Industry

As Birmingham's bin strikes enter their fifth week, the health secretary has said he is concerned about the impact of the walkout on public health.

Speaking to Times Radio, Wes Streeting said: "I certainly am concerned about the public health situation and the poor conditions we're seeing for people in Birmingham.

"As the bin bags are piling up, we see rats and other vermin crawling around."

Birmingham City Council said on Tuesday morning: "All of our waste wagons have been deployed from our three depots citywide this morning."

Asking residents to leave their bins out as they normally would, the authority said it would collect them "asap" and apologised for what it called "the current situation".

Natasha, whose 11-week-old son's immune system is impaired due to being born prematurely, told BBC Radio WM part of her street in Winson Green was "quite literally a waste site", blocking her route to the bus stop.

"That pathway is basically covered in black bin bags and physical household waste bins that are overflowing," she said. "You can clearly see where rodents have actually bitten into the bin bags and they've been opened up.

"Do I walk past that tip point, where all that rubbish is, where all the rodents are accumulating, and all the pests are?

"Or do I… walk on the road with my son's pushchair?

"Essentially, I'm having to choose between my son becoming possibly critically ill or being hit by a car."

Talks between bin workers and the city council ended on Tuesday without an agreement being reached.

"No resolution has yet been reached but Unite has put forward a range of fair and reasonable solutions to bring this dispute to an end," the union said.

During public questions at a council meeting on Tuesday, a resident in a rodent costume asked Majid Mahmood, cabinet member for environment, when the rat population would decline and when streets would return to an "acceptable state".

Mahmood said he understood and sympathised with residents' frustrations and that was why a major incident was declared.

The strike has made headlines around the world, and last week the city council declared a major incident.

With the backlog of waste growing by 1,000 tonnes a week, neighbouring Lichfield District Council is due to start sending crews to help clear it.

The impact of fly-tipping on communities in the West Midlands, due to the strike, was debated in the Commons on Tuesday.

Wendy Morton, Conservative MP for Aldridge-Brownhills said neighbouring councils must not be left out of pocket as result of the strikes which were having a "knock-on effect" in Walsall with extra demand on recycling centres and traffic building up.

Council tax payers in Walsall would end up footing the bill, she added, while she said she understood neighbouring councils were offering to help clear up the rubbish.

"If this were to be the case and other local authorities were helping, can we be reassured that any costs incurred would be funded by the government or Birmingham City Council because I don't feel it's the job of my local tax payers to be funding the clean-up of Birmingham's streets?," she added.

Morton urged ministers to condemn the strike and step in to bring it to an end.

Environment Minister Daniel Zeichner said while he recognises the gravity of the situation, it was best to work with people locally to find a solution.

Bin workers began indefinite strike action on 11 March, although walkouts have been taking place since January.

They are fighting plans to remove some roles and downgrade others.

Birmingham City Council said only a small number of workers would be facing pay cuts, and it desperately needs to save money after effectively declaring itself bankrupt in 2023.

England's health secretary's comments reflect the crisis point many in Birmingham feel the situation has reached.

Speaking to the BBC, one resident said he felt like he was "living in a Third World country", while others have complained of having to take their rubbish to temporary collection sites after coming home from long overnight shifts.

The council is advising people to continue putting out their household waste on collection days, saying workers who are not on strike will do their best to remove it.

A previous bin strike in 2017 went on for seven weeks before an agreement was reached.

Registration to vote in May's local and mayoral elections in England is to close on Friday.

Anyone who wants to vote has until 23:59 BST on Friday to submit an application to register.

There are local elections to 24 of England's 317 councils as well as some mayoral authorities on 1 May.

It's the first big set of polls since Labour's landslide victory in last year's general election.

About 1,650 seats will be contested on 14 county councils, eight unitary authorities, one metropolitan district, and in the Isles of Scilly.

There will also be mayoral elections in the West of England, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Doncaster, North Tyneside and – for the first time – in Hull and East Yorkshire, and Greater Lincolnshire.

Elections to all 21 county councils in England had been due to take place.

But last month, the government announced elections would be postponed in nine areas, where the councils are undertaking reorganisation and devolution.

On the same day, there is also a Westminster by-election in the Cheshire seat of Runcorn and Helsby.

There are no local elections scheduled in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Niki Nixon, director of communications at the Electoral Commission, said: "Tomorrow is the last day to register to vote ahead of the upcoming local elections on 1 May.

"You need to be registered before the deadline at midnight on Friday so you can have your say.

"If your details have changed or you've moved home since the general election last year, you'll need to register again.

"It only takes five minutes, and you can do it online at gov.uk/register-to-vote.

