Six local council by-elections are taking place today- the largest number of seats to go to a vote on a single day so far this year.

This includes borough and district councils seats in Meadvale and St John’s at Reigate, and Banstead and Whyteleafe at Tandridge.

There have been other by-elections in the last few months and more are due to happen in November, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Polling stations open at 07:00 BST, and will close at 22:00.

A Surrey hospital emergency department is under significant pressure due to staffing levels and high demand, an NHS trust has said.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said East Surrey Hospital A&E in Redhill was dealing with an early increase in winter viruses.

It comes amid a rise in Covid cases with new variants Nimbus and Stratus circulating around the UK..

The trust urged people with non-urgent conditions to use other NHS services, such as 111, their local pharmacy or GP, or nearby treatment centres at Crawley, Caterham Dene, Horsham and East Grinstead.

Sussex Police has become the first force in the country to fit prolific shoplifters with location monitoring tags.

The tags will allow the police to monitor offenders’ movements in real time, helping to deter further offences and enabling swift action if breaches or tampering occur.

Under the Operation STOP pilot, repeatoffenders will be issued with discreet GPS ankle devices – as part of a CBO or with agreement from probation services.