Updates on Wednesday 20 July 2016
Claire Cottingham
So we're off to catch the last few hours of sunshine.
We're back tomorrow morning at 09:00 BST - but in the meantime please feel free to tweet, external us, email us or send us a message on Facebook, external or Instagram, external.
Enjoy the rays.
After a sudden influx of lorries at Dover - which faced long delays due to increased security checks - the Port of Dover believes things should be on the up.
Some passengers have waited up to three hours to clear passport controls at the Port of Dover today.
The ferry service DFDS is urging customers to leave at least two hours to complete the check-in process.
Dover MP Charlie Elphicke says he understands why the French have increased their security checks.
Charlie Elphicke gives his response to delays at Port of Dover
Bob Dale
The mayor of London is calling on the government to put Transport for London (TfL) in charge of troubled Southern rail on a temporary basis.
Sadiq Khan is also asking for TfL to be handed more responsibility for the South East's commuter routes into the capital.
Sadiq Khan offers a TfL team to take over Southern rail
Bob Dale
As Theresa May makes her debut at Prime Minister's Questions, Rochester and Strood MP Kelly Tolhurst asks her about government plans to tackle child sexual exploitation.
Kelly Tolhurst speaks at PMQs
Jessica Banham
Broadcast Journalist
London Mayor calls for Southern to be replaced, delays at the Port of Dover and an academy chain hands over control of nine schools. Here's this afternoon's #3in30.
What are this afternoon's top stories?
The fire at Elmley has now been extinguished.
Eighty acres of hay were alight but it is now largely under control on the farm. The reserve believe it may have been started deliberately.
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Kent University is among several to announce a tuition fee increase above the £9,000 limit.
Parliament is yet to finish debating plans which would pave the way to raise fees.
Tuition fees for 2017 are listed on Kent University's website as £9,250. Read the full BBC News story here.
Image source, Kent UniversityUniversity of Kent fees for 2017 show courses being charged at a new higher rate
There are reports a fire has broken out at Elmley Nature Reserve. Keith Tucker has tweeted this picture saying it "looks serious" as he's in Minster Broadway and "can see and smell the smoke".
Image source, Keith TuckerClaire Cottingham
Thousands of holidaymakers have been facing huge delays at the Port of Dover in sweltering temperatures due to increased French security checks.
Some people have been waiting three hours to clear passport controls. Simon Jones has been in Dover for us.
Reporter Simon Jones, live for BBC South East Today
Claire Cottingham
BBC Radio Kent's Pat Marsh snapped this beautiful picture in the county today. He's live on air now with Erika North. You can listen here.
Claire Cottingham
An academy chain that operates nine primary schools in Sussex and Kent is handing over the responsibility of running them.
The Lilac Sky Schools Academy Trust runs schools in Greenhithe, Sheerness, Folkestone, Hailsham and Newhaven.
The trust said it was working with the Department for Education (DfE) to ensure plans were in place for pupils for the new academic year in September. Parents were given the news by letter earlier this week.
Parents had mixed views over the announcement
Delays in Dover have caused long tailbacks. For more detailed information, visit here.
Kate Kinsella
BBC Look South East weather
It's not quite as warm as yesterday, but still plenty of sunshine. Here's your lunchtime forecast.
Sunshine, but not as warm as yesterday
Bob Dale
This is what you've been saying about the three-hour delays at Dover.
There are currently delays of up to three hours to clear passport controls at the Port of Dover.
It's due to increased French security checks in the wake of recent terrorist attacks.
These drivers have been venting their frustrations.
Passengers have been waiting at the Port of Dover for up to three hours
Passengers have been queuing for up to three hours at Dover.
Quote MessageWe can confirm that additional border checks have been introduced and as a result, passengers are encountering delays. We are doing everything we can to allow passengers to begin their journey as quickly as possible. If passengers miss their allocated ferry, they will be able to board the next available ferry, at no additional cost.”
P&O Ferries spokesman
It's a hugely ambitious scheme - to open up more than 2,700 miles of paths around the entire UK coastline by 2020.
The stretch between Ramsgate and Camber has now been officially opened.
BBC South East Today's Robin Gibson took a walk along part of the 66-mile route.
The new coastal path has opened
Mr Khan says he's previously called for the Department for Transport to take control
London Mayor Sadiq Khan says he urgently wants to put a Transport for London (TfL) team in charge of Southern's services.
He is suggesting the takeover as a temporary solution.
The company, owned by Govia Thameslink Railway, has cut 341 services from its timetable, following weeks of problems caused by staff shortages, increased sickness levels and industrial action over plans to change the role of conductors.
Quote MessageThousands of Londoners and longer-distance commuters simply cannot get to and from work, and are understandably furious....I now offer to go one step further and put my senior TfL team in charge of the Southern franchise until we get a permanent resolution.
Sadiq Khan, London Mayor in a letter to Chris Grayling, Transport Secretary
Migrant deaths in the Channel, a road tragedy in Medway and a teenage Andy Murray in the Davis Cup. Here's your #onthisday.
On this day in the South East