'Ambulance deaths' and 'ghost town'

Plans to pursue Council of Sanctuary status had become the focus of intense scrutiny

Here's our weekly roundup of stories from across local websites in the West of England.

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What have been the big stories in the West this week?

Two ambulance workers have been arrested over the deaths of six adults, with police only releasing the information a week ago. A man in his 30's, from West Wiltshire and a 59-year-old woman have both been released on bail.

The mother of 17-year-old Tamzin Hall, from Somerset, said police "desperately failed" her daughter when she died after fleeing a police vehicle and being struck on the M5, between Taunton and Bridgwater on 11 November.

Plans for Weston-super-Mare to join a sanctuary scheme for asylum seekers and refugees have been scrapped. The town council passed plans to join the scheme in March but anti-immigration protests over the summer put the move under intense scrutiny.

Gates costing £80,000 may be turning an area in Gloucestershire into a "ghost town", a councillor said. They replaced bollards on Eastgate Street, stopping traffic between 22.30 to 05.00 every weekend and bank holidays.

And a pharmacy chain has serious questions to answer over allegations of financial mismanagement, according to MP Sadik Al Hassan. He said patients were left struggling to get prescriptions as Jhoots branches were regularly and unexpectedly closed.

Top five local stories for the BBC in the West

Something longer to read

Clarks Shoes began as a humble family affair in Somerset 200 years ago and now sells more than 50 million pairs of shoes a year worldwide. The story of the shoe makers is being told in a new museum.

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