Coventry Live

These are some of today's headlines on the Coventry Live website:

• Arrest over house fire which left child fighting for life, external
• Inquest into horror crash that killed three teenagers, external
• This notorious traffic bottleneck could become a thing of the past, external

Local Democracy Reporting Service

An extra £7m has been approved to build three new footbridges over Worcester's Southern Link Road, after a meeting of Worcestershire county councillors.

The bridges will be built between the Ketch and Whittington roundabouts on the A4440.

Money to pay for two of the bridges was allocated by the council in September 2014, as part of the project to the dual the link road.

Image source, Worcestershire County Council

The council said the bridges needed to be constructed in the next 18 months and developers were expected to reimburse the council half of the costs by 2022.

In a project similar to TV's DIY SOS, volunteers are revamping three homes at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital in the hope of enticing more doctors to work there.

Telford and Wrekin Council came up with the idea and it is being supported by donations from local business and parish councils and by volunteers who are giving up their time to carry out the work.

The buildings will be stripped of all their carpets and furnishings, then new bathrooms and kitchens will be fitted, the gardens tidied up and the rooms redecorated.

Image source, Telford and Wrekin Council

The hospital's accident and emergency department is facing overnight closures, starting next month, because the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust says it can't attract enough staff.

Telford and Wrekin Council says the homes will accommodate junior and middle grade doctors for free and claims it will be the only hospital trust in the country to offer free accommodation on site.

It believes this will be particularly attractive to junior doctors who graduate from university with big debts.

Image source, Telford and Wrekin Council

Image source, Telford and Wrekin Council

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Tom Davis

Nine new projects to transform the University of Warwick have been given approval, despite fears it will cause further traffic problems for residents.

Image source, University of Warwick

Full planning permission has been granted for the university to construct a new Faculty of Arts building and a £54.3m research centre.

Outline planning permission has also been granted for a new 1,000-bed student residence, cycle routes, a Degree Apprenticeship Centre, a new academic building, a public "Science Square", and a 650-space multi-storey car park.

At a planning committee on Thursday, fears were raised over the impact plans would have on surrounding roads, with opposition claiming suitable infrastructure was not in place.

James Breckon, a university representative, said the projects were essential to its continued development as one of the best universities in the country.

Port Vale manager Neil Aspin says he expects to be busy during the January transfer window, but admits they have to be realistic.

He said he knew he might not get the players he wants and would have to settle for others, but added that he would only do that if they were better than the players they're replacing.

Image source, Getty Images

His side travel to seventh-placed Mansfield tomorrow, looking to close the six-point gap between them.

About 30 people in Bewdley have spent the night in temporary accommodation after a major gas leak.

Up to 15 properties had to be evacuated in the early hours of this morning after a Land Rover hit a house on Kidderminster Road.

Image source, Google

Nobody was hurt in the crash and there have been no ill effects from the gas.

Three children and a woman believed to be their mother are receiving hospital treatment for burns.

Birmingham Live

Some of the main stories on the Birmingham Live site today are:

• Police raid major 'chop shop' in bid to crack down on car theft criminals, external
• Driver flees after car smashes into bus shelter, external
• Peaky Blinders director drops huge hint over BBC show being made into film, external

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Tom Davis

Huge £82m expansion plans at Coventry railway station will press ahead after they were approved by the council’s planning committee on Thursday.

Image source, Coventry City Council

Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration Councillor Jim O’Boyle said the plans would ensure Coventry had a train station “fit for purpose” ahead of taking over the City of Culture title in 2021.

“This is a significant investment,” he said at the meeting.

The station opened in 1962 and in that time there has been no real investment to the station.

“Passenger numbers have tripled since 2003 and now we are talking about 7.4 million passengers coming through a year," he said.

An application has been made to the courts to name a Telford teenager who attacked and killed a man with a cricket bat.

The 16-year-old faces a mandatory life sentence for the murder of Derek Whyteside, who died two days after an incident on Withywood Drive in Malinslee.

Image source, Family photo

Mr Whyteside had gone there to look for two stolen bikes and the boy said he acted in self-defence, but the jury rejected that claim.

