Jodie Looker
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

People are still being urged to stay clear of a beauty spot, , external11 days after a "devastating" fire started in the area.

Image source, Staffordshire Fire Service

Fire crews were first called to the Roaches, in Upper Hulme, Staffordshire, on 9 August and say the scene is still "very dangerous".

The fire service says it still has staff working hard to put the blaze out and are urging hikers to choose other routes in the Peak District.

Last week, they revealed it was started by a camp fire which had got out of control.

Chief inspector of prisons describes the appalling conditions in Birmingham Prison.

Alec Blackman
BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

The last bank in Henley-in-Arden's to close because too few people are using it.

According to the bank, Lloyds, external, just 63 people on average a week are using the branch.

The local bank will close the doors for the final time in October.

Image source, Google

The nearest branch is now nine miles away in Warwick.

Lloyds says its new Lloyds "mobile branch" will visit the Henley-in-Arden area which customers can use for “many of their everyday banking needs.”

BBC Sport

Division One strugglers Worcestershire will be looking to build on their impressive first day against Yorkshire.

Image source, Getty Images

The Pears bowled out the home side for 216 with teenager Dillon Pennington taking four wickets.

Tom Fell and Daryl Mitchell then moved Worcestershire to 39-0 in reply before play was suspended for bad light.

You can keep up-to-date on the match via BBC local radio commentary or the BBC Cricket website.

BBC News Travel

A lane's shut on the M6 in Staffordshire after what Highways England says is a spillage of hardcore.

It says teams are cleaning up between J13 and J12 southbound, near Stafford., external

Image source, Highways England

Shropshire Star

Here are some of the headlines making the news on the Shropshire Star website this morning:

• Ellesmere axeman who threatened to behead neighbours is detained under Mental Health Act, external
• Newport Nocturne organiser’s warning on pothole risk to cyclists, external
• Future Fit: Ex-hospital boss says single-site model would save millions of pounds, external

A mystery building thought to date back 200 years has been excavated at Attingham Park, near Shrewsbury.

It was found thanks to Lidar laser scans and does not appear on any maps in the history of the estate, which is now the National Trust's West Midlands headquarters.

Archaeologists believe it could be a lodge, although stained glass, gilded fittings and marble panelling suggest "no expense spared", expert Dr Nigel Baker said.

The team are awaiting results on dating tests and Dr Baker said the next step was to match up the building with what's known about the history of Attingham Park.

The dig continues for the rest of the week.

Community groups in the West Midlands are being urged to get their bids in for a share of £1m which has been seized from criminals. , external

The money is handed out each year by the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner.

Money from the The Active Citizens Fund, external has previously gone to several groups including Street Pastors in Coventry, who are volunteers from the church who try to help people stay safe while they are on a night out.

BBC Radio Stoke

Stoke City fans are being urged to help an investigation into claims supporters were sprayed with pepper spray at Preston on Saturday.

A video on social media appears to show police officers facing a group of supporters in the concourse at Deepdale before spraying them.

One fan who was there, but didn't want to be named, said he'd never seen anything like it in his almost 40 years of supporting the club.

An investigation is due to take place tomorrow looking at what happened.

The official police account for the club urged fans to get in touch with any evidence and apologised to any "innocent fans caught up in the incident".

A group of medics are organising a charity football match in memory of Staffordshire midwife Samantha Eastwood.

They want to raise funds to help support her family and funeral.

So far more than £15,000 has been raised through online donations.

Image source, SAMANTHA EASTWOOD

The 28-year-old's body was found in Caverswall, Staffordshire, on Saturday, eight days after she failed to turn up for work earlier this month.

Michael Stirling, 32, is accused of Ms Eastwood's murder.

The game is due to take place next month and will also raise money for a nurse within the A&E department who died recently.

Former Derby County striker Darren Bent is to be offered a pay-as-you-play deal by League One club Burton Albion.

The Independent Monitoring Board says it wrote a letter to the prisons minister due to its "very serious concerns" over the state of HMP Birmingham earlier this year.

Roger Swindells, the chair of the board, said there were specific concerns about widespread violence in the jail and that it "fails to provide a safe and decent environment on an almost daily basis".

Points of concern include:

• Six deaths in custody in a seven-week period
• Widespread availability of prohibited drugs
• Unfit living conditions
• Current levels of violence, assaults, and self-harm

The board said it decided to release the letter in the wake of the government takeover.

A man charged with attempted murder after a car crashed outside the Houses of Parliament is due to appear in court today.

Salih Khater, 29, from Birmingham, is alleged to have swerved his car into cyclists and pedestrians shortly after 07:30 on 14 August.

Image source, Facebook

The case is being treated as terrorism, a spokesperson for the Met Police added.

Mr Khater is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court later.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

Here are some of the top stories to appear online this morning:

• Angry mums: 'We were kicked out of swimming pool for breast-feeding', external
• 'My two-year-old boy has dementia' - heartbroken mum's anguish as adorable Reggie to unlearn everything he knows, external
• 'Gang who hang around alley are making our lives a misery' - residents call for action as yobs start fires, smash cars and hurl eggs, external

A fire at a pottery factory in Stoke-on-Trent started accidentally, firefighters say.

The blaze in a building at the Emma Bridgewater site was brought under control within 90 minutes on Friday evening.

Image source, CRAIG JAMES HARRIS

One building at the factory in Lichfield Street, Hanley was "well alight" but the fire was confined.

BBC Midlands Today

Major Trauma centres across the West Midlands are saving 63 more lives a year, researchers say.

Doctors at University Hospitals Birmingham were at the heart of a decision to by-pass local hospitals and take patients who have had major accidents to specialist centres in Birmingham, Coventry, and Stoke-on-Trent.

This has led to a 19% increase in a patient’s chance of survival.

No trains to or from Euston ran over last weekend as the London station closed due to work replacing the North Wembley Junction.

It was the first of three weekend closures affecting passengers across the Midlands including Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International, Crewe, Coventry, Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent and Rugby.

This morning Network Rail said , externalthe weekend works were completed on time and the railway station was now back open.

The station is due to close over two further weekends - including the entire Bank Holiday weekend 25-27 August, and 1-2 September.

BBC Midlands Today

Hundreds of unlicensed handguns have been legally brought into the UK and sold to criminals due to a loophole in the law, an investigation by BBC Panorama reveals.

The West Midlands Police strong room in Birmingham is full of weapons. Many have been recovered from crime scenes.

The guns are exempt from legislation because they’re classified as antiques and their ammunition is no longer manufactured.

But criminals are making their own and police say guns like these have been used in at least six killings and dozens more shootings.

Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather

A dry but rather cloudy start and it's likely to stay like that for much of the day.

We may see some sunshine in places but there's also the chance of some drizzly shower s this afternoon - highs of 23°C (73°F)

Nicola Beckford
Reporter, BBC Midlands Today

A large fire at a factory in Birmingham last night is being investigated.

Six crews tackled the blaze in the Aston area of the city and some stayed through the night damping down.

Aston Hall Road remains closed from Electric Avenue to Lichfield Road.