Plans to close a South Yorkshire primary school are a "kick in the teeth" for staff and will leave parents and pupils in "disarray", say union representatives.

Image source, Google

Astrea Academy Trust wants to close Hillside Primary, in Denaby Main, due to falling pupil numbers.

The trust says the school is "only half full" and the lack of pupils means it is unable to "ensure every child gets a great education".

It says there is enough capacity at Denaby Main and Castle academies to take on the pupils from Hillside.

But Deanne Ferguson, from the GMB Union, said the decision would put three teaching posts and 10 support staff roles at risk.

She also said the school had been talking "behind closed doors" about closure plans without informing unions.

"This is a kick in the teeth for hard working front-line key workers and makes a mockery of the consultation process," she said.

"The GMB union will fight tooth and nail to support its members and campaign for the school to remain open to provide vital support to children and parents."

A spokesperson for Astrea said: “Our focus has been to support our colleagues at the school by engaging with them directly and we have begun discussions with unions concurrently to allow the maximum time for both sets of discussions.

"We recognise this is a difficult situation for staff and will be providing all the support possible, including exploring options to take up roles elsewhere in the Astrea family."

Jurors in the trial of a man accused of the rape and murder of a University of Hull student have retired to consider their verdicts.

Image source, Humberside Police

Libby Squire (above), 21, from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, vanished in the early hours of 1 February 2019 after she was refused entry to a Hull nightclub.

Her body was recovered seven weeks later from the Humber Estuary.

Polish-born Pawel Relowicz (below), 26, denies raping and killing the philosophy student before dumping her body in a river.

At Sheffield Crown Court, Judge Mrs Justice Lambert told the jury of seven women and five men to "take as long as you need" to consider all the evidence, before sending them home for the night.

Image source, Facebook

A clearance order made following the huge fire in Bradford was not followed, the Environment Agency says.

A group of wild swimmers who took a daily plunge during the coldest January in a decade have raised more than £45,000 for a homeless charity.

Image source, Christina Cheney

The Dales Dippers braved the elements and near-freezing rivers, streams and dykes in North and West Yorkshire to raise the cash.

Christina Cheney (pictured above), from Ilkley, West Yorkshire, said her group had helped raise the money for the charity Crisis.

She said the original target of £10,000 had "gone through the roof".

Ms Cheney, a mental health social worker, said she was part of a group of about six braving the January plunges.

The mother of three young children said the third lockdown had made things "a bit difficult", but she had found places to swim closer to home.

Jon Sparkes, the chief executive of Crisis, said: "We are so grateful to the January Daily Dip team and all our Icebreaker fundraisers for their extraordinary efforts in the harshest of winters.

"The money raised will help prevent and end homelessness across the country, while their passion will show people going through the hardest times that they are not forgotten."

Lewis Williams died after being shot in the face and neck with a shotgun in Mexborough in January.

New technology to make smart motorways safer will be installed months earlier than planned, the government has said.

Image source, PA Media

The roads, which have refuge areas instead of a constant hard shoulder, have been criticised after a double-fatal crash in South Yorkshire.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he had ordered Highways England to speed up the installation of radar to detect stopped or broken-down vehicles.

There were no plans to scrap the smart motorway schemes, he added.

Two men died after their stationary vehicles were hit by a lorry on a stretch of smart motorway on the M1 near Sheffield in 2019.

The deaths of Jason Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22, could have been avoided if there had been a hard shoulder, a coroner said, calling for a review of the schemes.

Image source, PA Media

Mr Shapps said Stopped Vehicle Detection, which uses radar to detect drivers who have broken down in live lanes, is to be rolled out across the network by the end of 2022.

The technology was originally planned to be in place across the 500-mile network by March 2023.

A "large quantity" of Class A drugs and cash have been found after a car was stopped in Bradford, police say.

Image source, Google

The driver, a 38-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A controlled drugs after the car was stopped near Whetley Hill at about 18:00 on Wednesday, police said.

A second man, aged 37, was also arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A controlled drugs from an address locally, officers added.

Both men are currently being held in police custody.

Subsequent searches of several addresses in Bradford are continuing today, the force said.

Plans to knock down a bridge in York and revamp the front of the city's railway station are expected to be approved later.

Image source, LDRS

If councillors agree to the plans, Queen Street Bridge will be demolished and a new road built outside the railway station.

The scheme would also see a multi-storey car park built and part of the station building in Parcel Square demolished to make way for a new facade.

City of York Council’s planning application is recommended for approval at a meeting later.

But Historic England, York Civic Trust and LNER have all opposed the plans.

