Bob Dale
BBC Live reporter

Adrian Backshall knew exactly how he was going to spend lockdown.

The former British Rail worker used the time to assemble the track, signals and wagon he had collected over the years into a working 30ft (9m) railway in his back garden, in Eastbourne.

Since the BBC highlighted his story in April he has been busy adding lights, and says he has even been able to sleep in it on warmer nights.

He's also entering it in the 2020 shed of the year contest.

However, Adrian's attempts to persuade his wife Ruth to let him extend the track to the end of the garden have so far failed.

One of Ruth's prize flower beds stands in the way and she won't let him dig it up.

Nearly 100 people have documented their lockdown lives in diaries for a coronavirus archive at Hastings museum.

People were asked to record what their lives were like and how they felt.

Image source, Danny Mooney

Some described the monotony of lockdown as being like the film Groundhog Day. For others, writing a journal was "therapy" in difficult times.

Archive curator Eleanor Lanyon said the youngest person to take part was a seven year old, whose words were part of a family diary.

Jean-Pierre Labelle is in custody awaiting trial after drugs were found hidden among frozen fish.

Nearly 100 people documented their lockdown lives for a coronavirus archive at Hastings museum.

Dr Rachael Grimaldi created cards for patients to read or hear and developed the scheme in lockdown.

Huw Oxburgh
Local Democracy Reporter

Police “can’t stop people coming to the coast”, Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne has said.

Mrs Bourne’s comments came as she answered councillors’ questions at a virtual meeting of the Sussex Police and Crime Panel.

The questions came after police issued dispersal orders to a mass gathering at Hove Lawns last Wednesday.

Those to speak included Crawley Borough councillor Michael Jones (Labour), who said: “The emergency dispersal orders issued in Brighton filled me with very deep concern.

“But we have got a lot of seaside towns in Sussex clearly; Bognor Regis, Littlehampton, Worthing, Lancing, Shoreham beach, Brighton and Hove, Eastbourne, St Leonards, Hastings. The list goes on.

“Not only is there clearly a threat to public health for those going to the beach if they are not socially distancing, but it seems to me to be serious increased risks for residents of those towns as well.

In response, Mrs Bourne said: “You raised some really important points and I don’t think any of us disagree with your concerns around our residents and our coastal areas.

“We have got over 100 miles of coastline in Sussex and, with the best will in the world, police can’t stop people coming to the coast.

“All along the police response to this – as we have eased out of lockdown – was the Four E approach. It was to engage with the public, to explain to them why we are doing the social distancing and to encourage them to go home and only to use enforcement as a last measure, as you would expect.

“I think actually Sussex Police has been really good around this and where they have had to issue fixed penalty notices, they have."

Karen Dunn
Local Democracy Reporter

Chichester District Council plans to use more than £8m from its reserves to pay for the costs it has faced during the pandemic.

The council has lost around £1m each month due to the loss of income from areas including car parking charges and an increase in costs such as finding emergency housing for the city’s homeless during lockdown.

A report to a meeting of the corporate governance and audit committee, which is due to convene on Thursday, said the shortfall is expected to be £8m by the end of the year.

In his report, John Ward, director of corporate services, said: “The council is facing an extremely challenging financial position.

“It is clear that we will be facing a deficit in the future, but the amount cannot currently be predicted with certainty.

“However, to do nothing to address this will result in reserves being depleted, and still leaves the issue to be addressed once reserves have expired.

“Action must be taken to address the position, and develop a strategy that enables the budget to be balanced over the medium term.”

As well as recommending that money be release from its £22.8m of reserves, councillors have been asked to recommend that the minimum amount that can be held in its General Fund Reserve be lowered from £6.3m to £4m.

Pupils at two primary schools stage another protest, as the council overturns back to school plans.

Farmers in Brighton and Hove are urging walkers to keep their dogs under control following incidents where lambs have been mauled and cattle chased through barbed wire fencing.

There has been a rise in sheep and cattle worrying in the area, as hundreds of dog walkers head to the South Downs to escape lockdown restrictions.

But Brighton and Hove City Council officials say too many have been letting their dogs off their leads and then seeing them lose control.

Tim Carnaghan, from Standean Farm, has had eight of his lambs mauled to death in separate incidents over the past few weeks.

He said: “Since the lockdown rules were relaxed, we have seen a phenomenal number of dog walkers out and about and, while we appreciate the benefits that a walk on the Downs can bring, it’s essential that dogs are kept on leads and under proper control.

“On an average year we may lose one, possibly two, of our lambs following dog attacks, so to lose eight in just a few weeks is devastating.”

Andrew Lee, director of countryside policy and management at the South Downs National Park Authority, said dogs must be on leads and under close control at all times.

He said: “Our farmers have been doing an amazing job during the lockdown at keeping food supplies going and in supporting our wildlife, and they need our support now more than ever.”

The party's former leader supports the sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey over a row about anti-Semitism.

Council officials in an East Sussex resort are helping businesses prepare to reopen following months of closure, but warned people to expect “things being done differently”.

Hastings Borough Council leader Kim Forward said many firms reopening from 4 July face “practical issues” including around cleaning regimes, social distancing, contactless payments and risk assessments.

She said: “As lockdown continues to ease, we must ensure that this happens safely here in Hastings, so we are urging residents and visitors to continue to take care.

"Our town’s new full capacity is not yet what our pre-Covid-19 full capacity was. We will have to get use to things being done differently.”

All the latest coronavirus news from across Sussex, Kent and Surrey.

Care homes have come up with an imaginative way for residents to see their families.

Parents at two primary schools in Horsham want their children back at school before the holidays.

Sarah Booker-Lewis
Local Democracy Reporter

The cost of providing emergency food in Brighton and Hove during the Covid-19 crisis has risen to £200,000, with extra money coming from the city council.

The money – some raised through a crowdfunding appeal – has helped pay for thousands of meals and food parcels for people in “food poverty”, according to a report to councillors.

Image source, Getty Images

Council chief executive Geoff Raw has approved funding worth £124,500 for the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership, using “urgency” powers.

It comes after a crowdfunding appeal – under the banner Hungry at Home – was set up in March “with the aim of raising £15,000 to buy emergency food in bulk from catering wholesalers”.

A council report said: “The target was quickly reached and doubled to £30,000.

“When that target was reached, the council provided match-funding of £30,000 to support the effort to purchase emergency food.”

The council also gave the Food Partnership a £15,000 grant to manage and co-ordinate emergency food distribution and helped secure premises – at Hove Park School – to use as a food processing hub.

The extra £124,500, granted by Mr Raw for June, July and August, is expected to help feed hundreds of struggling families and individuals.

The report – to the council’s Policy and Resources (Recovery) Sub-committee – said that applications to the Local Discretionary Social Fund had risen from 70 in February to 238 in April.

It said: “Emergency food need does not appear to be abating.”

Bins at a West Sussex beach have been left overflowing with rubbish this morning, prompting calls for people to take their waste home.

Officials at Adur and Worthing Councils said cleaning crews have been doing extra rounds but have not been able to keep up with the level of rubbish left behind.

A lawyer says families of the 11 men killed in the air show crash have a right to see evidence.

A major incident has been declared in Bournemouth on the second day of the UK heatwave.

A woman has died after suffering a medial episode on a beach.

At midday Sussex Police, South East Coast Ambulance, and the air ambulance were called out to Worthing seafront.

The woman is believed to have been in her 50s, and a spokesman for Sussex Police said: "Our thoughts are with her loved ones at this difficult time."

A 22-year-old man is found dead at a property in East Sussex as police arrest four men and a woman.