Sophie Calvert
Political Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke

Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s Cabinet has called the level of government funding "disappointing and inadequate" and has warned about further cuts to staff and services.

Members of the cabinet have written to Robert Jenrick, Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, external, to ask for more money.

Image source, Getty Images

The city council has already been allocated £18.8m in government funding. Its own estimates suggest the pandemic could cost between £25-50m.

The Conservative leader of the local authority, Councillor Abi Brown, said: "The reality is we don’t have a huge amount of things left to take that cash from."

The council’s savings pot is about £10m and the current predicted gap is at least £9m.

It is warning that without additional funding it will "shortly need to make the first set of very difficult decisions".

Last week, the government said its direct funding to councils had now reached £4.3bn, through a series of "unprecedented" grants.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

The Stoke-on-Trent Live website's top stories today include:

• Disabled Elvis fan gutted to get council noise complaint over his karaoke sessions inside bungalow, external
• Popular landlord quits Stoke-on-Trent pub, external
• Tattooist's DIY SOS challenge to build summer house at care home, external

A car driver's heart had to be restarted by paramedics after he crashed into a lamppost this morning.

Image source, Google

The collision was on Eastern Avenue, Lichfield, and the ambulance service said , externalhe was found in a critical condition.

Once treated by the ambulance crew, he was taken to the Royal Derby Hospital.