The annual July Festival, external begins at Newmarket today, starting with the Newmarket Town Plate, the town's oldest race.

Amy Starkey, from Jockey Club Racecourses, said: "It was inaugurated in 1666 by King Charles II, a race that he himself said would be run forever.

"It's an amazing part of our history - 15 amateur riders take to the turf and gallop their horses over three and three quarter miles, so it's a real test of endurance.

"It's the longest race by quite a considerable margin that we stage here at Newmarket but also one would say, in a way, our most special race in that it's our oldest and [most] historic inaugurated by an act of parliament in 1666."

Image source, Getty Images

Last year the event was won by Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, riding Almagest (pictured).

West Suffolk MP Matt Hancock, came second on Medieval Chapel.

Adam Jinkerson
BBC Local Live

Police say the driver of this car was "lucky to walk away" from a two-vehicle crash in Peterborough this morning.

Image source, BCH Road Policing

The crash, between a black Vauxhall Corsa and silver Vauxhall Vivaro, happened around 08:25 on Storeys Bar Road, Fengate.

Adam Jinkerson
BBC Local Live

Through the antiquated roads of central Cambridge, of course.

This brand-new £2m boat is beginning its journey from Oundle in Northamptonshire to Ipswich today, but not on the A14 main trunk road as you may have thought.

Image source, BCH Road Policing

It begins just over the Cambridgeshire border at the Fairline boatyard where, with a police escort, it will then head past Elton, Buckden, St Neots and through the centre of Cambridge.

But surely it will be too wide for the city, I hear you say.

"Some traffic lights and telephone lines along the route have to be removed to allow passage," a spokesperson for the police said.

After an overnight stop on the Cambridgeshire/Suffolk border, it will continue its journey through Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds and arrive at Ipswich where Fairline has a facility on the docks for testing that everything no the boat is working as it should.

But not once will it travel on the A14, an obvious choice for most motorists.

A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman said it's the safest route "as due to the size of the boat it can’t clear some of the bridges on the A14".

"Police will escort the boat as due to its size it can take up both sides of the road in some areas," he continued.

The force added that the escort is paid for by the boat company.

Orla Moore
BBC Local Live

The overhead electric wire problems reported at Great Chesterford are causing major delays and cancellations on the route - and still affecting the line to Cambridge, Stansted Airport and into London.

Any train running through Great Chesterford or Whittlesford Parkway will be cancelled, delayed or subject to a replacement bus system.

Disruption is expected until 16:00.

Network Rail engineers are making repairs and trains are unable to run between Cambridge and Audley End, in both directions, according to Greater Anglia.

There's a limited train shuttle between Audley End and London Liverpool Street, and a limited bus replacement between Audley End and Cambridge.

Great Northern Trains will accept valid Greater Anglia ticket holders on trains between Cambridge and London King's Cross. And Greater Anglia tickets will be accepted on the London underground.

We'll keep you posted on any updates.

BBC Business News

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which runs the Southern Rail, Thameslink and Great Northern rail services, has been fined £13.4m for poor performance, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced.

The government said the fine would have been higher, but most of the delays had not been Southern's fault.

The DfT said strikes and unprecedented levels of sick leave were also to blame.

The RMT union was critical of the fine, saying the government had let Southern and its parent company off the hook.

Image source, PA

A spokesman for GTR said the company accepted the fine as a "fair outcome".

He said: "The settlement acknowledges that the industrial action taken by the trade unions has been a major contributor to the disruption experienced by passengers in the past year, and we welcome the fact that a significant proportion of our claim was recognised."

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

The state of the A14 has been badly criticised by the chief executive of the Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce, external after a pothole closed the road for the second time in only two weeks.

John Bridge says the road, which was shut for eight hours for repair work, is in a "desperate state".

He said: "The Chambers has been lobbying for many years for the road to be dealt with and the viaduct at Huntingdon to be taken out of use.

"The Huntingdon viaduct is past its sell-by date and use-by date."

He said the delays in the upgrade of the A14 - which is now going ahead - means we are "now living with the consequences".

Image source, Highways England

Simon Amor, from Highways England, said: "We are constantly doing repair works to all of our roads in the region, not just the A14.

"We do an awful lot of maintenance work overnight and we spend an awful lot of money trying to keep the road safe and in good condition.

"Unfortunately after heavy rain and adverse weather we do get potholes appearing all of a sudden."

Mr Amor also added that the £1.5bn Cambridge to Huntingdon A14 upgrade scheme will "offer a safe solution in the long term" and will "provide the resilience" needed.

Adam Jinkerson
BBC Local Live

It was a nightmare of a day on the A14 yesterday, after a "pothole" closed the westbound carriageway between junction 23 (Spittals, Huntingdon) and 24 (Godmanchester), for eight hours.

But why did the road have to close, and why was it shut for so long?

Simon Amor from Highways England took to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire to try and answer those questions.

What was it?

"It was a bit more than a pothole," Mr Amor said.

"After a period of heavy rain overnight, the carriageway started to break up so the road surface had become unstable. It was over quite a wide area, over both lanes.

"It was very close [to where a pothole appeared two weeks ago].

