Asda.

A spokesman said: "You see people with their Louis Vuitton luggage queuing up for an Easyjet flight, who you know are then going to stay in a five-star hotel."

The private jet terminal is operated by Signature Flight Support and Easyjet will earn a commission for bookings.

The airline's chief executive, Dame Carolyn McCall, said it was "constantly looking for new revenue streams".

"There are many passengers that just don't want to go through the hassle of the airport experience and by doing this you avoid the airport experience," she said.

Here's how Watford FC have announced the next season's fixtures.

Blink and you might miss them!

Rotherham complete their second summer signing with the arrival of MK Dons midfielder Darren Potter on a two-year deal.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

Well, here they are - today's the day that Premier League football fans all over the country start to plan their lives between August and May.

Image source, Getty Images

It's a tough start for Watford, under new manager Marco Silva, who begin the campaign at home to Liverpool on 12 August. Then their first three home games will be against Brighton, Manchester City and Arsenal.

A Christmas lie-in is on the cards as the Hornets will be at home to Leicester City on Christmas Day. And on New Year's Day, they'll play Manchester City away.

In the last match of the season on 13 May, they'll face Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Of course, once the telly gets its hands on these, times and dates may change.

Find out your club's full fixture list for the 2017-18 Premier League season.

BBC Weather

It's going to be another fine day with widespread sunshine.

Some fair weather cloud will develop during the afternoon but even then we will see a lot of the sun.

It will be significantly warmer than yesterday.

Maximum temperature of 25C (77F) but feeling cooler on the coasts.

BBC Weather has more local details.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

Thames Valley Police said 30 drivers could be prosecuted after they ignored a road closure following a crash in Milton Keynes yesterday.

It followed an accident on the V5 Great Monks Street, between Two Mile Ash and Wymbush, at about 07:30.

Two cars collided and blocked both carriageways. One of the drivers was injured and required hospital treatment.

The emergency services attended the scene and a police road closure sign was put in place at the Abbey Hill roundabout junction with the A5, to protect them.

Despite this some drivers ignored the closure. The force said their actions were irresponsible and they may receive fines as a result.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

As prime minister Theresa May's reshuffle continues there are ministerial appointments for three more local MPs.

North East Bedfordshire MP Alistair Burt returns to the Foreign Office, Steve Baker - the MP for Wycombe - becomes under secretary of state for the Department for Exiting the European Union, and Milton Keynes North MP Mark Lancaster becomes Minister of State for Defence.

Image source, Conservative Party

Image source, Conservative Party

Image source, Conservative Party

Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning and North East Herts MP Oliver Heald leave the government.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

The world's longest aircraft, Airlander 10, took off from Cardington and completed its fourth test flight last night - reaching the highest altitude it has attained so far.

During the flight, which lasted about four hours, it reached 3,500ft (1,067m).

Image source, Hybrid Air Vehicles

Image source, Hybrid Air Vehicles

The craft varied its speed to between 20 and 30 knots, measuring the acceleration and deceleration with the thousands of sensors on board.

After doing a series of landing practice runs, Hybrid Air Vehicles said Airlander was "safely on the mast following a hugely successful flight" by 22:15.

Image source, Hybrid Air Vehicles

Image source, Hybrid Air Vehicles

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

Good morning and welcome to live updates about all that's happening in the three counties - we'll be here from now until 18:00 bringing you the very latest news, sport, weather and travel.

Last night, just after we'd finished our live updates for the day, the world's largest aircraft - Airlander - took off on its fourth test flight. We'll have more details and pictures coming up.

Image source, Hybrid Air Vehicles

Meanwhile, you can contact us at any time via email, Facebook, external or Twitter, external.

Abdi Karim Ali will appear at Hatfield Remand Court on Wednesday.

That's it for our live coverage for the day. We'll be back from 08:00 tomorrow.

Scroll back through today's feed to catch up on anything you may have missed.

Any breaking news from around Beds, Herts and Bucks will still appear here overnight.

Have a great evening.