Sarah Jenkins
BBC Local Live

Good morning and welcome back to Local Live across Essex.

We'll be here until 18:00 with the latest news, sport, weather and travel for your local area.

The full weather forecast will be with you shortly, but it's a rather cloudy start to the day.

As always, if you want to get in touch you can by email, Facebook, external or Twitter, external.

Listen to BBC local radio commentary as Hampshire host Essex in County Championship Division One.

The team here is heading home in the hopes of enjoying some of the blue sky captured by one of our BBC Weather Watchers in Great Chesterford earlier on.

If you're just joining us, don't forget you can scroll down and catch up with what's been happening during the day, and as always, any breaking news will still appear here overnight.

Have a good evening - we look forward to your company again from 08:00 on Wednesday.

County champions Essex collapse to 33-5 as late wickets tumble to leave Hampshire well on top at the Ageas Bowl.

Alex Dolan
BBC Look East weather

Staying dry this evening with any cloud dispersing.

There'll be clear spells overnight and it'll become chilly, with mist and fog patches forming.

Lows of 6C (43F).

After early mist clears on Wednesday, it'll become brighter with sunny spells and it'll feel warmer with a top temperature of 18C (64F).

Get the full forecast where you live from BBC Weather.

The Sainsbury's supermarket at Chafford Hundred, Grays, which had to shut earlier this month when a fire in a nearby building spread to the store, is reopening on Friday.

Store manager Lee Riley said: "We’re very grateful to the fire service and to the team of people who’ve been working extremely hard to reopen the store as quickly as possible.

"We’re looking forward to welcoming customers again."

The store's filling station opened again last week.

Image source, Steven Sewell

An elderly man has been treated in hospital for a cut to his face, after being hit with a crowbar by intruders who broke into his home in Tilbury.

Four men, all wearing balaclavas, got into the property on Portsea Road on Monday morning after smashing a window.

They were confronted by the occupant, a man in his 80s, who was hit on the face by what's believed to have been a crowbar, police say.

The gang left empty-handed.

Essex Police have responded to the latest statistics from the Independent Police Complaints Commission, external which show a 30% reduction in the number of complaints made against the force since 2014.

The breakdown is:

• 2014-15 - 1,153
• 2015-16 - 945
• 2016-17 - 806

Deputy Chief Constable BJ Harrington said: "Since 2014 complaints against Essex Police have reduced by a massive 30% and our reduction of 15% from last year is in the top five in the country.

"That means people in our county can have confidence in the ethical culture and professionalism that characterises the overwhelming majority of our contact with the public.

"It's vital people who aren't satisfied with the service we've provided can make a complaint easily and effectively and we look to learn from every allegation made to us."

Train operator Greater Anglia has responded to the earlier announcement of the two days on which members of the RMT union working for the company are planning to go on strike.

Train service delivery director Richard Dean said: "We are obviously disappointed with the announcement today.

"We’re keen to talk to the RMT to try and resolve the issues involved and to avert industrial action.

"In the event of industrial action going ahead on Tuesday 3 October and Thursday 5 October, we’d like to reassure customers that we have contingency plans in place and intend to run a full service.

"We value our conductors highly and we have guaranteed their jobs until the end of the franchise in October 2025.

"In fact, we will be recruiting additional conductors, as we are replacing all of our trains with brand new trains from 2019, which will enable us to run more services."

Get Inspired

Those are the words of sprint gold medallist Darren Campbell, who has been helping BBC Get Inspired in the search for the Sports Personality of the Year Unsung Hero for 2017.

Here's more from Darren...

The award recognises the amazing work that volunteers do in grassroots sport and fitness around the UK.

Last year, Marcellus Baz from Nottingham scooped the award for his work as a community boxing coach. Could it be someone from your region this year?

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union at Greater Anglia will stage two 24-hour strikes in disputes over the role of guards and driver-only trains, on 3 and 5 October.

Mike Cash, RMT general secretary, said: "Greater Anglia have been given every opportunity to give a guarantee on the future role of the guard on their services.

"They have failed to do so and that left us with no alternative but to move to a ballot in the interests of rail safety.

"Our members voted by massive majorities for action but the company have ignored that and have failed to seize the opportunity to give us the very simple assurances on the future of the guards, and the guarantee of a second safety-critical member of staff on current services."

