22/03/2014 South East Today

Good afternoon. A row's broken out significant -- end of the season.

Good afternoon. A row's broken out over whether a politician in the

House of Lords, who's chairlan of the fracking company that w`nts to

extract shale gas in Sussex, used his influence inappropriately. The

Green MP for Brighton Pavilhon, Caroline Lucas, who was arrdsted at

the site last summer, says Lord Browne was wrong to meet thd

Environment Secretary last June Lucinda Adam has our report.

Anti`fracking protesters including MP Caroline Lucas made clear their

objections to Cuadrilla's drilling in Balcombe last summer. Now it has

been revealed the fracking company's chairman Lord Browne, who also

advises the government, called an urgent meeting with Environlent

Secretary last June. Caroline Lucas thinks that was inappropriate. It

looks as if he is influencing decisions. Looks like he is making

meetings happen much quicker than they would otherwise. He has got the

Environment Agency coming in looking like they are going to speed up a

consultation process to the interest of Cuadrilla. It just smacks of far

too much corporate lobbying, corporate influence over decisions

of government. The meeting hncluded a discussion of Cuadrilla's planning

permission with the County Council and the length of consultathon

required to obtain European waste permits. Today, DEFRA said ht was

not unusual from ministers to meet with senior people from companies

like Cuadrilla, and Lord Browne said any meetings had taken placd in an

appropriate way. Caroline Ltcas and four other Balcombe protestdrs go on

trial on Monday to face charges of breaching public order.

A cyclist has died in an accident with a car in Kent. It happdned just

after four o'clock this morning on the Old Thanet Way, near Chdstfield.

The 30`year`old man, who thd police say is from the Ashford are`, died

at the scene. A woman has bden arrested on suspicion of catsing

death by dangerous driving. Police have appealed for anyone who may

have seen a blue Peugeot 206 in the area at the time to contact them.

In the early hours of this lorning, the collision occurred. I would like

to speak to anyone that saw the blue Peugeot being driven in the local

area and leaving the Herne Bay Area and travelling on the old Thanet

Way. Manston Airport CAN be saved. That's

the message from the leader of Kent County Council this weekend. We

revealed on Thursday that the airport in East Kent could close

within three weeks. But spe`king to Julia George on tomorrow's Sunday

Politics programme, Councillor Paul Carter says he believes that could

be avoided if the right support is offered quickly.

I have always said it is ond of the biggest potential drivers of

increasing significantly employment in East Kent and East Kent needs

more employment opportunitids, so enormously sad. We need to work with

the new owners and the government. Football and in the Championship,

Brighton lost 2`0 at home to Ipswich and remain outside of the play`off

places. Meanwhile Charlton lost 3`0 to Burnley with another blow in

their campaign to avoid reldgation. And it wasn't much better in League

One, Gillingham were beaten 3`1 by Crewe and Crawley, who travdlled to

Oldham, were defeated 1`0. Now the weather.

Hello, good evening. It has been a day of sunshine and showers today.

We will see something very similar into tomorrow too. The showdrs

rumbling along for a while before it turns drier into the second half of

the night. The wind dropping down a touch. Watch out for icy stretches

on roads and pavements into tomorrow morning along with the rural frost.

Overnight lows into single figures. A chilly start to the day tomorrow.

Another day of sunny spells with some showers. The wind will change

direction from a north`westdrly so you will see the heavier showers

towards northern areas. Somd good spells of brightness and sunshine in

between. Still a brisk wind and temperatures, below average for this

time of year, not as mild as last Sunday. Highs of eight or nhne

degrees Celsius, perhaps ten degrees you're the south coast. That is 50

Fahrenheit. As the skies cldar on Sunday night, a widespread frost to

start the working week. Mostly dry on Monday, unsettled on Tuesday and

Wednesday. Before we go, join us next week if

you can, when our correspondent Colin Campbell has a special series

of reports looking at the ddsperate measures that migrants take to cross

the Channel to Kent. This is the approach to the ferry terminal. We

have seen scores of migrants, they have been quite brazenly trxing to

break into the trucks. Under constant attack from all

directions, the driver is s`y there is little they can do. You think,

will they fall underneath the lorry, will they try to get in the back of

the lorry? You do not know what they will do.

More on that on the programle on Monday and Tuesday at 1:30pl and

6:30pm, from everyone here today, good evening.

The Wind a lot showers around at the moment, still hale and thunder too.

As we turn the wind north-westerly, these areas will bear the brunt of

the showers overnight. A chilly night, a touch of frost in rural

areas. A few showers first thing. Sunshine too. Cloud will bubble up

and showers will develop in England and Wales. The main focus in the

afternoon is an eastern areas. Across Wales and the south-west

very few showers all day. The north-westerly wind lines the

showers up in the afternoon. East Anglia and parts of Lincolnshire and

Yorkshire could see quite a