Bridgnorth

Here are three of the stories from the Shropshire Star today:

• £380,000 paid to consultants working on stalled council HQ
• Woman arrested after teenager stabbed
• Nurse suspended following unexpected death

Storm Ciara is set to bring strong and possibly damaging winds across the West Midlands.

Met Office

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for the region from 18:00 on Saturday to midnight on Sunday.

Its forecast says gusts of between 80 and 100km/h (50-60mph) are likely across inland areas.

Any early mist and fog should clear leaving a dry and bright day with highs of 5C (41F).

It's forecast to be a cold, clear night for most of us and in some places the temperature will drop below freezing.

Temperatures tomorrow will remain cold, and further ahead there's some stormy weather expected at the weekend.

Postman Les

A decision on whether to build up to 3,000 homes on green-belt land near Tong has been put back until May.

Shropshire councillors had been due to discuss the principle of developing the land, just off junction three of the M54, on 12 February.

The council said it was "in light of further recent evidence published by the Black Country authorities regarding their ability to meet their own housing and employment needs".

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Shropshire Council previously said the development was being considered with the needs of neighbouring authorities in mind.

But the idea appeared to be dead in December last year after those authorities failed to follow up their interest.

At that time, Shropshire Council Conservative leader Peter Nutting said the development was "very unlikely" to go ahead.

Here are three of the stories from the Shropshire Star today:

• Restaurant owner guilty of causing death by dangerous driving
• M54 and M6 link road plans submitted
• Shrewsbury MP criticised by Jewish leaders

A health and wellbeing programme set up to take pressure off hospitals and social care services in Telford is expected to go over budget by £600,000.

The Telford and Wrekin Better Care Fund has a budget of nearly £24m and is jointly run by the council and the clinical commissioning group.

Getty Images

A report for the borough's health and wellbeing board said the 2.5% overspend was caused by demand for care beds and the council and CCG said they would absorb the costs equally.

Better care funds were established by the government in 2013 and the council and CCG have collaborated in Telford and Wrekin since 2017.

Its aim is to prevent admissions into hospital, support residents to live well and reduce the dependency on services.

The BBC Weather Watchers have shared more colourful pictures of the sunrise this morning.

These ones were taken in Dawley, Shropshire, and Droitwich, Worcestershire.

Liam Ball

Jonny

It's a foggy and misty start to Wednesday across the West Midlands but that should lift over the morning for a bright afternoon.

It's going to start to change though, and a yellow weather warning is already in place for high winds that are due to develop ahead of the weekend.

It will be a clear and dry night with some cloud likely in the early hours with lows of 1C (34F).

BBC Weather Watchers/Jon

You can find a detailed weather forecast for your area on the BBC Weather site.

Former Shropshire opening batsman John Hulme has been appointed as the county's new cricket chairman.

Hulme, 69, who played cricket for Shropshire between 1970 and 1983, will replace Toby Shaw, who has been chairman since 2011.

Shropshire County Cricket Club

Hulme, from Oswestry, whose appointment was confirmed at the club’s AGM, said: “It will be no easy task in trying to fill Toby Shaw’s very sizeable shoes.

"He has made an immense contribution to Shropshire cricket in recent years, promoting the interests of the county club and securing a very sound financial base, which is the envy of many other National Counties Cricket Association clubs.”

The footbridge leading to the Severn Valley Railway in Bridgnorth has been closed for up to five weeks for repairs.

Google

Shropshire Council engineers say the bolt anchorages failed two years ago - and although temporary repairs were done at the time - a more permanent fix is being carried out.

These are some of the Shropshire Star headlines:

• Council hires £1,000-a-day highways consultant for six months in war on potholes
• West Midlands Trains to keep railway franchise for now
• Two-car crash causes rush hour delays on A458 near Shrewsbury

Shropshire Council has defended its decision to pay a consultant £1,000 a day to "get a grip" on road maintenance.

PA Media

There are 35,000 complaints in the system and the council's contractor Kier is being scrutinised over its working practices.

Councillors have raised concerns over the company's work.

Steve Davenport, the councillor in charge of roads, said the new role would cost about £130,000 for six months, but it would be money well spent.

"It's all down to doing more for less - we know there are better ways of doing it and we've just got to get there," he said.

It will be a mostly clear and sunny day with highs of 10C (50F).

It will be a cloudy and misty night with the chance of showers and lows of 8C (46F).