"And if you want to vote by post or by appointing a proxy to vote on your behalf, you'll need to apply before the deadlines next week – but you must be registered to vote first."

The areas where there are elections to county councils include: Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Devon, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

The other elections are to the unitary authorities of Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Durham, North Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Shropshire, West Northamptonshire and Wiltshire, plus Doncaster Metropolitan Council and the Isles of Scilly, which has a unique governance structure.

A Welcome to Frome road sign has been moved to another Somerset town 10 miles (16km) away.

Drivers were left confused when the sign appeared on the B3355 going into Midsomer Norton on Friday.

It follows a spate of sign swapping across the West Country region in March, which included the welcome sign for Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire, ending up in Portland, Dorset – more than 60 miles (97km) away.

A spokesperson for Somerset Council said: "We are aware of this latest incident and remind those involved that this is an act of criminal damage which will need to be repaired at public expense. If residents see something like this happening they should contact the police."

Jersey politicians have unanimously backed a proposal to slap a lifetime ban on hit-and-run drivers.

Deputy Catherine Curtis proposed the creation of a new offence under the Road Traffic (Jersey) Law 1956 for failing to stop and report an accident following a serious or fatal injury.

The proposition requested penalties for an offence included, but were not limited to, a lifetime driving disqualification.

Curtis said a lifetime driving ban would stop dangerous drivers from getting back on the road and possibly hurting someone else.

The current penalties for causing death by dangerous driving, introduced in 1997, include a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment and a minimum of two years' driving disqualification.

In December 2024 Dylan John Pounds, 29, was jailed for 15 years for causing the deaths of a father and his 11-year-old son in a hit-and-run in Jersey.

Pounds, who was sentenced for seven offences, was banned from driving for 12 years.

'More responsible driving'

Curtis said she hoped stricter laws "bring some comfort to victims, their friends and families".

"I hope it will encourage safer and more responsible driving," she said.

The States Assembly voted to approve the proposition, as amended, with 47 votes for, no votes against and no abstentions.

Six men arrested on suspicion of modern-day slavery offences in Devon have been bailed, police said.

The group was arrested by Devon and Cornwall Police after a crash involving a van and lorry on Dolvin Road in Tavistock on 19 May led to the discovery of eight potential modern-day slavery victims.

Police said the suspected victims, who had all been receiving support, were identified in the van involved in the crash and at an address in the Gulworthy area.

The force added an investigation into the incident was ongoing.

The family of an 18-year-old driver who died following a crash have described him as "always our light – our joy, our pride, a part of our hearts".

Nojukas Korzeniauskas died at the scene of the collision on the A47 at Guyhirn in Cambridgeshire at about 14:45 BST on Saturday.

"Though your journey here was far too short, your presence was a miracle full of endless love," his parents and brother said of the teenager, who lived at Cygnet Crescent in March.

Cambridgeshire Police said officers continue to appeal for witnesses or dashcam footage of the collision.

A tribute, issued via the police force, read: "Our dearest Nojukas – you were always our light – our joy, our pride, a part of our hearts.

"Your smile lit up every room, and your laughter was music to our home.

"We – your mama, dad, and brother – say goodbye not as to someone gone, but to someone who will always remain with us – in our memories, our dreams, our hearts."

Mr Korzeniauskas was driving a silver Mazda MX-5 at the time of the collision with the Scania double-decker bus.

The road was closed between the Rings End roundabout and Wisbech for several hours.

A man who indecently assaulted a girl several times over a three month period has been jailed for two years and three months.

Samuel Fletcher, 33, carried out the assaults between December 2021 and February 2022.

Douglas Courthouse heard his actions had affected "every part" of the victim's life.

Placing Fletcher on the sex offenders register for 10 years, Deemster Graeme Cook said she had been "particularly vulnerable" at the time and was now a "damaged young girl" who needed support.

Fletcher had denied the charges, but was found guilty of three counts of indecent assault on the girl, who was under the age of 16 at the time, after a trial in April.

The court heard his offending took place between 11 December 2021 and 5 February 2022.

In a victim impact statement read to the court the girl said she felt numb as a result of Fletcher's actions, suffered from stress headaches, and her education had been "ruined".

"Every part of my life has been impacted by what happened. I have no focus in life anymore," she added.

Deemster Cook said Fletcher being under the influence of alcohol at the time of the offending was an aggravating factor in the case.

He said the 33-year-old's actions had caused his victim "severe psychological harm".

It was important to be mindful of the impact of this type of offending on children, the Deemster said.

Fletcher was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order restricting his contact with anyone under the age 16.