BBC Entertainment and Arts

Sir Elton John has postponed his upcoming 2021 UK and European tour until 2023, due to a hip injury sustained when he "fell awkwardly" this summer.

Image source, PA Media

The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour dates will be rescheduled, the 74-year-old singer confirmed on Thursday.

"It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I am forced to reschedule," Sir Elton said in a statement.

The planned shows had included an appearance in Birmingham.

Care home providers in the West Midlands face losing more than 5,000 staff due to the government's policy of requiring all workers to be fully vaccinated, a care firm boss has said.

From October, anyone working in a Care Quality Commission-registered care home in England must have two vaccine doses unless they have a medical exemption.

Geoff Butcher, who owns the Field House care home in Stourbridge, as well as five other homes around the West Midlands, said he had six staff out of a total of 260 who were refusing the jab.

The six, including four highly skilled workers, "will have to leave our employment on 11 November," he said.

"Across the West Midlands the figures are that there's about 5,600 staff who will not be vaccinated and will therefore have to leave work - and that's quite a high proportion of the workforce."

He said it was a "good thing" to have a high proportion of staff vaccinated, "but the way it's been done - I don't agree with".

"Staffing in the care sector is incredibly difficult at the moment, there's probably 20 to 25% vacancies, and people are leaving the sector faster than they're being rehired - putting this on top of that is a major problem."

A second man admits manslaughter after Craig Robins was stabbed in 2006 and died in 2019.

Pawanveer Singh, aged 23 months, and 10-year-old Sanjay died at the scene of the collision.

Express and Star

The Express and Star has covered these stories today:

• Father and son ordered to pay almost £2,000 over 'rat-ridden waste mountain', external
• Pregnant teenager in life-threatening condition as car and tram crash, external
• Man killed as car crashes into wall in Stourport, external

A man has died after his car hit a wall in Worcestershire on the road between Hartlebury and Stourport-on-Severn.

West Mercia Police said it happened at the junction of Hartlebury Road and Charlton Lane at about 20:00 yesterday.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said he was found in a critical condition and died at the scene.

A married pair were returning from a caravan break to celebrate their retirement when they were killed.

Seven West Midlands authorities say they have "carried the burden" of the scheme for years.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

An information board will be put up next to Shrewsbury's statue of Clive of India in the next few weeks.

Last year there were calls to have the statue removed from people who said it celebrated his role in British colonial rule of India.

But Shropshire councillors voted last July to keep the statue.

Image source, Getty Images

Shropshire Council said the final designs and wording had now been signed off and a contractor had been appointed to carry out the work.

The information board was commissioned to give the statue more historical context around the figure it depicted.

It's being paid for by a West Midlands Museum Development grant and is expected to be in place early next month.

The teen is hurt while travelling in a car that collided with the public transport in Wolverhampton.

BBC Weather Watchers

Some of our local BBC Weather Watchers look to have been down to their nearby waterways in the sunshine today.

These are from users Suttonwalker in Sutton Coldfield, Flower UN in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, and Grum in Colemere, Shropshire:

Image source, Suttonwalker

Image source, Flower UN

Image source, Grum

BBC Radio Shropshire

Plans to redevelop two of Shrewsbury's shopping malls won't be going on show to the public today, as originally planned - instead they will be discussed behind closed doors by councillors.

Shropshire Council's current proposal is to demolish the Pride Hill centre and replace it with a multi-storey car park and hotel, while the Riverside centre would be replaced by council offices.

The authority also plans to replace the Raven Meadows car park with a restaurant.

Shropshire Council bought the town's three shopping centres for £51m three years ago and members will discuss the latest proposals next week.

Councillors will be asked to back a feasibility study on the new plans that could cost more than £1m and be realised by next spring.

The authority is yet to say why the plans won't be on public show.

BBC Midlands Today

The community ambulance station in Rugby should not be scrapped as residents say it is essential, the town's MP has told Parliament.

Image source, Getty Images

Mark Pawsey raised the issue in the Commons after more than 4,000 people signed a petition opposing the plan to close it.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said in August the future of 11 community stations was under review.

The service said just one ambulance was stationed at Rugby and responded to fewer than 4% of call-outs in the immediate area.

But Mr Pawsey told fellow MPs the number of signatures on the petition showed the "depth of local feeling over these proposals".

"The petition of residents of the constituency of Rugby declares that the last remaining community ambulance station in the town of Rugby is essential for ensuring the safety of local residents," he added.

Coventry owner Joy Seppala says the club is "firmly committed" to a new stadium as they aim for "the Premier League and beyond".

The first new A road in the West Midlands in almost 17 years will be known as the A4545, it has been announced.

The 2.4km (1.5 mile) road is intended to ease congestion on the M42 at junction 6 and make it easier for drivers travelling to Birmingham Airport and nearby venues including Resorts World and the National Exhibition Centre.

The dual carriageway, which was first announced in 2016, will link a new exit on the M42 with the A45 clock interchange.

A popular 1,000-seat venue is to return to Coventry from the spring to host music, comedy and arts performances as part of the City of Culture festival.

Image source, Dylan Parrin

More than 80,000 tickets have so far been snapped up for events at the Assembly Festival Garden, on derelict land near the council house in the city centre.

As well as theatre, circus and music acts, the gardens have hosted live outdoor screenings including the BBC's Last Night of the Proms and Ed Sheeran's recent performance in the city.

It has also played host to series of community events including Pride and Motofest.

Performances at the venue, on the site of the demolished former Civic Centre buildings, will end on 30 September, but will now return in the spring, said the City of Culture Trust.

A petition calling on organisers to keep the site open has attracted more than 1,500 signatures.

Image source, Dylan Parrin

BBC Midlands Today

The owners of Coventry City say building a new stadium is part of their aspirations to establish themselves as a Premier League club.

Image source, PA Media

The Sky Blues made the announcement in July 2020 to relocate to the south-west edge of the city, on land owned by the University of Warwick.

The club returned to Coventry after two years playing in Birmingham and have been sharing the Coventry Building Society Arena with owners Wasps rugby club.

But chief executive Joy Seppala said having their own stadium would benefit them financially.

"We are an aspiring football club and aspiring hopefully to the Premier League and beyond and every aspiring football club requires their own stadium and I think that we need to have our own revenue stream," she said.

A tram has crashed with a car in Wolverhampton partially blocking the ring road in both directions.

The A4150 is affected around the Bilston Road Island.

There is congestion to all approaches to the island and it is also causing queues for inbound traffic from both Heath Town and Moseley, travel firm Inrix is reporting.

Tram services are still running with delays.

BBC Weather

Today we're forecast some light cloud again and temperatures up to 21C (70F).

And that weather is going to remain with us tomorrow, but some rain is expected over the weekend.

You can get a full forecast for your area on the BBC Weather page.

Image source, Tippytoes

Welcome to our live service for Thursday.

We'll be bringing you all the news, sport, travel and weather for the West Midlands.

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