Local Democracy Reporting Service

The Local Democracy Reporting Service in Worcester has been covering these stories:

• A university's plan to build 120 homes on land to the west of Worcester's been approved by councillors. The University of Worcester wants to put the houses on its University Park site off Bromyard Road, a move which effectively ends its ambition since 2009 to build a £100m science, health and enterprise hub there.

Image source, Google

• A road-sweeping firm will have to wait on a decision on whether it'll be allowed to build a processing plant near Droitwich. Green Waste Recycling Services wants to end having to drive 30 miles out of Worcestershire to throw away rubbish it's collected and proposed the idea for Station House, off Saltway, Hanbury. County councillors decided to hold off on making a decision but with a view to approving it at their next meeting.
• A plan to build two homes in the back garden of a house in Worcester's been rejected for not providing enough car parking spaces. Residents and councillors had opposed the plan to convert an old outbuilding on Sebright Avenue after the authority's highways department said it should be refused for not providing any new parking spaces in an already crowded street.

Allen Cook
BBC News

An outdoor swimming pool is set to reopen next month after the local council agreed to give it £55,000.

Droitwich Lido didn't open as usual for its summer season due to the coronavirus pandemic and there were fears it would stay shut all year.

But Wychavon District Council has said, external it will give the leisure group running the lido the cash so it can reopen and avoid "a significant shortfall".

The plan will see the lido open for six weeks from 1 August with a reduced number of swimmers.

More than 70 people have tested positive for coronavirus at the site in Herefordshire.

Worcester News

A few of the stories making the headlines on the Worcester News website:

• Rise in anti-social behaviour during lockdown, external
• Coronavirus outbreak farm near Malvern had appealed for local workers, external
• Council on hunt for developer to build homes when former swimming pool in Worcester is demolished, external

BBC Hereford and Worcester

A "manic" week's started for a beauty salon owner in Kidderminster as she reopened her doors today for the first time in months.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Laura Pardoe runs the Beauty Room and admits the past few weeks have been stressful while waiting to restart her business, which only launched last April.

But, with lockdown restrictions easing for beauty salons in England, she said she had started slowly today with four or five appointments but the rest of the week is looking busy.

However some treatments, such as eyebrow threading, are still banned which Mrs Pardoe said is a shame for her.

"I'll be educating people on how to do their eyebrows, home care routines for facials and things like this so we'll find a way round it."

Michele Paduano
Health correspondent, BBC Midlands Today

A patient who absconded from a hospital was found in nearby woodland after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Image source, PA Media

Paramedics and police were called to the area in Worcester near to the Worcestershire Royal Hospital on Friday morning, the ambulance service said.

They managed to get the woman's heart beating again and she was taken back to hospital via A&E.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said the incident would be fully reviewed and the patient was later discharged after treatment with an "appropriate support package in place".

Joan Cummins
Midlands Today reporter

The number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 at a farm in Herefordshire's risen to 75.

Image source, Getty Images

The 200 workers at vegetable producers A S Green and Co, near Malvern, went into lockdown yesterday after the positive tests which initially stood at 73.

It has also been revealed three workers, one of whom tested positive for Covid 19, left the site last week despite advice to stay put.

Health agencies say they are aware of the location of the workers and they are self-isolating.

BBC Hereford and Worcester

A group of 140 people have marched in protest over a blocked footpath.

A bridge over a stream's been removed near Ross-on-Wye and fences and barriers put up where the public right of way crosses the Cubberley House estate in the Wye Valley.

On Sunday, the group of residents installed a temporary bridge and marched along the route with placards.

Dene Godfrey was one of the organisers: "Somebody had to do something about it and I thought it would be good to show the level of annoyance."

The owners of Cubberley House have failed to respond to BBC Hereford and Worcester while Herefordshire Council said it was taking appropriate action in accordance with its enforcement policy.

Sean Sadler denied murdering 21-month-old Lily Hanrahan in Birmingham in November 2017.

There are no "particular concerns" about the health of workers at a farm where 73 have tested positive for Covid-19, health officials have stressed.

The positive tests have led to a lockdown for the 200 staff at A S Green and Co, in Mathon, Herefordshire, which produces mainly beans and broccoli.

The pickers are largely from Eastern Europe and translators have been on the site over the weekend, officials said, while some local workers are self-isolating as a precaution.

Karen Wright, director of public health for Herefordshire, added: "This is people’s homes that live on the farm and it’s important that people stay on the farm and look after their health and wellbeing on the site.

“Overall people are well and we haven’t got any particular concerns about any individual’s health.”

The 200 quarantined workers at a farm in Herefordshire are being given the "best support", the county's director of public health has said.

Karen Wright added there wasn't any risk around the food coming from the farm in Mathon.

"We've had translators on site over the weekend and that will be the same for the coming days, to look after the welfare of individuals and also to keep reinforcing those messages around reducing the spread of the infection."

She added officials were working "to provide that reassurance to the local community that we are focused on obviously containing this outbreak within the farm situation."

BBC Weather Watchers

Comet Neowise has been spotted by BBC Weather Watchers across the West Midlands as it heads past Earth.

It was discovered in late March and became one of the few comets in the 21st Century that can be seen with the naked eye as it approached the sun.

The comet will be closest to the Earth on 23 July but will still be about 64 million miles (103 million km) away.

These were captured in Burnhill Green, Staffordshire by Th3Edge; in Pattingham near Wolverhampton by Sonny Intervals and in Ledbury, Herefordshire by Fluff.

Image source, Th3Edge

Image source, Sonny Intervals

Image source, Fluff

A postman has completed a 12-hour non-stop run up and down a Kidderminster hill.

Shaun Marshall, from Kidderminster in Worcestershire, took on the challenge on Sion Hill in aid of Kemp Hospice.

Image source, Shaun Marshall

He came up with the idea for the run after in a bid to boost funding for the charity as other events were being cancelled.

He has raised almost £3,000 online with two local businesses, Bepco and Hewitt Recruitment, both offering to match-fund money raised.

Mr Marshall said he “couldn’t thank everyone enough” for their support.

Allen Cook
BBC News

A driver has suffered serious injuries after apparently crashing into the wall of a pub, police said, external.

Image source, Google

The collision took place on Saturday morning in the car park of the New Road and Crown on New Road, Rubery, near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.

The force said the 35-year-old from Birmingham remained in hospital.

Ollie Farquharson, 18, has been working on the NHS 111 call service since the death of his aunt.

Up to 200 vegetable pickers and packers will remain on the farm in Herefordshire while isolating.

Premiership clubs will not be subject to selection penalties from the 14 August resumption, on a player-welfare basis.

Some volunteer-run attractions say a shortened summer season is "not financially viable".

Illegal raves have been booming during lockdown, but their story goes back a long time.

Lesley Harper of Sanders Fitness is working out how to get people working out at her Droitwich gym.