"We have had problems with the where the road goes over the Huntingdon railway viaduct. We've had a problem with water getting in there."

Image source, Highways England

Why did it take so long?

"We had to dig right down to the foundations of the surface and replace it layer by layer," he said.

"The road surface is built up like a sandwich in various layers, so we had to replace each layer and allow them time to set.

"Unfortunately it is quite a long process."

What's being done to make sure it doesn't happen again?

"We're going to do a permanent repair over the next couple of weeks.

"We'll be doing that overnight so hopefully people won't be disrupted too much.

"It's a solution to stop the road surface peeling away like it did yesterday."

A star no bigger than the planets in our solar system has been discovered by the help of scientists in north Staffordshire.

The star which is said to be one of the smallest ones ever discovered, external is about the size of Saturn.

Image source, Keele University

The star, named EBLM J0555-57Ab which discovered by a team from the University of Cambridge and Keele University.

Adam Jinkerson
BBC Local Live

There are problems on the trains this morning, as services between Cambridge and Audley End near Saffron Waldon are disrupted due to overhead wire problems.

Delays are expected until 14:00.

Lucy Martin
BBC Weather

A dry and bright start to the day, with just a few mist and fog patches.

Sunshine will continue throughout the day, with the chance of a few isolated showers.

Temperatures peaking at 20C (68F).

BBC Weather has a more detailed forecast for where you live.

Adam Jinkerson
BBC Local Live

Good morning and welcome to live updates for Cambridgeshire on Thursday, 13 July.

We'll be here until 18:00 with the latest news, sport, weather and travel from around the county.

First up, a full forecast for the day.

It's already looking like it'll be a good one in Ramsey St Mary's....

You can get in touch by email, Twitter , externaland Facebook, external.

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

That's it from your Local Live team on this sunny Wednesday - thanks for your company.

We'll be back to do it all again from 08:00 tomorrow.

Don't forget you can still get in touch - just click or tap on the Get Involved button at the top of the page.

And if anything should break later or overnight - it'll still appear here.

In the meantime, here's a pretty picture of the colourful fields at Longthorpe near Peterborough, captured by our busy Weather Watcher Paul's Patch.

Have a lovely evening.

Image source, BBC Weather Watchers

Alex Dolan
BBC Look East weather

Tonight: Staying dry with further spells of sunshine and patchy cloud across the East. Clear spells and light winds will develop overnight. Expect a little bit of mist in there. Lows of 10C (50F).

Tomorrow: A dry and bright start with sunny spells, but it'll turn cloudier later with the chance of an isolated shower. Winds will be light, south-westerly. Highs of 21C (70F).

Image source, BBC Weather

BBC Weather has more.

There are plans for a new train line which could bring a service back to Haverhill.

Orla Moore
BBC Local Live

It's been chaos on the A14 in Cambridgeshire today.

The road remains closed this afternoon between J24 and J23 to allow for repairs after a pothole appeared.

It's not expected to be fixed until early evening.

That means the A1099 from the A14 to St Ives is still very slow as the rush hour continues.

Image source, Highways England

There was also a crash on the eastbound A14 between J20 and J21 for Brampton Hut earlier. A lorry driver died and another was injured.

That stretch has now been cleared.

The balls have been picked out the machine to complete the Checkatrade Trophy group stages, and Peterborough, Cambridge and Northampton have been drawn against an invited under-21 Southampton side.

The group also marks the first time the Cambridgeshire rivals have played competitively against each other since 2001.

It's not yet been confirmed when the matches will be played.

We've just heard from the police regarding the crash on the eastbound A14 near Huntingdon.

Cambridgeshire Police said two lorries crashed at the Brampton Hut roundabout as they looked to join the A1 heading north.

The male driver of one of the lorries suffered serious injuries and was taken to Hinchingbrooke Hospital but has since died, a force spokesman said.

The other driver suffered injuries but they were not life-threatening, he added.

Traffic is now being allowed through the roundabout.

Any witnesses have been asked to contact police.

Tom Horn
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

A consultation has started to see if almost half the children's centres in Cambridgeshire could close.

Nineteen of the 40 centres are under threat after Cambridgeshire County Council announced a consultation, external that could see them save £1m a year.

It means the service could be resdesigned, with centres in places in Cambridge, Papworth, Brampton, Whittlesey and Somersham closing.

Services which offer access to health experts and drop-in play sessions could instead be offered from other community buildings.

Image source, PA

Simon Bywater, the Conservative chair of the children's committee, said: "We want every child in Cambridgeshire to thrive and our proposed re-design of the children's centres will focus on providing a range of flexible services targeted at the right type of family, where they need them."

He added the authority needs to "save money and be more efficient".

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

The traffic problems on the A14 continue this afternoon as the road remains closed eastbound between J20 and J21 and westbound between J23 and J24.

The eastbound problems are due to a crash, while westbound a pothole has appeared in the carriageway that needs to be fixed. Westbound is expected to be shut until 16:00.

This means the A1099 from the A14 to St Ives is very slow.

Highways England, which manages the road, has asked drivers to "plan ahead".

Lisa Thipthorp got in touch, saying she got stuck near Ellington for two and a half hours.

She said she was now "heading home having missed my meeting and wasted my day".