Historic England says it objects on heritage grounds and York Civic Trust says there is no justification for building so many parking spaces at the station.

Funding of £14.5m was secured to transform the area in front of York's railway station following a successful bid by the Leeds City Region to the government's Transforming Cities Fund in March 2020.

Motorists in West and North Yorkshire are being urged to check the security of their vehicles after a recent increase in the theft of catalytic converters.

Police say 20 catalytic converters have been stolen in West Yorkshire since Saturday 30 January.

A number of thefts have also recently taken place in the Osbaldwick area of York, officers say.

Crime Prevention officer Dawn Wilkinson said: “This is significant increase and I urge vehicle owners to be mindful of their own security and that of their car."

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A sign has been put up in an East Yorkshire village praising armed forces personnel for their efforts during the coronavirus pandemic.

Image source, East riding of Yorkshire Council

The sign has been erected in Leconfield, near Beverley, close to the Normandy Barracks, which is home to the Defence School of Transport (DST).

It reads: “Thank you to our Armed Forces” and features the shared flag and crest of the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

An East Riding Council spokesperson said the “uplifting” message was put at the roundabout so it would be visible to service personnel based in Leconfield.

Councillor David Elvidge said military personnel had helped set up Nightingale hospitals, run coronavirus testing and vaccine sites while giving the NHS logistical support.

Mr Elvidge said: “I'm delighted to see the sign acknowledging the outstanding support given by our Armed Forces during the pandemic.

Lt Col Ben Aumonier, said: “This sign is a heart-warming expression of the community’s appreciation for all of our service personnel, we'll be regularly reminded of this as we drive past."

Sheffield's director of public health says he believes it is a matter of "when, not if" new coronavirus variants will arrive in the city.

Greg Fell said a mutation of the virus known as the 'Kent variant' now accounted for about 70% of all cases in Sheffield and it was only a matter of time before the mutations from South Africa and Brazil were detected.

Cases of the South African strain have been confirmed in a number of places across England, including two in Scarborough, and enhanced testing has been introduced in some areas.

Mr Fell said he also had "great concerns" about the ability of existing vaccines to combat the new strains.

Since their emergence, scientists have been urgently studying the mutated versions to understand what threat they pose.

There is no evidence that any of them cause much more serious illness for the vast majority of people who become infected but they could be much more contagious or easy to catch than earlier versions.

Studies are under way to check if vaccines still work and some early results, external suggest the Pfizer vaccine protects against the new variants, external.

Meanwhile the Oxford-AstraZeneca team say a vaccine to tackle the variants could be ready to deploy by the autumn should it be needed.

More than 140 fines have been issued for breaches of Covid-19 rules in the past week in North Yorkshire, say police.

Image source, North Yorkshire Police

A total of 69 penalty notices have been issued since 26 January to people for "being outside place of living", with 62 issued for indoor gatherings.

Of the total fines 86 were issued to local residents with 57 given to visitors.

Since the third national lockdown began a total of 471 fines for Covid-19 regulation breaches have been issued in the county, officers said.

Seven flood warnings, external - meaning immediate action should be taken as flooding is expected - are currently in place in Yorkshire.

Image source, Environment Agency

The warnings include:

• Holderness Drain at Wawne Common and Woody Carr, external
• Low lying properties in the Upper Hull catchment, external
• River Derwent at Buttercrambe Mill, external
• River Hull at Hull Bridge and Beverley, external
• River Ouse at Naburn Lock, external
• River Ouse at York - riverside properties, external
• River Ouse at York - St George's Field and Queen's Staith, external

There are also 17 flood alerts - meaning flooding is possible, be prepared - currently in place on Yorkshire's rivers.

A Yellow "be prepared" weather warning for rain, external is in place for parts of Yorkshire until 12:00 today.

The Environment Agency says it's "checking defences and closely monitoring the forecast."

A new visitor attraction revealing York's Roman past could play a "key role" in its recovery from the pandemic, according to developers.

Image source, Vincent and Brown

York Archaeological Trust (YAT) said the proposed Roman-themed attraction in Rougier Street could draw in up to 500,000 visitors and £20m per year.

The Roman Quarter development is also expected to create up to 450 jobs.

YAT chief executive David Jennings said if approved it would help York bounce back from the impact of Covid-19.

"This project has a key role to play in the local economy's recovery from the pandemic and in further setting York apart from our competitor heritage cities," he said.

A 14-year-old boy needed hospital treatment after being attacked at a West Yorkshire bus station, police say.

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Officers are appealing for witnesses following the incident at Keighley bus station on Friday 29 January.

