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Nina Ridge
BBC Weather

This weekend will be perfect for a barbecue - in between the football, of course.

Here's my forecast.

Caitlin Webb
Local Democracy Reporter

A motorcyclist expert claims bikers "put their lives at risk" when they drive on Kent's roads due to the amount of potholes.

Nicholas Farley, member of the Kent Advanced Motorcyclists Group, wrote to the Scrutiny Committee at Kent County Council, telling how the group found one in seven has suffered injury and/or machine damage due to hitting a pothole while riding.

His speech, read out by councillor Trudy Dean (Lib Dem) said: "I am a motorcyclist. I ride in all weather throughout the year and cover between 8-10,000 miles a year on a motorbike in the UK and Europe, but principally in Kent.

"Far too often it seems that judgements about what constitutes a 'safe' road are made only from the point of view of the driver of a car or larger vehicle. There does not seem to be any real understanding of how difficult and dangerous it can be to navigate Kent's roads on two wheels.

"You may well ask why a motorcyclist should bother about hitting a pothole, after all car drivers do it all the time and apart from being shaken up everything is OK.

"The answer is that a pothole that is simply uncomfortable for a car driver, and even unnoticeable to a lorry driver, can cause a motorcyclist to have an accident.

"To hit an unavoidable pothole on a motorbike in broad daylight on a dry road is dangerous; to hit a large, unexpected pothole in the dark, on a wet night, in the middle of a corner, is very unnerving."

Dean Kilpatrick
Local Democracy Reporter

The outgoing chief executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust has been thanked for taking on "mission impossible" and turning the organisation's fortunes around.

Lesley Dwyer will return to her native Australia in November after more than three years in charge at Medway, during which the trust exited special measures and recorded improved Care Quality Commission ratings.

Speaking at yesterday's trust board meeting, chairman Stephen Clark paid tribute to Ms Dwyer for leading from the front, before adding her work will be remembered for years to come.

He told colleagues: "When Lesley joined the trust in 2015, things were not only bleak but they were actually worse.

"The mortality rates were amongst the worst in the country, morale was at rock bottom, there were tensions between the board and the governors - everywhere you turned, there were things to do and the ship needed to be stabilised.

The Old Bailey has been told Christopher Harrison was attacked so violently his eyeballs ruptured.

Missing Chichester woman Sally Roberts has been found safe and well in Lavant, police say.

A member of the public contacted Sussex Police after seeing an appeal on Facebook.

A four-year-old boy who has selective mutism is being helped by a group of firefighters in Kent.

The severe anxiety disorder makes it difficult for Alfie to speak when he's away from the safety of his own home.

Sarah Booker-Lewis
Local Democracy Reporter

Brighton and Hove is bidding to become a Gold Sustainable Food City as it attempts to deal with food poverty.

The Sustainable Food Cities Award celebrates places taking steps that are achieving significant positive change on a range of key food issues.

For the past five years Brighton and Hove City Council has worked with more than 50 organisations on its Food Poverty Action Plan.

The plan lists 84 goals, with progress made on 78 of them, according to the Brighton and Hove Food Poverty Action Plan 2015-18 final progress report.

The report is due to go before the council on Tuesday. Among the successes it listed Chomp, which deals with "holiday hunger" by laying on activity and lunch clubs aimed at families eligible for free school meals in term time. It now operates at 12 sites across Brighton and Hove and serves 700 meals a year.

As England prepare for a World Cup quarter-final, a former teacher remembers teaching the manager.

Sue Nicholson
BBC News

Image source, Unknown

A former West Sussex teacher of England manager Gareth Southgate has said he could not have imagined his young student was destined for such great things.

As England prepares to take on Sweden in the World Cup quarter finals, The Reverend Gordon Parry said following his career had been "hugely rewarding".

The former geography teacher at Hazelwick School, Crawley, recalled the 16-year-old was "thoughtful and able". "You could see attributes that he's now put to so good an effect developing."

Mr Parry, who is now the assistant priest of Worth Parish, in West Sussex, said the young Gareth "liked to analyse things he was dealing with before he spoke about them".

"And so he was always relatively quiet in lessons but was fully on top of his material.

He said it was very difficult to predict what pupils would do with their lives, but the fact that Southgate "doesn't open his mouth until he's thought through what it is he wants to say" was something that he had clearly developed as a youngster.

Mr Parry, who taught Southgate for two years, said he would be "offering up a few words" of prayer ahead of Saturday's important match.

