Local Democracy Reporting Service
Joe Sweeney

A Labour councillor for Wolverhampton City Council has been suspended from the city's party for breaching group rules.

Image source, Harborough Labour Group

At a meeting on Monday night, Labour councillors voted 33-9 to suspend Celia Hibbert following allegations she voted against the whip and encouraged others to do so.

The Penn councillor is also accused of approaching the Conservative opposition and asking to join their group.

A vote was taken to remove the whip from Ms Hibbert for a year, however she has the opportunity to appeal.

Councillor Paul Birch, who represents Blakenhall at the council, said Councillor Hibbert's actions were a "complete disgrace to the Labour group and its values", however the group's leader, Ian Brookfield, declined to comment.

Councillor Hibbert has been approached for comment.

Investigators warn of the risks of smoking following the blaze in Wolverhampton.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
David Lawrence

Waste giants Biffa and Stratford District Council have agreed to share the extra cost of dealing with domestic recycling after the regular reprocessing plant was destroyed by fire.

Image source, Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service

The Ettington plant caught fire in July and has been out of use since.

Items have instead been taken to an alternative site in London but this incurred extra costs with the council picking up about 75% of the fees.

It has now agreed with Biffa to split the costs evenly for the remainder of the year.

BBC Weather Watchers

Image source, Laura and Glenn / BBC Weather Watchers

Image source, Peter Steggles / BBC Weather Watchers

Image source, Honeybun / BBC Weather Watchers

Image source, Boardwalk / BBC Weather Watchers

Thanks to our Weather Watchers whose photos today have been sent in from Dudley, Rushbury, Kingsbury and Bromsgrove.

To see more, or to send in your photos, visit the BBC Weather Watchers webpage.

A road in Wolverhampton will be closed for about three weeks while repairs costing £40,000 take place.

Image source, City of Wolverhampton Council

A section of the Smestow Brook embankment, which runs alongside the A454 Bridgnorth Road in Wightwick, collapsed earlier this month.

High voltage electricity cables were exposed and Wolverhampton City Council raised concerns that the embankment could give way further.

Closing the road from its junction with Windmill Lane "was the only realistic option," councillor Steve Evans said.

Over the next few weeks, the drainage outlet will be extended and the embankment will be rebuilt, covered with a membrane and dressed with large stones.

Mihai-Catalin Gulie, 28, is convicted of murdering his son, who suffered "horrific" head injuries.

BBC Radio Stoke

A 28-year-old man has been arrested after a suspected shooting in Stoke-on-Trent.

Armed police were deployed to Moorland Road in Burslem just before 18:00 BST on Monday.

Staffordshire Police had received reports that a man had been shot with an air gun and arrived to find a victim with minor injuries.

Seven young men were seen brandishing machetes and a handgun during a disorder in Birmingham, police said.

Image source, Google

The violence broke out Cherrywood Road in Bordesley Green at about 15:00 BST on Saturday.

Witnesses reported hearing a gunshot, however detectives said no weapons were recovered from the scene and no injuries have been reported to them.

Officers are now reviewing CCTV in the area and said at least three groups of men had been identified in the area at the time and all those involved were wearing hooded tops and face masks.

West Midlands Police appealed for anyone with information to get in touch.

A water engineer from Birmingham has designed a PPE headscarf to wear while on site working for Severn Trent.

Aminah Shafiq graduated in engineering two years ago and during lockdown realised that her headscarf might be holding her back in her career.

"I started thinking about the two concerns I had - the free flowing material and the fact that the helmet wouldn't fit over my head," she said about her process for creating a safer design for Muslim women.

"I took inspiration from athletic headscarves which have more of a snug fit," she said.

Severn Trent has now made the headscarf available to its workforce to have as part of their usual PPE kit.

BBC News Travel

A crash on the M6 this morning is causing delays of about an hour.

The crash happened at about 08:00 near the northbound junction 10 for Walsall and is causing congestion on the local network.

Traffic is stretching as far back as junction six for Birmingham and is also having an impact on the M5, between junction one for West Bromwich and the M6 junction.

Highways England has advised motorists to consider using the M6 toll to avoid the traffic.

Rich Davis
BBC Weather presenter

It's going to be mostly cloudy as we go through the course of the day, later on there might be some sunny spells breaking through that cloud.

It will feel pretty mild with temperatures reaching up to 17C (63F) but you might also notice a breeze picking up later this afternoon.

Find your local forecast here.

A review says meetings did not focus enough on protecting Caitlin Sharp from sexual exploitation.

A watchdog says a service still requires improvement following an inspection.

Gary Simpson, 38, died in a motorbike crash before he managed to create the garden for children.

The parents of Coldstream Guardsman Mathew Talbot say he was "badly let down" by Army planners.

The boy, one of five teenagers who deny murder, tells a court he was not at the scene of the attack.

Detectives say Jamar Bailey searched online for "how to kill a newborn".

A hospital has launched an investigation following the delay outside A&E.

A Coventry man is appealing for information about the 19th Century building he is renovating.

Fewer polluting vehicles are entering the centre of Birmingham since it became a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in mid-June, the council has said.

Stephen Arnold, head of the city's zone, said the scheme, which brought in daily charges for vehicles not meeting emission standards, was "starting to have the right kind of impact".

"It is very early days but we are cautiously optimistic so far. What we have seen is an improvement in the volume of compliant vehicles entering the zone," he said.

He added while the overall volume of vehicles in that area had remained "reasonably stable", HGVs and coaches were "above 90% compliant". The council had estimated compliance in those categories would be closer to 60%.

Meanwhile, the compliance rate among the city's licensed taxi fleet had doubled since 2018, Mr Arnold said.

Speaking to BBC News Channel after London's charge zone was extended, he added walking and cycling was also being encouraged in Birmingham, as well as a greater use of public transport.