Local Democracy Reporting Service

Plans for 90 more homes on the former Massey Ferguson factory site in Coventry are being recommended for approval.

Persimmon Homes has applied to create 34 houses and 56 apartments on the site.

Planning officers said the development would provide "much-needed affordable homes".

Image source, LDRS

This land had been set aside for a primary school but the city council said there wasn't a need for one.

A decision will be made later this week.

Cases of coronavirus are continuing to rise in Birmingham with the rate now at about 100 cases for every 100,000 people.

However, the city is no longer near the top of a list of the worst affected places.

Cases have continued to rise in Sandwell with 75 cases for every 100,000 but they have fallen in Solihull and Wolverhampton (62 per 100,000 and 53 respectively).

Cases in Rugby have risen with 54 cases per 100,000 people.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

Here are three stories from the Stoke Sentinel's website:

• Motorcyclist seriously injured in crash on A500, external
• Pub closed as vigilante sting sees suspect quizzed over 'child-sex' crime, external
• Salesman mugged by gang who saw him win £100, external

A signalling fault has caused a second day of reduced services on train lines through Birmingham's Snow Hill station.

West Midlands Railway said it has been running an "emergency timetable", involving some bus services, to Worcester and Stratford since the fault occurred yesterday morning.

The company said it expected repairs to be completed tonight and normal timetables will resume tomorrow.

Police patrols in the Arboretum area of Worcester have been stepped up, after reports of a group of men in a car approaching children as they walk home from school.

The force said it doesn't believe all the reports are linked and is looking into each one separately.

All pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues in England must have a 22:00 closing time from Thursday, to help curb the spread of coronavirus.

The sector will also be restricted by law to table service, but some traders have warned it'll all have a devastating impact on their business.

Shane Hodgkiss, 64, has been in the pub trade for 20 years and the landlord of the Hollybush in Lye, Dudley, for almost three. He employs four staff and is worried about table service and the smaller trader.

“I cannot afford to employ more people to carry out table service so it will mean me and the wife working all hours again to make it work and you know, we’re not too long off retiring so it’s going to be hard.

“I’d like to [employ people] but I just cannot afford it. I am going to have to lay off a couple of staff anyway."

Image source, Shane Hodgkiss

Mr Hodgkiss added: “Before lockdown I was seeing about 1,000 customer a week, now it’s not even half that. It’s so frustrating as we were just starting to see signs of growth now this has kicked us in the teeth.

“We went right back to normal trading hours when we re-opened and were open until midnight – and closing at 10pm now, especially at a weekend, makes a hell of a difference to us.

“What we all want to know is if we’re going to get any government support for this as I don’t know how little pubs like us are going to have a future."

Kathryn Stanczyszyn
Political Reporter, BBC WM

The latest coronavirus figures for Birmingham show the highest rate of new cases are found among the 30-39 age group and in the Asian community.

Birmingham City Council also reported a "worrying increase" in cases affecting the over-75s.

Image source, Getty Images

At the same time more than three quarters of Birmingham council wards reported six or more cases last week.

Despite the number of infections rising though, the numbers of positive cases per amount of people tested is relatively stable.

The council also said a seventh walk-in testing site will open this weekend in Sparkbrook and it is looking for other locations.

Letters have gone out to 1,200 farmers warning they could face heavy fines if they pollute Herefordshire rivers.

The Environment Agency has written to landowners in the River Lugg catchment to remind them of laws which were put in place in 2018.

Image source, Peter Manson

Campaigners have complained rivers are facing 'environmental disaster' due to the phosphate from poultry units.

He is rescued from an upstairs bedroom in Sutton Coldfield but his death was confirmed at the scene.

Ben Godfrey
BBC Midlands Today

New coronavirus measures introduced in Wolverhampton are going to be "a big change," according to one family.

Neil Rutter (pictured at the rear) said residents in the city were now "moving backwards to keep safe."

"It's just a case of following the guidance," he added.

"We need to get rid of Covid so we've got to follow what's been given to us by the government - end of story."

Aston Villa forward Keinan Davis signs a contract extension, keeping him at the club until 2024.

The husband of Aintree Racecourse chairman Rose Paterson pays tribute to his "dedicated, loving" wife after a coroner records a verdict of suicide at an inquest into her death.

We look at the extra restrictions imposed in parts of the West Midlands - and the reasons for them.

Stoke City Council leader Abi Brown says residents are "really struggling" to book limited tests.

New coronavirus restriction measures introduced in Wolverhampton from today will mean mean "a lot of isolation," one resident said.

Carole Spencer said she will not be able to see her sons or have her grandchildren at her home.

“It’s just boredom because we had three months of it before where we couldn’t go over the doorstep because of health issues and now it’s come and bounced back again," she said.

“It doesn’t feel very nice,” she added.

Wolverhampton residents are now banned from socialising with people outside their households in private homes and gardens.

Sandwell, Solihull and Birmingham saw identical rules introduced last week.

Coventry Live

Here are three of the stories from the Coventry Telegraph's website:

• Killer jailed for Radford attack, external
• Former student homes bought by Coventry council, external
• Lorry driver suffers life-changing injury, external

A man has died after a house fire in Sutton Coldfield last night.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said he was rescued from the property on Jockey Road at 22:28 in a critical condition and died at the scene.

Herefordshire's household waste and recycling centres will have reduced opening hours from next month.

The council said this is because there's less demand for the tips when it gets dark and from 1 October they will close at 16:00.

Image source, Google

People will still have to book slots but the council hopes the reduced hours will allow it to move staff around and open the Ross-on-Wye centre for an extra day each week.

The restrictions, affecting 4.7m people, ban separate households from meeting in homes and gardens.

BBC News Travel

A fault with the signalling system , external between Langley Green and Lye is causing disruption to trains between Birmingham Snow Hill and Stourbridge Junction, the National Rail website reports.

Trains may be cancelled or delayed by up to 45 minutes.

There is no firm estimate yet of how long disruption will last but it is likely to continue until at least the end of the day.

A revised timetable of two trains per hour will run between Birmingham Snow Hill and Worcester Shrub Hill.