Hospitals chief exec talks up plans for urgent care centres
Evidence of English Civil War siege discovered
Lions coach records wedding message for couple
Updates on Friday 2 December
Another chilly night with temperatures down to -4C (24F) means more frosty pictures coming in from our Weather Watchers.
Here's how it's looking in Newport (top) and Oswestry (bottom).
Image source, Tay
Image source, Os Dave
Andy Giddings
BBC Shropshire
A Shropshire care home is being forced to close after administrators acting for its parent companies failed to find it a buyer.
Beaumaris Court Care Home in Newport is one of six homes which belonged to Claremont Care Limited and Silver Leaf Estates before they went into financial difficulties in February.
The administrators say they've found a buyer for another of the homes and are still working to sell the other four.
Telford and Wrekin Council says it is satisfied it put up a good fight "on behalf of its residents" to overturn plans for 290 new homes in Wellington.
It had appealed to the High Court, after a planning inspector had given developers the go-ahead to build them earlier this year.
Image source, GoogleThe authority also says that while it accepts homes have to be built in the area, it is worried the government is "putting national targets ahead of local choice".
It can't say at this stage how much the legal fight has cost in total, but it owes the other side costs of nearly £18,000.
Andy Giddings
BBC Shropshire
Our headlines this afternoon include:
- Ketley explosion detectives focus investigation on distinctive BMW
- Council loses high court challenge over Wellington development
- Telford's European Christmas market opens
A scheme that allows primary school children at the Hadley Learning Community to download their school books on to a tablet and take them home is proving a success.
It started at half term and now the school says 85% of the children are using it, with many children pestering their teachers for more books.
Here's a demonstration of how it works.
A scheme to allow Telford school-children to download e-books is proving popular
Andy Giddings
BBC Shropshire
The recommendation that Shropshire should just have one centre for emergency care, in Shrewsbury, has been provoking lots of debate on our Facebook page, external.
Andrew Davies asks: "Why has the option of expanding services at Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt not been considered or even expanding Wrexham Maelor to cope with the issue of patients in North Wales??"
Image source, SaTHRobert Ewen shared a perspective from outside Shropshire, writing: "Did same here in Hartlepool on the promise of a new hospital near Winyard, it never happened and our hospital is run down with no A&E now."
But Mell Wheeler was pleased with the recommendations: " I'll be glad when it moves back. Although sensibly both should stay open."
Police investigating an explosion in a Ketley post box (pictured before the explosion) yesterday afternoon want to trace a grey BMW three series car, seen in the area shortly before it happened.
They won't say at this stage what caused the "small explosion" on Sinclair Gardens, which caused 20 homes to be evacuated as a precaution.
Image source, GoogleThe car is distinctive because it is left hand drive and left down Waterloo Road, in the direction of Ketley Business Park.
It is notorious for serious accidents and has been recognised as one of the 50 roads with the worst safety record in Britain, external.
Telford's new European Christmas market has opened in Southwater.
Between today and 23 December there will be 32 chalets serving all the usual festive continental fare like sausages and beer.
There will also be a number of local stalls and a funfair to entertain children, plus performances from local choirs and bands.
Telford's first European Christmas market has opened this morning with 32 stalls
Tim Page
News Editor, BBC Shropshire
Plans for nearly 300 houses in Wellington have been given the go-ahead by judges in London, Telford and Wrekin Council says.
The local authority had gone to court to get the plans for Haygate Road thrown out.
Image source, GoogleThe authority says it's "very disappointed" by the ruling, because it feels the site is inappropriate.
Plans to change rural maternity units in Shropshire - to save £95k - will be discussed by hospital bosses today.
Members of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust will be asked to consider downgrading three midwife-led units in Ludlow, Bridgnorth and Oswestry.
Under the proposals, the units would close at night but on-call midwives would be available to go in and meet expectant mums when needed.
Sian Grzeszczyk
BBC Midlands Today
Shopkeepers and traders in Shropshire are hoping a new team of "retail gurus" brought in by the council will help boost sales over Christmas.
Telford and Wrekin Council have launched the £1m project aimed at helping small businesses tap into new markets.
Find out more on Midlands Today, from 13:30 on BBC One.
Image source, bbcHealth campaigner Gill George, from Shropshire Defend Our NHS, is claiming the review of hospital services in the county is a "cuts package" and that NHS staff will end up losing their jobs if the proposed changes go ahead.
The recommendation from the Future Fit review team was to have just one centre for emergency medicine in the county and to move Women and Children's services to Shrewsbury, while making Telford a centre for planned operations.
Ms George said this meant "there are no winners at all here, because everyone will lose out with further to travel".
And she said many GPs she had spoken to were unhappy with the proposals, saying they would result in more care being carried out in the community, without the extra funding necessary.
The hospitals trust says the reorganisation is purely about safeguarding services and protecting patient safety, rather than saving money.
Andy Giddings
BBC Shropshire
Our headlines this lunchtime:
- Arguments continue over Shropshire hospital reorganisation plans
- Controlled explosion planned at school in Shrewsbury to dispose of chemical
- Telford Tigers creditors agree to financial plan
BBC Travel
The B4393 in Crewgreen closed in both directions at the Criggion Lane junction, because of a burst water main.
The police have confirmed that the chemical they are disposing of in Shrewsbury this lunchtime is 2,4-DNPH, the same chemical which had to be destroyed at the Thomas Adams School in Wem and various others around the country.
Schools have been told to check their stocks of the chemical and dispose of them if necessary, because they can become dangerous if they have dried out.
Image source, ThinkstockWe aren't being told which school the bomb squad are at, but the police say it is one in the town centre.
The police are warning a controlled explosion is going to be carried out at a school in Shrewsbury in the next two hours, to dispose of a "known substance".
The Thomas Adams school in Wem carried out a similar explosion last month on a chemical known as 2,4-DNPH.
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BBC Midlands Today
The leader of Telford and Wrekin Council has questioned whether a stand-alone hospital trust should cover the borough.
It comes after Shrewsbury was chosen as the preferred site for a new £300m emergency centre.
Under the proposals, which will be looked at by clinical commissioning groups next month, Telford would still have a 24-hour urgent care centre dealing with about 80% of current emergency cases.
Telford's A&E could be downgraded
Loudon Wainwright III has been confirmed as one of the star performers at next year's Shrewsbury Folk Festival.
Tickets for the event, over the August Bank Holiday weekend, have just gone on sale.
Other headline acts include The Unthanks, Oysterband, Seth Lakeman and Eric Bibb.
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Andy Giddings
BBC Shropshire
A creditors meeting has agreed to place the Telford Tigers ice hockey club into liquidation, as a solution to its debt problems, as a takeover by new owners goes ahead.
Insolvency firm Robson Scott says the creditors will now be written to next week, to explain how this affects them.
New owners have already taken over the club's name and assets, but there was no vote needed by the creditors to ratify the takeover.
The team will continue their fixtures as planned.
Image source, Steve BrodieMeanwhile, a fourth player, Slovakian forward Michal Satek, has left the club, after failing to agree to a restructured contract offered by the new owners.