Birmingham residents voted to leave the EU by a whisker, with 50.4% backing Brexit.

But what do they now make of Theresa May's draft Brexit withdrawal plan?

A count of rough sleepers in Coventry this week found 23 people sleeping on the streets, according to a city councillor.

Image source, PA

The number was up from eight, counted by the Salvation Army at the same time last year.

Labour councillor Ed Ruane called the rise "significant".

"Guess they've not heard that austerity is over", he tweeted., external

In a reply, the chief executive of YMCA Coventry and Warwickshire called the figures "shocking", but "sadly not surprising to those of us working on the front line".

Earlier this year, the government unveiled its £100m strategy to tackle rough sleeping on England's streets.

BBC News Travel

The problem of slippery rails is back, and now delaying rail services between Leamington Spa and Coventry, and also Birmingham Snow Hill and Leamington Spa.

Services may be delayed by up to 15 minutes, said West Midlands Railway.

A Birmingham business spokesman has urged the city to reconsider the idea of a monorail, to cut congestion.

Neil Maybury, chair of the Birmingham Business Focus pressure group, said the West Midlands Combined Authority was "living in cloud cuckoo land" if it thought the solution was encouraging people to take the bus or the metro tram instead.

Unlike trams and buses, which usually share road space with other vehicles or pedestrians, raised monorails open up extra space.

Image source, Birmingham City Council

Mr Maybury said the current metro was "Victorian technology updated" and the city "is going to slowly strangle itself depending on buses," which he said don't have the capacity to move everyone around.

The Birmingham mayor Andy Street has responded to Mr Maybury in a joint-letter with Birmingham council leader Ian Ward, stating that “there is no capacity or interest in taking the monorail proposal forward ahead of 2022".

Express and Star

These are some of the stories making the headlines on the Express and Star website today:

• Tributes paid at heartbreaking funeral for young Jessica, external
• Businessman ‘left his injured partner to die after sex session', external
• Approval given for work on multi-million pound Bilston Urban Village, external

A new leader of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council has been named at a meeting of the full council.

Labour councillor Qadar Zada, former cabinet member for finance, takes over from Pete Lowe, who announced he was stepping down as leader earlier this month.

Image source, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council.

Labour took over control of the council from the Conservative party in September, after a former Tory councillor raised concerns over bullying.

Conservative council leader Patrick Harley was forced out after councillor Heather Rogers, who defected to the Independent group, raised concerns over bullying.

Elaine Muir
Journalist, BBC Shropshire

The Nursing and Midwifery Council has found a Shropshire midwife guilty of misconduct.

Heather Lort was one of the midwives involved in the care of Kate Stanton Davies who died shortly after her birth in Ludlow nine years ago.

She was also facing charges relating to another case in February 2013, which ended in a baby being stillborn.

Image source, Richard Stanton

The NMC found Ms Lort didn't properly monitor Kate's heart rate before birth and didn't act quickly upon signs the newborn was struggling.

This includes not putting the baby in an incubator and not resuscitating her for long enough before paramedics arrived.

The hearing still has to decide what sanctions to impose - that is most likely to happen at some point next week.

Events are taking place across the West Midlands to help raise money for BBC's Children In Need.

Last year, a record £50m was raised on the night for good causes.

BBC presenters will be out and about, collecting for the charity including BBC Coventry and Warwickshire's Brody Swain.

A woman has been rescued from a flat fire in Birmingham overnight, suspected to have been caused by a cigarette.

Image source, West Midlands Fire

Twenty firefighters were called to the blaze on Kitts Road, Lea Hall on the second floor of a three-storey block.

The woman was led to safety, said West Midlands Fire Service.

The Archbishop of Birmingham is due to give evidence to an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse today.

An inquiry is examining Birmingham Archdiocese's response to allegations made against four priests including Father John Tolkien, son of novelist JRR Tolkien, who died in 2003.

The allegations span 30 years from the 1950s to the 1980s and concern St Joseph's, based at Croome Court and Besford Court, in Worcestershire.