"I think if God has got anything to do with football, it is to thank him for giving the gifts that he has to those people who are taking part, and to let them use those gifts to best effect whether, dare I say it, they are Swedish or British."

Image source, Unknown

One of the England manager's former teachers remembers teaching him in Crawley.

Bob Dale
BBC Live reporter

As he faces the biggest match of his career, what was England boss Gareth Southgate like at school in Sussex?

Stuart Maisner
BBC Live reporter

Is Phoenix, the mystic moggy, predicting victory for England against Sweden?

Rebecca Curley
Local Democracy Reporter

Image source, UKIP

Voters could tip the balance of power next week as a by-election over one seat could determine the dominant party.

The Conservatives had 24 seats on Elmbridge Borough Council, as do the Liberal Democrats and various residents' associations combined.

The resignation of one councillor now leaves the Tories with 23 seats.

The winner of the by-election for the Oxshott and Stoke d'Abernon ward next week will affect that balance either tipping one side to 25 seats or bringing them both back to 24.

Image source, David Lewis

The by-election was called after Tory councillor James Vickers resigned from the post in June.

Three candidates are contesting the seat: Dorothy Ford (Liberal Democrats) David Lewis (Conservatives) Nicholas Wood (UK Independence Party UKIP).

Image source, Dorothy Ford

Image source, Sussex Police

Police have expressed concern for a man who has gone missing from his home in Hove.

Colin Hurst. 51, was last known to be at his flat in The Drive on 8 June.

Officers say Mr Hurst left all his personal possessions and car at the flat.

They are asking anyone who knows where he is to get in touch.

Image source, Kent Police

Two bikes and a stolen moped have been seized by police investigating nuisance behaviour in Gillingham.

Officers were called to the Davenport Avenue area yesterday afternoon where three youths are reported to have abandoned the bikes before running away.

The moped has since been returned to its owner.

Image source, Kent Police

Image source, Kent Police

A 16-year-old boy from Gillingham was issued with a section 59 warning, which means if he or the vehicle is stopped again within a year it can be seized and impounded.

Rebecca Curley
Local Democracy Reporter

Councillors are putting their parties before people when they should be cutting back on allowances, an action group has claimed.

Campaign group Surrey Tax Action Group (STAG) made the claims after discovering how much members of Surrey County Council are being paid to promote and support their parties.

Members' allowances include payments for holding certain responsibilities and cabinet positions, but there is also an additional fee for councillors who hold the position of Officer of Political Groups.

Councillors are given £170.34 per member of the group they represent.

The Conservative group has 61 members and claims £10,350.

The Surrey Opposition Forum constitutes 10 members including nine Liberal Democrats and one Green and claims £1,703.40 for the group leader officer role.

The group bringing together the councillors from residents' associations and independents composed of nine members claims around £1,300 per year.

Peter Webb, from STAG said: "It seems to me that the political councillor element is exempt as they attempt to save money.

"There is quite a lot of good stuff going on with the county council to try and change how it does things to save money, but it doesn't seem to extend to the council itself."

A spokesman for the Conservative group said: "We have a 61 member group, one of the largest in the country and the running and administration of it takes considerable time."

A spokesman for the council said: "Surrey County Council allocates a sum of money to each of the political groups at the council based on its size and each group then determines how it wishes this to be allocated."

Surrey host Kent Spitfires in the T20 Blast – listen to BBC local radio commentary.

The large piece of timber is believed to have fallen from scaffolding, police have said.

Karen Dunn
Local Democracy Reporter

A man with cystic fibrosis has praised Horsham District Council's swift action after he raised concerns about the loss of a parking space.

Jonathan King, 36, attended a meeting of the planning committee on Tuesday where an application was being discussed to place temporary welfare offices on the corner of Piries Place and Park Place during the demolition and rebuilding of the car park.

Mr King, of Parkway House, who also has diabetes, told the meeting the placement of the offices would mean he would lose access to his parking space.

Chairman Karen Burgess (Con, Holbrook East) was called on to take the matter straight to the chief executive.

Mr King said he received a call the following morning from the parking services manager who had found him a parking space in nearby Denne Road.

When asked what he thought of the council's speedy response, Mr King said: "I was very, very pleased and impressed. It was something I was hoping for but was slightly apprehensive.

"To be honest, it's given me good faith in them.

"It's nice to see that when they hear the problems, and actually hear them first-hand, how they are actually able to rally around and be supportive when it's needed."

Permission for the temporary offices was granted and they will be in place until August 2019.