Patchy rain should move away, leaving a brighter day tomorrow.

BBC Weather Watchers/Terry Eyre

You can find a detailed weather forecast for your area on the BBC Weather site.

From the Shropshire Star:

• Woman cut free after three-vehicle crash
• Opposition to Shrewsbury relief road aired
• Council takes over powers to punish illegal parking

Parking enforcement in Telford from today becomes the responsibility of the local authority instead of the police.

John Campion, police and crime commissioner for West Mercia, is giving Telford and Wrekin Council £200,000 to help pay for the switch-over.

Google

The majority of the car parks in Telford are free and will remain free, but the council will collect fines from people parking illegally on the road.

The money will be used to pay for the enforcement, but any profit will go to the council, which says it will reinvest it in roads and other forms of transport.

It will be a cloudy day with some rain this afternoon and highs of 13C (55F).

The Health and Safety Executive says it's prosecuting two companies, following the death of a 45-year-old Bridgnorth man who died after an ammonia leak at a Carlsberg brewery in Northampton.

The leak from the site’s refrigeration system which killed David Chandler in November 2016 also seriously injured a 56-year-old man and another 22 needed hospital treatment.

Northamptonshire Police

The HSE said Carlsberg Supply Company and contractor Crowley Carbon UK Ltd would both face charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The first hearing is due to begin at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on 6 March.

A wonky cottage in Ironbridge is set to be sold at auction next month, with a guide price of £100,000.

Lloyds Cottage has been empty for 15 years and is owned by Telford and Wrekin Council, which has carried out work to make it safe.

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Conservation architect Tony Rowland said nothing could be done to straighten the building, but there was no sign of cracking, suggesting any movement happened a long time ago.

There are plans for a 6ft statue in Ironbridge to commemorate the work of local coracle builders.

Getty Images

The Ironbridge Coracle Trust has asked Telford and Wrekin Council for permission to erect it outside the Museum of the Gorge.

If approved, the statue would depict a man carrying one of the water vessels.

From the Shropshire Star:

• Concerns raised over roads firm used by council
• Calls to pedestrianise more areas of town centre
• No jail for teenager caught with machete

Telford Tigers are through to the final of the National Cup after beating Swindon Wildcats in a penalty shootout.

They went into the game trailing by three goals from the first leg, but took the game to overtime and then penalties after winning the home leg 6-3 last night.

Steve Brodie

Netminder Brad Day made three saves for the Tigers before Brandon Whistle won the tie when he put the puck past Renny Marr in the Swindon goal.

Telford head coach Tom Watkins called it "one of the most memorable Tigers victories" and the sponsors took the rare step of awarding the man-of-the-match prize to the whole team.

Steve Brodie

It will be a cloudy day with some patchy drizzle and highs of 12C (54F).

Telford Tigers head coach Tom Watkins is confident his team can pull back a three goal deficit in their National Cup semi-final against Swindon Wildcats.

The second leg is being played at Telford Ice Rink this evening and Watkins said his players need to put in more effort, admitting that in the first leg "they competed harder than us in the key areas".

Steve Brodie

The first leg ended 7-4 to Swindon, but Watkins added: "We are a team that have come from behind this season on a number of occasions so I have a lot of belief that we can still advance to the final."

A businessman has been fined £4,500 for operating a waste recycling site in Telford without an environmental permit.

Brian Anthony Wood, 64, of St George's in Telford, had earlier admitted two charges relating to operating a regulated facility, and had stored around 6,500 cubic metres of waste at The Old Granville, Granville Road, Donnington Wood, Telford, the Environment Agency said.

At Telford Magistrates Court on Monday he was also ordered to clear the site and not to take any additional waste onto the site.

Environment Agency

Woods was a director of Granex Recycling Ltd, which was dissolved in April 2017 but prior to that recovered waste plastics, processed these and produced plastic pellets for re-use in the plastics industry, the agency said.

He was also told to pay court costs of £7,101.65 and a victim surcharge of £120.

Telford's exotic zoo might have found a new home - in Telford Town Park.

It announced earlier it would stop admitting visitors to its site at Priorslee and would concentrate on educational and therapy group visits instead.

Telford and Wrekin Council

But now it says its working with Telford and Wrekin Council on opening at a new site next to the Wonderland park.

If planning approval is given, this new site could open later this year and would be open to the general public.

