Updates from Monday 30 November to Sunday 6 December
Winter has definitely arrived in the West Midlands and you can see that from the photos shared by the BBC Weather Watchers today.
These pictures were taken in Hednesford, Halesowen and Church Stretton.
Image source, Angus and me
Image source, Stormchaser Al
Image source, Snapper SimonStoke-on-Trent has the highest Covid-19 rate in the West Midlands.
Read More
Local Democracy Reporting Service
The leader of Birmingham City Council has said people need to think carefully about their Christmas gatherings.
Ian Ward said the five-day relaxation of restrictions "is almost certainly going to lead to an increase in case rates”.
Image source, Birmingham City CouncilMr Ward also welcomed the news that vaccinations are due to start in the UK soon, but said: "A vaccine is not going to help us with the current second wave of the virus here in the UK and the city of Birmingham."
A man's due in court in Newcastle-under-Lyme today charged in connection with the discovery of cannabis with a street value running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Image source, Staffordshire PoliceStaffordshire Police said officers stopped a van on the M6 near junction 12, for Cannock, on Monday afternoon.
A 27-year-old man from Londonderry has been charged with being concerned in the supply of cannabis.
A microbiologist at Staffordshire University has described the approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for use in the UK as "the beginning of the end" for the pandemic.
Dr Arthur Hosie said: "When we had the press release there was always the caveat that the data hadn't been looked at. Now that the data has been looked at by an independent regulator and the vaccine has been approved as both safe and effective then it's all speed ahead."
He added: "Hopefully the most vulnerable can be protected before the new year, which is wonderful news."
Customs staff will be checking HGVs at Birmingham Airport to ease congestion at ports.
Read More
Stoke-on-Trent Live
Here are three stories from Stoke-on-Trent Live today:
BBC Radio Shropshire Sport
Shrewsbury Town will welcome back up to 2,000 fans at tonight's match against Accrington.
The club is opening up the Main Stand, the Family Stand, the West Stand and the Safe Standing area and is asking fans to wear masks when they enter the stadium, unless they have an exemption.
The fans are also being asked to keep in their bubbles and not to sing, "to reduce the risk of potentially passing on the infection".
The chair of Worcestershire's Local Medical Committee believes life won't start returning to normal until next summer "at the absolute earliest", even with vaccinations expected to start next week.
Dr Shaun Pike, who is also a GP in Redditch, also said: "As we start rolling it out we will start gathering data" and that this will be used by policy makers to inform future decisions.
Image source, Getty ImagesIn case you missed it, the UK has approved the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for mass vaccination, possibly starting as soon as next week for the most vulnerable.
Here are three stories from the Shropshire Star this morning:
BBC Politics
Seven West Midlands MPs voted against the introduction of new coronavirus tiers in the House of Commons last night, but they were unable to prevent the government winning by 291 votes to 78.
Most Labour MPs followed party orders in abstaining, but there were more than 50 Conservative rebels, including the Kate Griffiths (Burton), Julian Knight (Solihull), Mark Pawsey (Rugby), Craig Tracey (North Warwickshire) and Jeremy Wright (Kenilworth and Southam
The Labour MPs John Spellar (Warley) and Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) also voted against the tiers, which came in to force this morning.
That list includes a number of Warwickshire MPs who are unhappy at the county being moved to tier three, after being in tier one before lockdown started.
Some MPs had thought that when the tiers were reviewed in a fortnight's time, some districts with lower infection rates might be allowed to change tiers, before the wider county moves.
But the government has indicated that won't happen and it appears this persuaded a number of MPs, including Jeremy Wright to rebel.
It's been a cold start to the day and in some parts of the West Midlands we had a bit of mist early on.
In other places we had brilliant sunrises - as you can see from these BBC Weather Watcher photos, taken in Clee Hill and Rubery.
Image source, Skye
Image source, Lilith
BBC Radio Stoke Sport
With injuries mounting, the Stoke City players have been told "not to take any unnecessary risks" by their manager.
They play Wycombe tonight and are likely to be without Jon Obi Mikel, as well as Steven Fletcher, Lee Gregory and Harry Souttar.
Image source, Getty ImagesStoke captain Ryan Shawcross will be back in the first team squad, for the first time since June.
BBC Radio Shropshire Sport
People visiting Ludlow racecourse are being asked to be honest about which tier they have come from when they arrive.
The course manager, Simon Sherwood, said people from tier three would not allowed in and that "It's up to the individuals conscience as it is up to us to check them out."
Image source, LudlowUp to 600 spectators will be allowed in for today's races and Mr Sherwood said: "Obviously whatever they give us for their postcode is what we can check up ourselves."
Birmingham Live
Here are three stories from the Birmingham Live website today:
Depending on where you are in the West Midlands, you're either waking up in a tier two or a tier three area this morning.
The Shropshire, Telford, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and East Cheshire local authority areas have left lockdown under tier two restrictions.
All the other parts of the West Midlands, including Warwickshire, which had previously been in tier one, are now under tier three restrictions.
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Plans to spend £2.7m to change the road layout in the middle of Shifnal is to be discussed.
The scheme has been cut back since it was first put forward in 2013 and will be paid for with money from housing developers.
Image source, Shropshire CouncilIt includes removing the parking spaces outside the shops on Bradford Street and replacing them with a paved area.
There will also be alterations to traffic flow at road junctions and the road will be narrowed along Market Place, to allow the pavement to be widened.
Image source, GoogleA second pedestrian crossing will be created where Market Place meets Victoria Road and traffic calming measures added.
Shifnal Town Council has given the changes its backing, but said it would push for parking spaces to be retained.
The plans will be discussed next Monday.
Temperatures should stay above freezing, but not by much.
And we could have a few showers later too.
Tonight it will remain cold and tomorrow we're expecting more showers.
Image source, Stormchaser Al
BBC Radio CWR
The decision to put Stratford-on-Avon under the highest coronavirus restrictions from this morning could end up in court.
The district council is warning it'll take the decision to put the area into tier three to a judicial review if it's not reconsidered.
Image source, PA MediaThe Conservative-led authority said infection rates aren't high enough to warrant the restrictions and is calling the decision "irrational", claiming it has it's devastated hospitality businesses.
Andy Giddings
BBC News
Welcome to our live service for Wednesday.
We'll be bringing you all the news, sport, travel and weather for the West Midlands.
We love to hear from you so share your news, thoughts and photos of the area with us via email,Twitter , externaland Facebook., external
