It's emerged that the failed Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT) spent over £1m of public money on sacking its staff before it announced it was due to close.

The figures reveal the Trust made redundancy payments worth £454,000 and severance payments worth £640,000.

In their accounts the trust, which ran 21 academy schools across West, South and East Yorkshire, state the payments were "cost effective".

WCAT announced in September last year it couldn't carry on running the schools because it could not rapidly improve them.

Last month a police investigation into the financial running of a collapsed academy chain has found that no crimes were committed.

This is the scene in Meersbrook Park in Sheffield this morning after a man was shot in the face there last night.

Armed officers are at the scene along with officers using police dogs to search the grounds.

It comes after a man was shot in the face around 18:30 last night.

He's in a serious but stable condition in hospital and detectives are appealing for witnesses.

Police in Wakefield are investigating the "sudden death" of a woman in the early hours of this morning.

Image source, Google

Officers say they believe the 35-year-old's death was drug related but won't know for sure until a post mortem examination takes place.

The alarm was raised just before 00:25 when West Yorkshire Police say they were called to the Bull Ring, where she had been found unconscious in the street.

She was taken to hospital but died later died.

A 51-year-old man was taken to hospital with her for some treatment.

BBC News Travel

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Hammer time:

A law to strengthen punishments for those who abuse emergency workers is being discussed later.

It would apply to police, firefighters and NHS workers.

Halifax MP,Holly Lynch is one of those pushing hard for the Protect the Protectors Law.

She says longer sentences should be given to people assaulting emergency service workers:

A derelict house in Leeds will today become a home after a £20,000 charity refurbishment.

Image source, LATCH

The Harehills house was restored by Leeds charity, Latch (Leeds Action to Create Homes), which refurbishes derelict houses in the Chapeltown, Harehills and Burley areas of the city, to provide supported housing for people who are homeless.

James Hartley, the Chief Executive of Latch, says: "The house needed a serious amount of work

"It was full of junk beyond belief and everything was broken.

"it was shocking - the transformation is spectacular!"

Crucible debutant Chris Wakelin say he "fell short" when the pressure ramped up in his narrow defeat against Judd Trump.

Campaigners have been granted a judicial review of a council's strip club licensing policy over claims it fails to take account of equality law.

Image source, Getty Images

The action against Sheffield City Council is led by Irene Gladdison and campaign group Not Buying It.

They say the council did not properly consider the impact on equality when drawing up its policy, external that there should be no limit on strip clubs in the city.

The council has confirmed the action but said it could not comment further.

Irene Gladdison's legal representative told us why the review was important:

When it comes to scale they seem to 'go large' at Wentworth Woodhouse, external, near Rotherham.

Image source, Lanmark Collective/Google

The grand house itself has 365 rooms and a facade wider that that of Buckingham Palace.

Perhaps no surprise then that an enormous work of art has been put together in its grounds to mark this year's Tour de Yorkshire.

This image of the piece gives us an idea of what can be seen from above.

Landmark Collective were commissioned by Great Place Wentworth and Elsecar to create the land art, which has been designed to be seen from the air and measures 140 metres long by 150 metres wide.

A shopkeeper in Wakefield has been warned his business will be "monitored" after an undercover operation by police to see if teenagers could buy knives in the area.

Image source, PA

West Yorkshire Police sent cadets, aged 13 and 16, into 14 stores in Wakefield, Castleford and South Kirby, to see if they would sell knives to under 18-year-olds.

All but one refused to sell a knife to the undercover cadets, it's illegal to sell knives with non-folding blades which are over three inches to an under 18.

The two cadets were sold a large kitchen knife by the shop in Wakefield, the man who sold them it has been given a community resolution and told his store would be monitored.

Thousands of yellow rubber ducks will be released into the Mirror Pool at Bradford's City Park this afternoon.

It's part of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance's Yellow Yorkshire Day, which is also the official charity for Tour de Yorkshire.

Kerry Garner, the regional fundraising manager, says she hopes people will try to hook the 4,000 ducks to be in with the chance of a prize:

Police are investigating reports of a shooting at Meersbrook Park in Sheffield last night.

Image source, Google

We're expecting more details from the South Yorkshire force about the circumstances of the incident.

There are unconfirmed reports that a man was shot in the neck.

A huge stately home in North Yorkshire is to open to the public for the first time.

Birdsall House, near Malton, was originally built in the mid-16th Century following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII.

It's been in the Willoughby family since 1550

The family hope to introduce concerts, a mountain bike race and to host weddings, in a bid to raise money for the upkeep on the listed building.

It'll be a few years before a major project to transform Barnsley town centre is complete.

To give people a new way of seeing what's to come, a virtual reality version of a 3D fly-through, external of the project has been developed.

Image source, Barnsley Council

The Glass Works is the 3.8-hectare, £130m development scheme funded by Barnsley Council.

Construction is taking place to create a new central library, as well as a total overhaul of the Metropolitan Centre, which will house the town's markets.

Image source, Barnsley Council

Vistiors to the town to see the Tour de Yorkshire next week will be able to see it for themselves by wearing VR headsets.

They'll be available at the Civic Hall on Eldon Street in the former Shop Mobility store.

Plans to build new phone masts in some of the remotest parts of the Yorkshire Dales to improve communications for the emergency services have been approved.

Image source, YORKSHIRE DALES NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY

The Yorkshire Dales park authority approved the Home Office applications as part of a new emergency network.

It said the masts, located near Widdale, Arkengarthdale and on Malham Moor, will also be capable of carrying an EE antenna.

Two further applications are being considered.

The number of violent crimes recorded by police in West Yorkshire has increased by almost a quarter in the last year.

Image source, PA

There were more than 70,000 recorded cases of violence last year, up from 62,000 in 2016, the figures also show a similar increase in reports of people carrying weapons.

There's also been a significant increase in the number of homes being burgled, up by more than a third.

Mulit-million pound plans to regenerate part of York city centre have been backed by councillors according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Image source, City of York Council

The proposals to transform the area around the 750-year-old Clifford's Tower and Piccadilly area received backing from the authority's executive last night.

They recommend spending £2.4m to kick-start project.

Image source, City of York Council

The Castle Gateway scheme, estimated to cost around £30m, would give some of the city's historic sites "the setting they deserve," the council said.

If approved, construction work could begin next year.

Students will protest today to urge the University of Sheffield to "take racism seriously" and give students more support.

Image source, ANDY FARRINGTON/GEOGRAPH/PA

A series of allegations of racism involving university staff and students in Sheffield are currently being investigated.

These include allegations a security worker at Sheffield Hallam University called a student a "monkey" and claims a University of Sheffield student threw a banana at another student, during a varsity event.

A university of Sheffield spokesman said: "There is no place at Sheffield for racism in our university or students' union."

Calderdale Council aims to open its first pet cemetery by 2019 to help generate additional revenue.

BBC Weather

Today will be mainly cloudy with some outbreaks of rain moving in after a dry start. It'll be feeling a bit chilly too.

The rain will tend to ease and move away this evening and it should be dry overnight.