Here are some of the headlines from the Shropshire Star website:

• Telford's Exotic Zoo to close for public visits
• Shrewsbury care home which gave medication to wrong patient told it must improve
• Coronavirus: Shropshire couple worried for family in Chinese city at heart of killer virus

The West Midlands Mayor says, although performance on West Midlands Trains has improved, it is still far from good enough.

The firm runs the under-fire West Midlands Railway routes as well the London Northwestern operator.

Andy Street is threatening to recommend it loses its Midlands franchise if there aren't improvements by the end of this month.

Getty Images

Transport Focus' latest figures put the operator in the bottom five for satisfaction nationally with about three quarters of commuters satisfied with the rail firm's performance.

"I know there is still huge, huge concern and 'fed-up-ness', if that is the word, over this," he said.

"If we decide not ask for the franchise to be removed now, let's be clear, they are not in any way off the watch list.

"And I will need to discuss with the Secretary of State for Transport what is an appropriate way of keeping them very firmly on that watch list to make they continue to deliver improvement."

Shropshire- born author Jack Fairweather's book The Volunteer has won the Costa Book of the Year award for 2019.

The Volunteer profiles Polish resistance fighter Witold Pilecki who infiltrated the Nazi death camp Auschwitz to smuggle out information.

Getty Images

"I stumbled across this historical figure and wanted to know more," said Mr Fairweather, a former war reporter, earlier this year.

"When he arrived at the camp in 1940, it was a brutal place for political prisoners and he witnessed the steps of the Nazis arriving at the final solution."

Earlier we told you Telford's Exotic Zoo has announced it will be closing its doors to the public at its site at Lakeside Plant Centre in Priorslee

The owner, Scott Adams, explained it was because they haven't got the car parking space or toilet facilities to cope with the number of visitors they were getting.

There has been a huge reaction to the announcement on its Facebook page.

Louise Mooney said: "Gutted! I tell everyone how amazing it is! I've brought so many different people with us."

Google

Mandy Pugh added: "Such very sad news.

"I work with people with learning disabilities and we've loved visiting the zoo, seeing the animals and having hands on experiences with them."

While Sonia Leigh said: "Absolutely gutted for all the amazing staff.

"We have had many a lovely day up there and we will really miss you."

A zoo in Telford has announced it will be closing its doors to the public.

Telford Exotic Zoo opened in Priorslee in 2017.

In a post on Facebook it has said "after many logistical issues" it has decided to close the site to the public.

BBC

The zoo previously hit the headlines as it was forced to fill its new penguin enclosure with models, as a shortage of birds meant it was unable to get the real thing.

In the post, the zoo said: "We will continue to use the site which has seen much development and investment to make it a beautiful, engaging and educational place for our non profit community work, community education programs, animal assisted therapy and interventions and private education experiences, but no longer offer public entry as a zoo."

Tonight will be cold and largely dry with long clear spells and lows of 0C (32F).

BBC Weather Watchers / AJthewalker

Wednesday will be dry and fine with long sunny spells and patchy cloud.

You can find a detailed weather forecast for your area on the BBC Weather site.

Council gritting teams will be heading out later with temperatures set to drop overnight.

Here are three of the stories from the Shropshire Star today:

• Concern over rail link for power station
• Plans for new petrol station
• Woman rescued after car overturns

Wintery showers and ice could lead to travel disruption in parts of the West Midlands, the Met Office is warning.

Met Office

A yellow warning is in place until 10:00 for Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Staffordshire.

The history of coracles in Shropshire could be marked with a statue if the idea's given planning permission.

Ironbridge Coracle Trust

The Ironbridge Coracle Trust wants to place the six-foot steel structure in a flowerbed outside the Museum of the Gorge.

Their plans say the monument, of a coracle man carrying one of the boats, would have an "attractive, rust-like appearance".

Telford and Wrekin's planning department will make a decision at a future date.

Coracles are thought to date back to pre-Roman times and the small, round-shaped, lightweight boats were traditionally used along areas like Shropshire and the Welsh borders.

It will be a chilly and breezy day with some bright spells and mainly dry with highs of 7C (45F).

It will be a cold and breezy night with some wintry showers and lows of 1C (34F).

There will be sunny spells tomorrow with some showers drifting eastwards.

BBC Weather Watchers/Laura and Glenn

You can find a detailed forecast for your area on the BBC Weather site.