Worcestershire sign Australian fast bowler Ben Dwarshuis for this summer's T20 Blast.

A motorcyclist is in a critical condition in hospital after his bike hit a tree in Birmingham this morning.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said it was called to Aldridge Road in Perry Barr at 00:27 and he was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for treatment.

BBC Hereford and Worcester

The Worcestershire Royal Hospital is going to have its emergency and urgent care department upgraded in the coming year.

Matthew Hopkins, Chief Executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said there would be twice the number of bays for "the absolutely sickest patients who might need to be resuscitated".

Image source, Google

Mr Hopkins also said there would be a dedicated children's accident and emergency department in the future.

And he said because they already had spare room for the move over two floors "we can get cracking pretty quickly".

Championship side Coventry City sign a 10-year contract to return to the Ricoh Arena from next season.

BBC CWR

Wasps and Coventry City Football Club have agreed a 10-year deal for the football club to play its home games at the Ricoh Arena, starting next season.

Coventry City have been playing their matches at St Andrew’s Stadium in Birmingham since a disagreement between the rugby club and the owners of the football club, Sisu and will remain there for the rest of this season.

Image source, Getty Images

Stephen Vaughan, Wasps Group Chief Executive, said: "It is time to put the past firmly behind us." and added: "both organisations felt it was very important that we agreed a long-term deal to bring certainty and continuity."

BBC CWR

Three new railway stations could open in Coventry within four years, the Mayor of the West Midlands has said.

Bids have been put in to the government, asking them to look at the case for building new stations in Foleshill, Coundon and Willenhall and Andy Street said all three areas need better public transport.

Based on experiences of bidding for stations elsewhere, Mr Street said: "It takes about three years for the full process to make the case, get the agreements from network rail, get the funding in place."

He said building the station could take another year and he hoped the whole process might be quicker, but four years was a "realistic target".

BBC Weather Watchers

We're forecast rain today, some of it heavy, and the photos from the BBC Weather Watchers show plenty of it about.

This picture was taken near Bodenham in Herefordshire and below we have two horses at Tenbury Wells enjoying a break between the showers.

Image source, Step Counter

Image source, Belinda and Ola

Local Democracy Reporting Service

The second phase of multimillion-pound plans for a new cycleway to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire have been revealed.

Image source, Coventry City Council

Coventry City Council has laid out its plans for the final section of the route, which runs along Clifford Bridge Road to the hospital in Walsgrave.

The two-way cycleway will be 3.75 miles (6km) long and link the hospital to the city centre via the Binley Business Park on Harry Weston Road.

A consultation on the first phase to the business park opened in October and thoughts are now sought for the second phase, external.

Cyclists will have priority over traffic entering and leaving side roads and also bypass traffic-light junctions or have their own set of traffic lights.

The Binley scheme is backed by £5m of West Midlands Combined Authority funding and work on the first phase could start in the summer.

BBC Hereford and Worcester

A Herefordshire road which has been closed since last February is due to reopen within the next four weeks.

The B4224 between Fownhope and Hereford collapsed in two places 12 months ago and is costing £2.5m to repair.

Herefordshire Council said it didn't have a precise date for the work to be completed, but it would definitely be before Easter.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

More social workers in Wolverhampton say their caseloads are not manageable, a survey of the council's workforce has revealed.

Following an annual health check to assess how social workers in the city are feeling, a report to the council has revealed a rise in the number saying they are "just about" managing.

Image source, Google

A report to the council’s Adult and Safer City Scrutiny Panel, which is due to discuss the findings on 16 March, added the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic were likely to have had an impact on the outcomes.

The report said full-time workers were working an average of 4.2 hours over their contracted hours, compared to 2.4 hours in 2019, but part-time workers were working an average of 2.4 hours over, a decrease from 10.3 in 2019.

Stress levels were slightly higher, with just over 50% of respondents saying they always or often felt stressed compared to 45% in 2019, it stated.

A council spokesman said: "Covid has had an impact on the overall health of the workforce, as evidenced by stress levels reported. Senior managers are aware of the impact this has on workers and continue to support the wellbeing of the workforce in balancing their work and personal circumstances."

BBC Midlands Today

Nearly 1,000 extra people have been recruited, external to help deliver vaccinations in Shropshire.

The drive has been led by the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) near Oswestry.

New staff will work across vaccination centres throughout the county, including Telford and Wrekin.

The roles include vaccinators, healthcare assistants, administrators and car park marshalls.

Bosses said it came at a key time as teams geared up for their busiest period yet with staff set to administer second doses of vaccine while continuing to give first ones to different age groups.

The scheme has made offers to more than 800 people. In addition,125 staff who recently left the NHS have joined the vaccination programme.

Sarah Sheppard, Director of People at RJAH, praised the "can do" attitude of everyone involved.

"Recruiting so many people, so quickly, really is a stunning achievement," she said.

BBC Radio Shropshire

An abattoir owner has blamed delays around Brexit as one of the reasons why staff have gone down to a four-day week.

Euro Quality Lambs in Craven Arms, Shropshire, said it was the first time it had had to bring in the measures since it began in 1992.

Image source, Google

The company exports 70% of its meat to the EU, including France, Germany, Belgium and Portugal.

In January, Managing Director Rizvan Khalid said: "What used to take us 15 minutes is now taking us three or four hours on average before we can get the paperwork completed for one particular load."

"It's taking them [on the French side] up to six hours to go through the health certificates, to open up the lorry and check the goods.

"All of that is adding time and costs. It's now an extra day before our product gets into the markets of Paris."

BBC Weather

We are forecast rain today, some of it heavy, and temperatures up to around 11C (52F).

And tomorrow, with temperatures due to drop to close to freezing, that could turn into hail.

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

Children at the secure training centre are locked up for more than 23 hours a day during the pandemic.

Det Insp Dave Knight says officers are treating the matter as an "isolated incident".

That brings to an end Tuesday's updates. We'll be back with you from 08:00 on Wednesday.

Rotherham United are forced to postpone a third Championship fixture due to three positive Covid-19 results at the club.

He has been bailed ahead of a court appearance following Isabelle Boshell's death in October.

Kenneth Andrew McDermid is due to be sentenced in April over Wendy Morse's death.