BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

A recent survey for the Department for Transport has found that one in five unclassified roads in Coventry is in need of repair.

An unclassified road is one that links an A or B road, so it's effectively the vast majority of residential streets.

Image source, PA Media

The results, though, go against the city council's plans to reduce its road maintenance budget.

Cabinet member for finance John Mutton said it knew it had "to balance the books" and it thought "most of the roads... are in a reasonable condition".

He said £850,000 could be taken out of the budget for a year.

"The one proviso we've put in there, though, is if we have a really bad winter and the roads start breaking up, we will use some of our reserves to bring them back up to a decent standard again."

Joseph McCann denies 37 offences against 11 women and children over a two-week period.

Worcester News

Some of the Worcester News headlines are:

• 'Interim' IT manager hired by Worcestershire County Council more than two years ago earning almost £700-a-day, external
• University of Worcester will not be affected, external by upcoming pay and pension strikes, despite warning
• Floodwaters are set to rise again, external along the Severn, affecting Worcester, Holt Fleet, Kempsey and Upton

BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

A peace forum has opened at Coventry Cathedral

Coventry, much of which was destroyed by bombing during World War Two, is recognised as a global centre of peace and reconciliation and has hosted the Rising Global Peace Forum for the last three years.

Image source, Google

The three-day programme this year includes a lecture by the peer Baroness Shami Chakrabarti.

The flood defences in Hereford are going back up this afternoon, with the River Wye expected to continue rising.

The Environment Agency has also managed to clear the debris from underneath the Old Wye Bridge, just in time.

Spokesman Dave Throup it was the "biggest debris blockage we’ve had to deal with".

Image source, Dave Throup

The Environment Agency has already said it is putting up low-level flood barriers in Shrewsbury and Bewdley.

Mr Throup said the weather forecast was changing "almost hourly" but that Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire were expected to bear the brunt of rainfall.

The electric tram has been painted blue to reflect his love of Birmingham City Football Club.

A cap awarded to Bobby Moore in his first match as England captain is expected to fetch up to £10,000 when it is sold at auction, external in Shropshire.

He received the embroidered blue velvet cap in the match against Czechoslovakia in 1963 and it was put up for sale with Mullock's Auctions by a member of his family.

Image source, Mullock's Specialist Auctioneers and Valuers

Moore was 22 years old when he played in that game and is still the youngest ever England captain.

It is up for auction in Church Stretton next week.

Niall McGinn says that he hopes Northern Ireland can give manager Michael O'Neill "a nice send-off" in what could be his final home game.

Hereford Times

Here are three stories from the Hereford Times website today:

• Fire leaves homes and businesses without power, external
• Bomb squad call-out over gifts at Prince Charles visit, external
• Appeal after alleged assault at petrol station, external

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A decision on plans for up to 2,000 homes and two new schools in the north of Stafford has been delayed.

Stafford borough councillors considered the proposals for the 143-hectare (353-acre) site at Beaconside yesterday, but they had unanswered questions about roads, health facilities and flood risk. They decided to defer a decision until they could get a response.

Image source, Maximus Strategic Stafford LLP

The plans, which were submitted in late 2016 by Maximus Strategic Stafford LLP, also involve the creation of two local centres with space for shops and businesses, retirement homes, health centre, park, sports facilities and gardens.

A committee report said, if permission was granted, financial contributions worth more than £31m are set to made, including £9.2m for off-site highways works and more than £13m for education.

The council's development blueprint has set out an aim for about 3,100 new homes in this part of the town.

The man in charge of Shropshire's two health commissioning groups has said they will push ahead with plans to combine services, despite having their application for a merger rejected by NHS England.

David Evans said: "We are continuing to work hard at an operational level to bring functions together, so from April next year, I do believe that operationally we'll be working as one."

The original plan was for a formal merger by April 2020, but NHS England told the two clinical commissioning groups their application was "'not strong enough at this stage to proceed in this timescale".

It was thought it could be a year before another application could be made, but Mr Evans now hopes to be able to resubmit their application for a formal merger sooner.

A jury has been told a couple murdered a homeless woman and dumped her body in communal bins, so they could spend her benefits.

The prosecution at Birmingham Crown Court said the body of Lisa Bennett, who disappeared shortly after her 39th birthday in 2013, has never been recovered and was likely to have been incinerated at a communal disposal site.

Image source, Google

A jury heard 40-year-old Kathleen Salmond from Hodge Hill, and Kevin Flanagan, who is 39 and from Kings Norton, "reaped the benefit" of Lisa Bennett's disappearance" and pretended to be her to claim her benefits, while texting her mother, to make it appear she was still alive.

The pair deny murder and Salmond, also denies benefit fraud and preventing Miss Bennett's burial.

Keelan Wilson, 15, was stabbed to death in Wolverhampton last year.

A report says concrete planks were used in the seven buildings built between the 1960s and the 1980s.

Rob Flello was announced as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Stoke-on-Trent South on Monday.

A man who was hit by a motorbike while walking across a road in Tipton has died of his injuries, West Midlands Police has said.

Lee Flukes, who was 40 years old was struck on Horseley Heath Road at about 21:30 on 26 September and died in hospital on Saturday, six weeks later.

Image source, Family photo

His partner suffered serious leg injuries and the 28-year-old motorcyclist was treated for a fractured shoulder. Both have since been discharged from hospital.

West Midlands Police said it was still gathering evidence about the collision.

Coventry Live

Some of the headlines on Coventry Live include:

• Carjackers threaten mum with hammer, external as she picks daughter up from after school club
• Mum's heartbreaking bid to put a smile on her dying son's face, external
• The reasons why 11,000 bins haven't been collected in Coventry this year, external

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Jasper Carrott has said it's a "privilege" to have a Birmingham tram named in his honour.

The comedian gave a speech at the unveiling in Victoria Square today, but admitted he hasn't ridden one for 70 years.

Speaking after the event, Mr Carrott said: "I’ve been very privileged to have had several honours here, the star in Broad Street and a couple of other things, and this one means a great deal. I mean the tram won’t be here forever, but it’ll be here for the rest of my life."

He added, “This is the city where I was born, and I have a great love for the city, that’s why I’ve never moved away."

Image source, TFWM

The prime minister is expected to make a televised speech at an electric vehicle factory in Warwickshire this afternoon.

It follows news overnight that carmaker and battery pioneers Telsa will build an electric vehicle battery factory in Germany.

Image source, Getty Images

Founder Elon Musk told trade magazine AutoExpress that Brexit uncertainty had "made it too risky to put a Gigafactory in the UK".

The West Midlands has already been named as the site for the national centre for electric vehicle battery development and is hoping to be chosen to host the UK's main Gigafactory to produce the next generation of batteries.

According to the West Midlands Combined Authority, the region's automotive workforce is more than double the size of any other in the country, external- employing 28% of the sector's overall UK workforce.

The trio helped James Atherley try to evade police capture after he stabbed Callum Lees in the neck.