Local Democracy Reporting Service

Plans for a shake-up of a council’s boundaries look likely to be postponed until 2025, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Conservative-controlled Suffolk County Council, external said its review would have saved more than £100,000 and seen a reduction of five councillors at the authority from the current total of 75.

It would also see each ward represented by a single councillor, rather than some having two.

But a final consultation on draft plans - set for this month - has been delayed due to difficulties of having a proper consultation during lockdown.

"Frankly, the arguments over the number of councillors pales into insignificance compared to what we are facing now," said the council’s Labour group leader Sarah Adam. "That debate can wait another day."

• The Cambridge Independent , externalreports that a company based in Impington believes it is close to developing a 10-minute fingerprint test for Covid-19.
• Three people have been fined for "drifting" at a former RAF site, writes Peterborough Today, external
• And the Wisbech Standard says, external Fenland District Council has collected an extra 534 tonnes of waste and recycling in a month - a rise of 17% since lockdown was enforced

Katy Lewis
BBC News Online

Image source, Getty Images

The 2016 winner of The Great British Bake Off, Candice Brown, has delivered 26 roast dinners in Bedfordshire.

Brown, who owns the Green Man pub in Eversholt, Bedfordshire made the special delivery to the Burlington Hall, external care home in Woburn Sands as part of the London Marathon 2.6 challenge for Alzheimer's Research UK, external.

The challenge is a nationwide campaign that started after the cancellation of the marathon, where people choose an activity based around the numbers 2.6 or 26 and either fundraise or donate.

Benjamin Rayner's mother says her son is at high risk following his operation.

The latest figures for the number of Covid-19 deaths each day in NHS hospitals in the East of England have been released by the government, external.

The total number of deaths at the region's hospitals is now 2,789.

In the BBC East region, statistics for the NHS trusts show a rise of 37 deaths:

• Basildon and Thurrock: 2
• Bedford Hospital: 2

• Cambridge University Hospitals: 3

• East and North East Herts: 1
• East Suffolk and North Essex (Ipswich and Colchester): 2
• Fryatt Hospital (non-NHS), Harwich: 1
• Hertfordshire Community: 1
• James Paget, Gorleston: 2
• Kettering General: 2
• Luton and Dunstable: 0
• Mid Essex: 1
• Milton Keynes: 1
• North West Anglia, Peterborough and Hinchingbrooke: 2
• Northampton General: 7
• Southend Hospital: 1
• Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow: 3
• The Queen Elizabeth, King's Lynn: 1
• West Hertfordshire Hospitals: 3
• West Suffolk: 2

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 related deaths across the UK is 28,446.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, Google

A former hotel by the A1 is due to be turned into temporary accommodation for homeless people.

The Days Inn at Sandy in Bedfordshire has been bought by Central Bedfordshire Council as part of a scheme to provide transitional housing for local residents.

A change-of-use application for 42 rooms, with a shared kitchen and dining room, is being prepared by the local authority for approval by its development management committee., external

The property would include family rooms, as well as accommodation for couples and single people, and would be owned and run by the council.

Residents at an assisted living home have buried the capsule in its grounds.

Colin Gray photographs his colleagues to give them "something to look back on in years to come".

• The Northamptonshire Telegraph, external report that the family of a Kettering great-grandfather who died from Covid-19 without seeing his relatives for weeks - are fundraising to buy mobile devices to keep in contact
• Two months on from the first confirmed case in the county, the Northampton Chronicle and Echo, external lists 50 of its biggest stories from the pandemic so far
• The Chronicle, external has also spoken to the owner of a hair salon who is finding creative ways to keep customers and staff happy during lockdown

"I wanted to try and turn a negative into a positive," says Suffolk singer Serena Grant.

Image source, Getty Images

How would the Championship have ended without coronavirus? Experts at University of Reading predict the "final table".

Meet the artist inspired by "real-life superheroes" battling the coronavirus.

We will be bringing you all the latest coronavirus news from across the East of England - from the latest statistics to how key workers and our communities are coping.

If you have a story you wish to share - good or bad - please contact BBC News Online (East).

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