Malvern Town football club has been given permission to install a new artificial pitch, as part of a £1.2m redevelopment of its ground.

Malvern Hills District Council also voted to allow new floodlights to be installed and an extension to the clubhouse at the Langland Avenue stadium.

Image source, Google

The club hopes to be playing on the new pitch by 2019 and says it should improve participation.

A fundraising appeal has been launched to raise £2,000 to restore Whittington Castle, after it was attacked by vandals.

The Just Giving page set up on behalf of the Whittington Castle Preservation Fund says: "If we all pull together to see how we can help then it would provide a much needed boost for the committee and show them that the community is truly behind them and what they are doing for us."

Image source, Google

The grafitti will have to be removed by specialist cleaners, because of the building's historic status.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Herbert Soden

New hospital wards with dozens of extra beds are going to be built in Stoke-on-Trent after plans were approved.

The University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust was given £8.8m last month by the government to fund the two-storey unit.

This week, the city council approved the plans which will create 64 extra beds in temporary structures.

Peter Wilson
BBC Midlands Today Special Correspondent

An attempt to have the anonymity of a key witness lifted in the case of two men jailed for murdering teenage friends in a shooting has been dismissed this morning.

Charlene Ellis, 18, and friend Letisha Shakespeare, 17, were shot in Aston, Birmingham, on 2 January 2003.

Marcus Ellis and Rodrigo Simms were convicted with two others following a trial which included testimony from a man whose identity remained a secret.

The pair's lawyer had said that left the defence unable to test its veracity and that there were "grave doubts" over the witness's account.

Errol Robinson had argued he had "new evidence", but the original trial judge Mr Justice Goldring dismissed the application to lift the anonymity.

The families of the two victims applauded in court as he gave his judgement.

James Bond
Sports Producer, BBC Shropshire

Shrewsbury Town's Abo Eisa has recovered from a long-term knee injury which has kept him on the sidelines for two months.

He has been training with the first team squad this week, but manager John Askey said he's unlikely to feature tomorrow against Sunderland.

Image source, Getty Images

Midfielder Anthony Grant is available for the game, which is expected to be sold-out.

Hereford Times

Here are three headlines from the Hereford Times this morning:

• Robots may replace fruit pickers after Brexit, external
• Man died from asbestos exposure, external
• Planning decision for street food business postponed, external

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

A developer claims more than 1,000 jobs could be created if it gets approval to build seven new warehouses in Stoke-on-Trent.

Image source, St Modwen

St Modwen's submitted planning applications for six units at Trentham Lakes with construction due to potentially start in January.

The firm adds that it's also expecting to get planning permission soon for another at Etruria Valley.

Paul McCann had been accused of grooming and abusing a teenage boy in the late 1980s.

Shrewsbury's Winter Festival has been cancelled, but might return next year.

The event has been running in the Quarry since 2015 but was due to take place on 8 and 9 December at a new location, on the Frankwell Car Park.

Image source, Google

The festival organisers said they took the decision because the car park could not safely hold enough visitors for stallholders to make a profit.

Last year the festival, which featured a large snow machine, was badly affected by snow.

BBC Business News

Property firm Intu, which owns shopping centres in Stoke-on-Trent and Dudley, has been approached by potential buyers.

Intu said the consortium had approached it with an offer worth 205p per share, but that has now been upped to 215p per share in what would be a multibillion-pound deal.

The firm owns sites including Intu Potteries and Intu Merry Hill, external. It said time would now be taken by both parties to consider the deal

Back in April, the owner of Birmingham's Bullring, Hammerson, abandoned a takeover bid for Intu.

A former Crewe Alexandra youth coach has been cleared of sexually abusing a teenage boy.

Image source, PA

Paul McCann, of Great Sutton, Cheshire, had denied four counts of indecent assault between the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The 57-year-old was found not guilty of all the charges at Chester Crown Court on Thursday.

BBC News England

The number of local banks and building societies in the West Midlands has fallen by nearly 35% over the past eight years, analysis by the BBC has revealed.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show across the UK, nearly 6,000 local branches have shut since 2010, a fall of a third.

While there are some areas with fewer than five cash machines per 10,000 people, major city centres such as Birmingham have more than 15 machines per 10,000 residents.

The consumer group Which? called the number of closures "alarming".

Trade association UK Finance said closing a branch was a last resort when usage falls.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

The Stoke-on-Trent Live website is covering these stories today:

• New warehouses are to bring 1,000+ jobs to Stoke-on-Trent, external
• Investigation after binmen seen brawling in middle of busy road, external
• Police snared monkey dust dealers after stopping Audi and found three swords inside, external

BBC Radio 4

Three women who have been training in Warwickshire to become prison officers have told the BBC why they've decided on the career.

One of them, Charmaine (pictured), said she wanted to make a difference after the death of a friend who was murdered.

She has a tattoo on her arm of the word "misunderstood" in memory of her friend.

The 50-year-old, alongside Sally, 49, and Calypso, 24, have been training at Newbold Revel, an 18th Century, Grade II listed country house in Rugby.

The BBC's agreed not to use their surnames for security reasons.

According to the latest figures,, externalthere are about 48,000 prison officers in England and Wales. Just over a quarter of those are women.

You can read more on their stories here on the BBC website.

Hereford's new university is being officially inaugurated at the city's cathedral this morning.

The specialist engineering university, known as New Model in Technology and Engineering, external or NMiTE is due to open next year.

Image source, NMitE

A civic and academic procession will make its way to the cathedral, where the Bishop of Hereford will lead the ceremony.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

There are plans to develop the site in Shrewsbury where there was a major gas explosion in 2010.

Eleven people were injured in the explosion, five of them seriously, and a number of buildings on Bridge Street were damaged after a gas pipe ruptured.

The Shrewsbury Hotel, run by Weatherspoons, which is next to the derelict site, wants to build there to expand its accommodation.

A decision is expected to be made by Shropshire Council before the end of the year.

A Health and Safety Executive investigation into the blast concluded no-one was to blame.

Ben Russell
BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

The owners of a trampoline park are vowing to reopen it as soon as they can after a blaze ripped through the adventure park.

Image source, Warwickshire Fire Service

Flames engulfed the Red Kangaroo attraction near Coventry early yesterday morning.

The cause is under investigation and no injuries have been reported, the fire service says.

The owners say it's likely to take at least six months to reopen.

People are being urged to help create hundreds of plastic poppies as part of Tamworth's celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One.

Image source, Tamworth Borough Council

The borough council wants to create a "cascade" of poppies, recycled from plastic bottles, from the top of Tamworth Castle by attaching them to a net. , external

Organisers are planning to have it ready for 11 November and say local groups have already created more than 2,000.

But they're aiming to get to a total of 4,000 and say they want as many people in Tamworth to help create the "poignant and colourful tribute".

BBC News Travel

A lorry that overturned on the exit slip road at J6 of the M5, near Worcester, is now in the process of being removed by emergency services., external

Highways England says a lane remains shut on the northbound side of motorway and on the slip road.

Image source, Highways England

Tim Wedgwood
BBC News

Oscar-winner Rachel Shenton has revealed she secretly married her fiance Chris Overton after the Academy Awards this year.

Image source, Kevin Winter

The 30-year-old, from Stoke-on-Trent, wrote and starred in the short film The Silent Child alongside then six-year-old Maisie Sly, while Overton directed it.

Shenton, who met her husband while appearing alongside him in Hollyoaks, told The Sun Online that they tied the knot at a "very private event" not long after the Oscars.