Coventry Observer

Some of the Coventry Observer headlines today include:

• Man dies following Longford hit-and-run, external
• ‘Wicked’ child rapist, 73, jailed for 20 years, external
• Awards for Coventry cops who caught robber red-handed, external

Allen Cook
BBC News

Roads are being closed in part of Stoke-on-Trent this lunchtime after a crash involving a motorbike and a lorry.

Image source, Google

The collision happened at the junction of Chemical Lane and the A527 in Tunstall, Staffordshire Police said. , external

The roundabout is one of the junctions on to the A500 and officers say drivers should avoid the area.

The ambulance service is treating the man on the bike but haven't revealed the extent of his injuries.

Some of the onlookers today got quite emotional when the cooling towers came down.

Barb from Shrewsbury was watching from Buildwas and said: "I'm actually quite tearful to be honest, it's sad. Looking out there now, you would never know anything has been there. The smoke has completely cleared and it just seems empty."

In Coalbrookdale, James told us: "it's been a part of everybody's lives for so long and we've become attached to them and it's going to be so strange not to see them."

And Owen, who worked on the construction of the tall tower that still stands, said: "As a child I can remember it as it looks now, except there was a farm there obviously with cattle. Now it's a lovely valley again."

While all eyes have been on the cooling towers today, a lot of work has been going on inside the power station to demolish other structures.

Harworth Group said it started in June with the removal of asbestos sheeting from the base of the cooling towers and since then a lot of work has been done to clear the turbine hall, next to the towers.

The machinery in this turbine hall once helped deliver power for up to 750,000 homes.

Harworth group said the demolition work was likely to last 27 months.

Belinda Rose, 63, was pronounced dead at a property in Pendragon Road, Perry Barr in August.

Before work starts on any homes on the power station site, Harworth Group wants to start extracting two million tonnes of sand and gravel from the land.

It said it planned to submit an application this month to extend Buildwas quarry and extract 400,000 tonnes a year over a five-year period, starting next year.

Image source, Getty Images

The company said the sand and gravel extraction wouldn't require blasting and the cleaning would be done on another part of the power station site, before it is sent out.

It plans to have the quarry working between 07:00 and 19:00 on weekdays and 07:00 on Saturdays and said when the work is complete it would restore the site, ready for homes to be built there.

Harworth said it hoped to transport 75% of the the sand and gravel by rail, to reduce the number of lorries on local roads.

Torture charges against the ex wife of former Liberian president Charles Taylor have been dismissed at the Old Bailey.

Agnes Reeves-Taylor, 54, was charged in 2017 over a string of offences - some involving children - during the West African country's civil war.

The university lecturer, from Dagenham in east London, who previously worked as a head of department at Coventry University, denied wrongdoing and was due to stand trial in January.

But after a technical appeal, judge Mr Justice Sweeney dismissed all charges.

A man has been airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after two lorries were involved in a crash in Shropshire.

The crash happened at Emstrey Bank, Atcham at about 09:15, said the ambulance service.

Fire crews helped free a driver from his cab, it added, before he was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

The crash caused long tailbacks on several routes through Shrewsbury, with some motorists reporting 10-minute journeys taking an hour and longer.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

A few of the stories making the headlines on the Stoke-on-Trent Live website:

• Furious families slam police after discovering was allowed to live on their street, external
• Violent boyfriend punched, kicked and bit partner to leave victim suffering 'nightmares', external
• Armed police descend on Staffordshire street before man surrenders himself, external

BBC Business News

What would Marston's chief executive Ralph Findlay like to see addressed by the next government?

"Business rates are a huge issue," he tells the Today programme, who have been broadcasting from the University of Wolverhampton this morning.

"We're a business that operates out of bricks and mortar properties. As a pub business we pay a disproportionate amount of rates over to the government.

"That system is really not working for us and we would strongly want to see that reviewed."

He also wants the UK to introduce a digital services tax on tech giants.

He tells Today: "I remember when [former chancellor] Philip Hammond stood up and promised this - and he did promise it - and we should hold him to that."

Mr Findlay recalls the former chancellor stating that a digital services tax would raise about £400m a year.

"Marston's alone pays about £500m a year in tax to the government. That sort of sets it in context - it isn't a level playing field and those businesses are not contributing to our social services in the same way that we are."

With less than a week to go before the UK goes to the polls, check out the latest opinion poll trends with the BBC's poll tracker, which measures how people say they are going to vote on 12 December.

The cooling towers are the most visible part of Ironbridge power station, but as you can see from this photo, they were just part of the overall site.

The building you can see with the tall chimney is the turbine hall and Harworth Group said the site also included a social club with sports pitches, timber pavilion and golf course, previously excavated pits, and waste tips containing ash from the power station.

Image source, Harworth Group

The company said the demolition work was expected to continue into 2021 and the removal of the fuel ash won't start until March and will take two years to complete.

BBC News Travel

A crash has closed the entry slip road o nto the A500 southbound in Staffordshire, Highways England says.

Facebook

Loads of you are sending us your memories and thoughts today on the BBC Midlands Facebook page.

Beccy Bradburn wrote, external: "Very sad. A huge part of the landscape that was there on my way to work this morning, will be gone on my way home. Such a sad day having grown up with them always being there."

Pam James added, external: "I feel quite emotional about them going. I've always thought they actually enhance the landscape."

Louisa Graham posted:, external Shame. It may not be a castle, the Tower of London or a piece of ironwork, but it is still worthy of saving. They are an icon of their era too."

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust faces further criticism over its A&Es.

We just can't watch this video enough - the moment the Ironbridge cooling towers came down.

There were hundreds of people photographing the moment, filming it, live streaming it or just watching it for themselves.

And they stood in eerie silence, mesmerised by the moment.

And this was BBC Correspondent Phil Mackie's view:

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Carl Jackson

Plans to build 480 homes and a hotel in Digbeth have been left in limbo over fears they could scupper a major expansion to railway services in Birmingham.

Image source, Darling Associates

Eutopia Land’s scheme would transform a 4.2-acre plot at Camp Hill, currently occupied by Swiss engineering firm Sulzer, which is relocating.

The plans feature seven blocks, ranging from three to 26 storeys in height, mainly featuring apartments as well as a dozen town houses, creating 180 jobs, developers say.

A host of organisations have objected to the plans including Midlands Connect, West Midlands Rail Executive, Transport for West Midlands among a number of local groups.

A planning committee meeting on Thursday voted to defer the planning application to see if further talks could take place.

The Ironbridge Power Station cooling towers have gone.

It only took a few seconds in the end and we heard the bangs after we saw the structures crumble.

Some people are leaving the surrounding hills now and getting in their cars, but others are still there, some hugging each other.

Coventry Live

Some of the Coventry Live headlines today include:

• New Coventry station link road plans revealed, external
• Man dies in two-car crash, external
• Undercover cops who wrestled B&M robber to floor praised for bravery, external