Shropshire Council has said the decision to end the lease of a Shifnal nursery is because of population growth in the town that "has been greater and faster than predicted".

Hopscotch Nursery currently uses a site at Shifnal Primary School, but has been told it will have to leave in July, because the school needs to expand to accommodate the extra children.

Image source, Google

In a letter to parents, Shropshire Council said, "the leadership team at Shifnal Primary now feel the school site has reached its capacity" and for that reason the only solution was, "taking the demountable buildings back for school use."

The nursery's co-owner Adele Woodward said it was looking for other sites in the town, but didn't want to leave.

Campaigners in the town have complained for a number of years that Shropshire Council housing targets for the town would place a strain on the local infrastructure, with more than 1,000 new homes built, or in the planning in recent years.

BBC WM Sport

Walsall manager Darrell Clarke says his players have to ignore the distractions around an FA Cup tie and focus on their jobs at Darlington tonight.

Image source, Getty Images

The Saddlers are in the north east for their first round replay after the first game ended in a 2-2 draw.

Clarke's team are two levels above Darlington in the league structure and he's desperate to avoid an upset this evening.

The organisers of a Birmingham careers event at the NEC say they have more than 20,000 opportunities for the young people attending.

WorldSkills UK Live is running 21-23 November and it said some of the UK’s major employers, organisations and educators would be offering jobs, apprenticeships and training courses.

Image source, worldskillsuk

The event is expecting to welcome up to 80,000 people over the three days and is also promising daily live broadcasts for those who are unable to travel to the West Midlands.

Tickets are free, but you need to register., external

Police want to talk to the man pictured below after attacks on three churches in Worcestershire.

On 6 November, stone memorials inside St Mary’s Church in Elmley Castle, including the 900-year-old font were damaged.

Image source, West Mercia Police

And sometime between 5 and 7 November someone defaced magazines at St Barbara’s Church in Ashton Under Hill and broke a brass candlestick at St Michael’s and all Angels Church in Bricklehampton.

Statford-upon-Avon could be getting more councillors, just five years after cutting the numbers from 56 to 36.

The local authority is due to meet the Boundary Commission in the new year to discuss the increase, to keep up with the number of new housing developments in the area.

Image source, Google

The Christmas lights are being switched on in Coventry this evening, featuring a new light display made up of dozens of glass jars.

Each illuminated jar has been designed by someone living in the city and they've been hung above Broadgate and are strung together with ultraviolet lines.

Image source, Coventry UK City of Culture

In previous years, celebrities including Katie Price and Peter Andre have pushed the button to turn the lights on.

No such personality tonight, but there are a host of musical and dance acts, as well as a light show.

The event starts at 17:00 and runs till 20:00.

Dudley News

A few of the stories appearing on the Dudley News website this afternoon:

• Action group cancels public meeting, external
• Former police station up at auction with £250k guide price, external
• Mum's topless calendar after aunt diagnosed with cancer, external

Allen Cook
BBC News

An extra £8.1m is going to be put into children's services over seven years by a council as it aims to cut the number of children it has in care by 400 in that time.

Image source, Getty Images

Staffordshire County Council says it currently looks after 1,248 youngsters and, if it does nothing, that number could rise as high as 2,281 by 2026.

The £8.1m investment is spread over the seven years and is set to fund 34 extra family support workers across the county, two new court teams and extra training for existing staff.

A report to the council's cabinet, external says the authority should then start saving money in children's services by 2023-24 although admits that's built on several assumptions.

They include new demand being dealt with at the earliest opportunities in the system, staff being recruited on time and a fall in court proceedings.

Weevils nibble but they won't slow down on plant damage, but have scientists found a solution?

The RSPCA's first bone marrow test proved a man stabbed then drowned his dog in a canal.

Campaigners say 25 new cases have emerged since the leak of a report into maternity care in Shropshire.

BBC Sport

Warwickshire opener Dom Sibley is making his England Test debut today against New Zealand and BBC Sport's been speaking to those who know him best.

Image source, Getty Images

The 24-year-old scored 1,324 runs for the Bears in County Championship Division One this summer - no other player managed 1,000 - and made a century in England's opening tour match against a New Zealand XI.

Among the insights BBC Sport's gleaned are his love of hip hop, his inability to use a vacuum cleaner and why you shouldn't leave him in charge of your car keys.

Read the full article here.

Police are asking for dashcam footage of a crash on the M40 in Warwickshire yesterday evening which resulted in one man dying and another ending up in hospital.

Four vehicles - two lorries, a VW Golf and a Peugeot van - were involved in the collision between junctions 12 and 13, near Warwick services just before 22:15.

The driver of the Golf, a man in his 20s died from his injuries in hospital.

The driver of the van, a man in his 40s, is still in hospital with serious, but not life-threatening injuries.

BBC Weather Watchers

Temperatures today have stayed just above freezing and the BBC Weather Watchers have been doing what they do and sharing more of their photos.

These ones were taken near Newport, Stafford and Ludlow.

Image source, TAY

Image source, Shaun

Image source, Wanderlass

Shropshire Star

Here are three stories from the Shropshire Star website:

• Police considering criminal charges over maternity scandal, external
• Caravan engulfed in flames, external
• Parked cars stop ambulance getting to patient, external

BBC Midlands Today

A gymnast from Kenilworth is preparing to become only the second gymnast to represent Jamaica at the Olympics.

Danusia Francis has a unique way of dismounting the beam and it has helped the 25-year-old achieve a lifelong ambition to compete at the Olympics.

She said: "Just being able to push the boundaries and not even find it that difficult is quite an amazing thing."

BBC Business News

A key business group is proposing improvements to how firms are run in the wake of scandals such as Carillion.

The Wolverhampton-based engineering giant went into liquidation in January 2018 after running up debts of about £1.5bn.

Image source, PA Media

The 10-point proposals are from the Institute of Directors (IoD) and include urging an end to shareholder primacy - whereby corporate profits trump public concerns - and more commitment to environmentally friendly policies.

The IoD's director of policy, Edwin Morgan, told the BBC's Today programme governance in the UK was generally good but there was "room for improvement".

"We have seen major collapses like Carillion which have dented public trust... you can be director of a public corporation and have no training in corporate governance," he said.

Special Constable Resham Nahal suffered multiple leg fractures in the incident.

Jodie Looker
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

One lane's reopened on the northbound side of the A500 in Stoke-on-Trent after a large lorry fire this morning, Highways England's said., external

The route's been shut since about 04:30 at Shelton New Road leading to congestion across many of the surrounding roads:

Image source, Highways England

Image source, Highways England

A 5G mobile network has been rolled out to four more places in the West Midlands by mobile firm EE.

Image source, Getty Images

5G mobile networks offer faster downloads, although many customers will need a new handset to get access.

The service was first launched by EE in cities including Birmingham in May.

The latest places to get coverage are Wolverhampton, Walsall, West Bromwich and Dudley.