The teenager was assaulted between 15:00 and 16:00 near to the Cenotaph, according to West Yorkshire Police.

PC Mercer, said: “The incident happened at a busy time of day and I am appealing for anyone who saw the incident to get in touch.

“We are particularly keen to speak to anyone who may have recorded the incident on a mobile phone or other digital device.”

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A landmark 18th Century column in Rotherham is set to be repaired and restored and could be fully opened to the public again for the first time in decades, if plans are approved.

Image source, Google

The 35m tall Keppel’s Column, between Wentworth and Kimberworth will be strengthened, missing steps will be repaired or replaced, and the viewing platform will be accessible to the public for the first time since the 1960s.

The column, dating back to 1773, is on Historic England Heritage’s "At Risk" register, is in “critical condition” and needs to be repaired “urgently”, according to planning documents.

A report by Soul Architects Ltd states the column was stabilised in 1998 and plans were made in 2001 and 2004 to repair the landmark, but were dropped due to the cost.

The report states: "There is no doubt that Keppel's Column is of national historical and architectural significance with connections to the historic Wentworth Estate."

Rotherham Borough Council, responsible for the monument, has received a grant from Historic England to carry out the much needed works.

Keppel’s Column was commissioned in 1773 by Charles Watson Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, to commemorate the acquittal of Admiral Augustus Keppel following the Battle of Ushant, and was completed in 1780.

Plans were submitted the Rotherham Borough Council in January 2021, and the authority is set to decide on planning permission.

Junior soldiers in North Yorkshire were among those who took part in a national clap to honour Captain Sir Tom Moore last night.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson led the tributes to the 100-year-old fundraiser who died with coronavirus on Tuesday.

Capt Sir Tom won the nation's affections by walking 100 laps of his garden last spring during the first coronavirus lockdown, raising money for NHS Charities Together.

Soldiers from the Army Foundation College in Harrogate were among those honouring Capt Sir Tom.

The Army veteran, who was originally from Keighley in West Yorkshire, was promoted to honorary colonel of The Yorkshire Regiment's 1st Battalion on his 100th birthday last year.

He initially set out to raise £1,000, but eventually raised £32,794,701, which totalled £39m with Gift Aid.

During the national clap for Sir Tom the bells of Bradford City Hall played You’ll Never Walk Alone as a tribute.

The mother of a teenager who died from an undiagnosed heart condition has said she fears the pandemic is stopping young people from being screened.

Image source, Heather Reid

Alex Reid (pictured above), from Rotherham, was a "happy-go-lucky, fit" 16-year-old when she died suddenly in her sleep in 2012.

Her mother Heather Reid said more young people could now die without knowing they had an underlying condition.

Charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) said it had cancelled all of its 28,000 screening appointments since March.

Alex, who went to Sheffield High School, was one of 12 young people who die every week because of an undiagnosed heart condition, according to CRY.

Image source, Heather Reid

"There's been a lot of charities like CRY who have suffered because of the pandemic. The screening that they do hasn't happened over the last year", Mrs Reid added.

Dr Steven Cox from CRY, said "everything's cut back massively" because of the coronavirus pandemic, leading to a drop in fundraising.

To help raise money for the charity, Mrs Reid is attempting to run 624 miles - one mile for each young person who dies every year from an undetected heart condition.

BBC Weather

Today, rain and hill snow will clear, leaving a cloudy afternoon with some showers.

Tonight showers will continue, becoming more persistent rain by the early hours of the morning:

A double-amputee who raised almost £10,000 after being inspired by Captain Sir Tom Moore "to get off her butt" is fundraising again in his memory.

Image source, PA Media

Last year, Maisie Catt, from Mirfield, West Yorkshire, walked 26 miles over 10 days in her garden after seeing the Army veteran's fundraising efforts.

After news of Capt Sir Tom's death, she described him as a "national hero" and said she would "do it all again".

Maisie, who lost her legs as a result of meningitis and septicaemia as a baby, said the Keighley-born Army veteran had inspired her during the first coronavirus lockdown last year to take on her 26-mile walking challenge at the age of 10.

Image source, Reuters

She raised almost £10,000 for LimbPower, a charity which helps amputees reach their sporting potential.

Like Capt Sir Tom, who raised almost £33m for NHS charities, she smashed her original fundraising target, which was just £260.

This time around, she said: "In his memory, I'm going to walk a second marathon for the YoungMinds charity as it coincides with Children's Mental Health Week."

Capt Sir Tom Moore died with coronavirus in Bedford Hospital on Tuesday, aged 100.