About 100 jobs due to be created at new car parts factory in Telford
Snow and ice causing disruption across the county
Updates from Friday 13 January
Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather
A yellow weather warning is in place for snow and ice today, so take care out there as driving conditions may prove difficult.
Snow and rain showers will continue throughout the day and we could see more over the next 24 hours.
Latest weather forecast for the West Midlands
There’s a yellow warning for ice this morning.
A combination of ice and sleet is likely to cause tricky driving conditions and increase journey times.There’ll be some wintry showers clearing to the south east first thing this morning.
After that,expect plenty of bright weather today with variable amounts of scattered cloud.
Highs of 4C (39F).
We'll be live from 06:00 on Friday with the latest weather forecasts and travel updates as icy conditions are forecast for the West Midlands.
Plus we'll have our usual mix of news and sport.
Keep an eye out for more updates this evening and into the morning.
Rebecca Wood
BBC Weather
Further sleet and snow showers tonight, with possibly a spell of more widespread rain, sleet and snow moving southwards towards the end of the night.
Northerly winds will remain strong. Turning cold with widespread ice and a severe frost. Lows of -1C.
Rebecca Wood has your forecast
Phil Mackie
Midlands correspondent, BBC News
A "substantial" hoard of gold has been found hidden inside a piano in south Shropshire.
The county's finds liaison officer Peter Reavill, said he was more used to dealing with metal detectorists and had not had a similar experience in the 12 years he'd been based at Shropshire Council.
Mr Reavill said details of the find could not be released as they were asking the owners to come forward with information about the hoard and how it came to be in the piano, which was made in 1906 and bought by a family in Saffron Walden in 1983 .
Unless the owners or their descendants can prove its theirs, the hoard could become the property of the crown.
A coroner opened an inquest on Thursday into whether the find amounted to "treasure".
Quote MessageThe majority of the objects are made of gold and that they were deliberately hidden with the intention of being recovered at a later date. I think what's happened is that someone's tucked this away... for a later date and something catastrophic's happened."
Peter Reavill, Shropshire Finds Liaison Officer
BBC Midlands Today
On Midlands Today this evening we'll be paying tribute to the former Aston Villa, Wolves and England manager, Graham Taylor, who's died today.
The 72-year-old was well respected in the game and his death from a suspected heart attack has come as a shock.
We'll be reflecting on his life, his impact on football in this region and hear about special tributes that are planned in his memory, all on BBC One from 18:30.
Andrew Hewkin
BBC Shropshire
The "feel good factor" that Paul Hurst has injected into Shrewsbury Town since coming in as manager can go a long way to saving the club from relegation, says fans' favourite Junior Brown.
Town go into Saturday's game with Bradford after pulling themselves out of the bottom four.
Image source, Getty ImagesQuote MessageThe confidence has come back. I know we’re in a tight spot but... we’re putting in good performances. We believe we can get back into games. We believe we can get back into games and win. We’re going to keep kicking on for the rest of the season and drag ourselves out of this situation."
Junior Brown, Midfielder, Shrewsbury Town
Stephanie Barnard
BBC Local Live
Our top stories that we're looking at in the BBC Shropshire newsroom this afternoon:
A college in Shropshire says students are "moving forward" and putting the bad reputation behind them, a year on from it being rated inadequate by the government's education inspector.
In February last year, Ofsted slammed North Staffordshire College management, external for its inadequate leadership and marked the majority of the services, including quality of teaching, as "requiring improvement".
The interim principal, Peter Mccann, external said: "I am pleased that the report recognises the progress and exceptional hard work that is taking place in the college to remedy the previous problems."
Image source, GoogleQuote MessageWe are still on a journey to ensure every area of the college meets the very highest standards, a journey to treble the number of apprenticeships we offer with employers in our community and to improve our recruitment. Our image has been tarnished by the events of the past but each and every day we are moving forward and I hope the community recognises that and gets behind it's college going forward. It is only through the support of the community here in North Shropshire that the college can flourish into the future."
Peter Mccann, Interim principal, North Shropshire College
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A substantial hoard of gold has been found hidden inside an old piano in Shropshire, external.
The discovery was made when the piano was being tuned and repaired.
The upright piano, made in 1906, was sold to a family in Essex, but new owners in Shropshire found the gold just before Christmas and took it to Ludlow Museum.
Image source, Shropshire CouncilThe Portable Antiquities Scheme says the hoard has been "deliberately hidden" in the last 110 years. Experts described the find as "substantial" and "highly unusual".
Concerns have been raised about the teaching of maths and English at a college in Shropshire after it was rated "inadequate" a year ago.
The inspectorate for schools, Ofsted, visited North Shropshire College in November last year, following the scathing report in February 2016.
Ofsted has expressed concern, external about the college's teaching of GCSE maths and English, but notes that improvements have been made.
Image source, GoogleQuote MessageManagers have responded swiftly to learners’ previously poor achievements in English and mathematics. They have taken a number of remedial actions including the training of staff in the promotion of learners’ skills in all lessons, sharing best practice between teachers, managers’ visits to good colleges to learn from their practice. However, it is too soon to be sure of the impact of these actions on learners’ progress and achievement."
Ofsted report - North Shropshire College, January 2017
We told you that Shropshire Council were gritting some of the roads on higher grounds earlier this morning.
Telford Council tweets to say it will be out preparing the roads for the cold weather which is expected to hit over the next 24 hours.
Shropshire Council says its salt spreading teams will be out in force into this afternoon, as well.
Follow #WMGrit on Twitter for further updates., external
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Rules on anti-social behaviour in Shrewsbury town centre are set to be tightened.
Shropshire Council has launched a public consultation, external on whether to introduce a public space protection order which could see people handed on the spot fines.
The local authority denies that rough sleepers will be specifically targeted.
You have until 12 March to have your say on the proposals which include:, external
Image source, Shropshire CouncilUnder the act - local authorities can use public spaces protection orders (PSPOs) to ban certain activities they believe are having a "detrimental impact" on the quality of life.
Inspectors say North Shropshire College is making "reasonable progress" in turning itself around.
The college was rated "inadequate" a year ago by Ofsted.
The latest report says, external the previous management team have now left.
Image source, GooglePriorities for improvement include:, external
Stephanie Barnard
BBC Local Live
Compare the temperature where you are with more than 50 cities around the world, including some of the hottest and coldest inhabited places.
Here in the West Midlands it's certainly not as cold as some places.
It's nothing compared to Baker Lake in Canada where it’s a rather nippy -37C and Moscow -8C.
Click here to compare your local area to the rest of the world.
Shropshire's Clinical Commissioning Group says it's disappointed that a trial to help keep people out of hospital has ended early.
The intention of the original trial was for two mobile GPs to treat medical conditions such as asthma or diabetes that could be managed within a patient's own home, rather than taking them to hospital.
The ambulance service says the eight-week trial was ended early because safety concerns were raised about emergency trauma calls the GPs were attending.
Julian Povey, chair of Shropshire's Clinical Commissioning Group said he was "disappointed and frustrated" and that the trial had attended "well over 600 calls" before being suspended.
Quote MessageIt was never intended that this unit would respond to major trauma and therefore we felt there was sufficient concern to suspend the service and review what it was doing and how it was doing it."
Mark Docherty, Director of clinical commissioning, West Midlands Ambulance Service
The ambulance service says it is working with the CCG to find a new model and is looking to services in Worcestershire about how it works in other areas.
Whitchurch town mayor Councillor Mike McDonald has asked independent traders, external to embrace challenges created by new supermarkets, after Aldi submitted plans for public consultation.
