19/01/2017 South East Today

me now on BBC Two. That's Newsnight with Emily in

Washington. Today's main headlines

in the South East: A call for urgent action to tackle

the gangs exploiting children Children as young as 11 are being

used as drug mules. Selling drugs or hiding drugs for major drug dealers

coming from London. Accused of breaking legal

limits with a mountain of discarded mattresses,

a Kent man claims the figures And we have another bitterly cold

night tonight, with warnings from the Met Office this cold

weather lasts till Tuesday. A national plan is needed urgently

to crack down on the criminal gangs exploiting inner-city children

as young as 11 to sell That's the view of councillors

from 19 local authorities who've written a joint letter

to the Home Secretary, claiming the issue "has the potential to be

the next grooming scandal". It's been likened to a poison

spreading out from the capital At the last count, more than 181

urban gangs sending upward of 800 people into counties like Kent,

Surrey and Sussex. Children allegedly, as young as 12,

acting as carriers. From London, it's very easy

to travel into Essex, into Kent, Sussex, Surrey,

Hampshire, Wiltshire, Thames Valley. They are not travelling

any further than that Francis is a former gang member,

who now runs a charity helping They are exploiting young

children to sell drugs. The impact on that

young child is huge. They are grooming children

to become drug dealers, or to sell drugs for major

drug dealers from London. So it's a safeguarding

matter, we can't just Today, in what was called

an unprecedented move, 19 London boroughs have written

to the Home Secretary They say gang leaders

are using serious violence, kidnap and weapons, and ruthless

debt control to They say they believe it

has the potential to be We've been worried for some time

that there have been London gangs coming down to Kent,

particularly in Thanet, where it is often reported London

gangs are responsible for a lot But the thought of young vulnerable

children being sent for this Nick is the former head

of Kent Police's drug squad. They are using vulnerable people,

people who they know have probably got no-one to report to,

come back to, their parents, it's probably a dysfunctional family,

and they use that vulnerability to their own advantage

and don't give a damn With the threat of drug gangs

seemingly driving deeper into the South East,

a call today for new measures, to battle a trade now

using child exploitation Our reporter Charlie Rose

has been following the story ? Charlie, what has

the Home Office had to say? Just to be clear, those 19 London

borough is called for a clear national strategy and action plan

from the Government. Tonight we put that to the Home Office, they said

this issue is being addressed and they have a programme to end gang

violence. They told us they are working with law enforcement

agencies and local charities to tackle the problem, and she says

they have formed a new partnership to support local areas facing gang

problems. A businessman accused of blighting

a Kent village with a mountain of discarded mattresses has told

a court his personal life was "an absolute living hell"

at the time he was trying Lewis Bertram - who ran a recycling

business in Smarden near Ashford - is accused of having more

than double the amount He told Canterbury Crown Court today

that that figure was "impossible". Piled high, a potential fire

risk and environmental Lewis Bertram's business took

on mattresses, and recycled The jury was told he had a strict

limit of possessing 1,000 tonnes of textiles at a time -

the Environment Agency believes the total weight

on site was 2,300 tonnes. Lewis Bertram, though, described

that as an "impossible" estimation. Physically, he said,

it's impossible to carry that sort He told the court there was

500 to 800 tonnes maximum. He said he didn't store

mattresses outside. He admitted he'd been going

through a difficult time personally. He said he had been surviving

on two hours' sleep per night. Mr Bertram admitted the site

was never going to look He said he'd paid for

a shredder to help clear it, He insisted he had been

trying his level best to appease He described himself

as passionate about his business. Lewis Bertram denies knowingly

permitting the deposit of waste on land without an environmental

permit, and failing to comply The notorious road rage

killer Kenneth Noye, who stabbed a man to death on a Kent

motorway, has launched a High Court appeal for the right to be moved

to open prison conditions. The 69-year-old was given a life

sentence for the murder of Stephen Cameron on the M25

at Swanley in 1996. Southern Rail managers have urged

the RMT union to call off a 24-hour It follows the suspension of three

days of strikes that the Aslef union Aslef and Southern have spent

a second day in talks aimed at ending their industrial dispute

over the safety of driver-only operation - but the RMT are angry

that they've been excluded. Council tax in West Sussex is set

to rise by almost 4% under proposals put forward

by county councillors today. The authority is facing a budget

shortfall of more than ?41 million - and says the council tax increase

would raise more than ?15 million. The Historic Dockyard in Chatham

is to receive almost ?5 million of Heritage Lottery money to restore

one of its most important buildings, The Fitted Rigging House,

which dates back as early as 1793. The lottery funding will enable

its conversion to become the dockyard's archive

and volunteer centre. Transformed by the magic

of television into a street scene from the East End of London

in the 1950s. But inside the brick

buildings made famous by Call The Midwife,

is an empty shell, unused since the dockyard closed in 1984 -

but now it's going to get its own dramatic new lease of life,

thanks to a lottery grant. The Heritage Lottery Fund that has

been announced today is absolutely essential in bringing these

buildings back to life. It will help with the initial

restoration and repair, but in turn it will make

sure that commercial opportunities can come in here,

businesses can come in here Built just after Victor Hugo

wrote Les Miserables, it was a fitting tribute

the Hollywood movie was filmed here. But these naval buildings

will no longer just be Part of this project

is about commercial return - creating offices, basically -

but also of course, being a charitable trust

that is about education, we want to develop the museum,

the reading room and the library and archive, and make that

much more publicly accessible. ARCHIVE: If all 7,000 people

in the dockyard are dismissed, Chatham's unemployment rate

would shoot up from And when that happened,

the Rigging House was redundant. But finally finding a new role

for this Grade I listed building, The building was used

as a storehouse right up until the Navy board left in '84,

and this is how we found it, nothing Its sheer size has

hindered its restoration - but now, thanks to millions

of pounds of funding, Peter Whittlesea reporting,

and Chrissie Reidy is Chrissie, it's a building well known

to millions of TV viewers, isn't it? I used to think the historic

dockyard was one of the best kept secrets, but it does seem that more

and more people are cottoning on to this little gem, especially

movie-makers. Kanye West filmed a music video as well, Mr Selfridge,

and you might recognise this street from: the midwife. -- call the

midwife. The new series starts on Sunday evening on BBC One.

That's it from me; we'll have the national weather

in a moment, first here's the forecast for the

It's been a very cold, crisp day and we've got warnings out from the Met

Office that this cold weather is set to continue. Very cold air from the

near continent is being dragged up towards us, and we have an area of

high pressure giving as very settled, bright days, but those

clearer skies mean particularly overnight those temperatures are

plummeting. Overnight lows in more readable sports tonight once again

dropping as low as may be minus six degrees and even in towns and

cities, -1 or minus two. Once again a frosty start of the day, lots of

sunshine from the word go. This area of high pressure giving us a settled

day. Light, easterly winds, and by the afternoon temperatures creeping

just about to 45 degrees. But if you wrap up warm, a very pleasant day.

Very similar as we look towards looks as though we can, a bit more

cloud on Sunday. Now the national picture.

Good evening, it will gradually get colder in the UK in the next few

days, something we don't have to worry about in Australia at this

time of year. Of course it's the Australian tennis open at the moment

and there's a big storm moving through Melbourne at the moment.

Hopefully it will have cleared through by the time of Andy Murray's