A new venue has been chosen for a baby remembrance service that has been held in Colchester every year since 1994.

Organised by the chaplaincy team at Colchester Hospital, the service is for families who have suffered the loss of a baby at any time during pregnancy or around the time of birth.

Image source, Google

In recent years it has been held at the hospital, but this year's service will take place at The Ark, Highwoods Methodist Church in Jack Andrews Drive, on Thursday, 12 October.

Allison Cline-Dean, lead chaplain, said: "Some people find it difficult to return to a hospital after having experienced the death of their baby.

"This year we wanted to hold the service in a setting that they will perhaps find more welcoming. The Ark is a modern facility used by many community groups and has plenty of free parking."

With the 2017 county season here, keep up to date with the latest signings, departures and rumours ahead of next season.

A legal challenge is being mounted to a planning appeal decision which has paved the way for 175 new homes to be built on the outskirts of Clacton.

Ray Chapman Associates put in for permission for the major development on land south of Centenary Way and north of London Road.

Tendring District Council, external refused the application in June last year and the developers went to appeal.

Government inspector Jason Whitfield allowed the appeal and granted planning permission for the scheme last week.

Now the council has taken external legal advice over the decision and has decided to challenge it.

Neil Stock, leader of the council and chairman of the Local Plan Committee, said the external legal advice taken by the council had been considered very carefully.

"On the basis of what we have been advised we have decided to challenge the legality of the inspector’s decision," he said.

"Such action is not taken lightly, but the council is confident of its calculations and is fully prepared to take this next step."

The airline says issues with pilots' holidays will affect fewer than 2% of its flights.

The East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) spent more than £14m on hiring private ambulance firms last year up from £6.6m in the year before, according to figures obtained by the Press Association through Freedom of Information requests.

Alan Lofthouse from the union Unison said: "The public shouldn't be concerned about the people attending them, because if they're paramedics, they're registered along with every other paramedic.

"The public purse is going to paying the profits for a company that's providing ambulance services rather than being invested back in better training and better working conditions for staff."

Kevin Brown, director of service delivery at the EEAST, said there are a number of reasons for the increase: "Over the last two years we've recruited 650 additional staff into the trust.

"Clearly many of our new staff needed to be trained, it takes three years to train a paramedic and there are times where those people need to be undertaking that training and that leaves us with capacity gaps.

"This is why last year our spend significantly increased."

Andrew Sinclair
BBC Look East political correspondent

Image source, Graham Eva

The Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable will "reach out" to voters in heavy Brexit supporting regions like ours when he delivers his party conference speech this afternoon.

I'm told the tone will be more respectful and less strident in an attempt to try to win leave supporting voters round to the Lib Dems' argument for a referendum on the final Brexit deal.

He will also talk about issues like education and the NHS to show the Lib Dems are more than a single issue party.

The change in tone follows concerns from party campaigners in our region that the Lib Dems' anger over last year's referendum was driving away leave supporters.

In a magazine article this month Norfolk MP Norman Lamb warned the party that "we have come across to many natural supporters as arrogantly dismissing their views".

Lib Dem sources tell me that Sir Vince has talked to Mr Lamb while preparing his speech.

But there will be no change in the party's anti-Brexit policy so it will be interesting to see if today's speech will really win over any voters in our part of the world.

Plans are being considered by Essex County Council to reduce the number of mobile library vans from nine, to two.

The council says they're no longer providing value for money.

What do you think? Would you be sad to see the service cut in this way? Contact us via the "Get involved" link at the top of this page.

Kate Kinsella
BBC Weather

The rain overnight has left a legacy in some spots of a little bit of mist and one or two fog patches as well, but we should see plenty of sunny spells and it'll be mostly dry.

We've still got one or two showers, particularly out towards parts of Norfolk, but they should clear pretty quickly.

Elsewhere we have decent sunny spells.

There'll be a bit of fair weather cloud bubbling up this afternoon and temperatures will reach about 16C (61F).

Get a full forecast where you live from BBC Weather.

Philippa Taylor
BBC Local Live

Welcome back to our regular updates - the team here is poised to keep an eye across what's happening in the county and make sure we keep you informed.

You can join in too, by contacting us via the "Get involved" link at the top of this page.

It's a bit misty and murky out there at the moment, but I'm pretty sure the sun's going to break through a little bit later.

Kate Kinsella will be here next to bring us the day's forecast.