The latest news, sport, travel and weather across the West Midlands and south Cheshire.

An academy trust said it is closing schools to protect families from self-isolation at Christmas.

BBC Radio Stoke

More than 1,200 homes are set to be built in Crewe after outline plans received approval from the local council.

Image source, Google

Two proposals of 850, external and 400 homes, external have been agreed by Cheshire East councillors for land off Minshull New Road.

A new primary school, a local centre and other buildings will also be built under the plans.

Johnson Service Group has been hit by a slump in demand from the hotel and food processing sectors.

The latest news, sport, travel and weather across the West Midlands and south Cheshire.

Lucy Letby is charged with killing eight infants at a hospital neo-natal unit between 2015 and 2016.

Conservative MP Andy Carter has been banned from some 30 venues in the Cheshire town he represents.

Lucy Letby is charged with killing eight infants at a hospital neo-natal unit in 2015 and 2016.

Lucy Letby was arrested in 2018 and 2019 as part of a probe into deaths at a Chester hospital.

Amanda Rees siphoned money from her employer for six years to fund "a lavish lifestyle", police say.

BBC Radio Stoke

A new cinema and restaurant complex in Crewe, external may not be ready for another four years.

It's due to be built on the site of the empty Royal Arcade shops, where demolition work began last month.

But the plans for the commercial parts of the scheme aren't expected to be finalised until 2022, so building work wouldn't be completed until March in 2025.

Image source, Google

The redevelopment plans also include a bowling alley, multi-storey car park and the rebuilding of the bus station next door.

The council now hopes the car park could be built within two years with plans submitted next April and construction starting in December.

Lucy Letby was previously held in 2018 and 2019 on suspicion of murdering eight babies.

The latest news, sport, travel and weather across the West Midlands and south Cheshire.

A judge says there are "no compelling reasons to interfere" with the decision to free Jordan Cunliffe.

BBC Radio Stoke

A man has suffered a serious injury in a shooting which police do not believe was a random attack., external

Image source, Google

The 23-year-old was hurt in an alleyway behind Brooklyn Street and Nelson Street in Crewe, Cheshire, on Wednesday morning.

Officers said a gang of people came up to the man and a shot was fired.

The victim needed hospital treatment and has been discharged.

Beavers are released in Cheshire, returning them to the area for the first time in more than 400 years.

Five chief constables issue a warning to people planning illegal gatherings during the new lockdown.

All 13,000 birds at the Cheshire farm, which produces hatching eggs, are to be culled.

The latest news, sport, travel and weather across the West Midlands and south Cheshire.

Arkadiusz Kacmarek is jailed after stabbing his housemate to death in an unexplained drunken frenzy.