Innovation

There's nothing like playing in front of a home crowd – but for Dudley Football Club, it hasn't happened for 40 years.

Club directors say finding a permanent home in the borough is "vital", while Dudley Council leader Patrick Harley said a potential site for the club has been identified.

The team last played in the borough in 1985 but had to move out when a crater appeared on the pitch at Dudley Sports Centre. They now play seven miles (11.2km) away at Sporting Khalsa's ground in Willenhall.

Dudley FC, a non-league team also known as the Robbins, was founded in 1888 and plays in the Midland Premier League.

'We could easily give up'

Stephen Austin, one of the club's directors, said there have been many failed attempts over the years to move the club back to Dudley.

"A return to Dudley is something we all want and need," he said.

"We've been in discussions for 40 years. We've been close on a number of occasions and not managed to get over the line so cautious is where we are.

"We have to remain optimistic because if not, we could easily give up."

Dudley's connection to the sport is strong with footballer Duncan Edwards represented with a statue in the town centre.

Edwards was from Dudley and went on to play for Manchester United and England before his death in the Munich air disaster, aged just 21.

Harley, leader of the Conservative-run council, said its officers were in talks with the club – and a potential site for the team has been identified.

"I think we're way closer now than we have been for many years," he said.

"There are lots of hurdles to overcome and we have to make sure that the council is not financially threatened by any proposed deal.

"It'll bring a sense of purpose to the area, it would bring a good morale boost."

Former Dudley MP Marco Longhi raised the campaign in the House of Commons last year where it got the backing of the then Conservative culture secretary Lucy Frazer.

Now, Sonia Kumar, the town's Labour MP, has started a petition to bring Dudley FC home.

"I'm very positive, we've got some things coming up in the pipeline and hopefully there is a place for Dudley to come back to," she said.

"It's not just about going to see the game for it's spirit, but what it will do for the economy."

The club finished sixth place in the Midland Football League and is currently gearing up for the JW hunt charity cup on 5 June.

Matty Lovatt, first team manager, said being back in Dudley would help with extra funding for the club's youth development.

"Having been here seven years, I feel like an adopted Dudley man," he said.

"I feel attached to the club and I feel their pain. It's only right for the people that they've got a ground back in their own town."

Work to replace cladding on flats in a Surrey town may take "several years" to complete.

Lakeview estate residents were told Woking Borough Council would install new insulation on their flats in April after old cladding was removed over fire safety concerns in 2024.

Resident Mike Paternoster told BBC Radio Surrey his property was "a lot colder and we had the heating on far more than normal" over the winter due to the missing cladding.

Ian Johnson, council cabinet member for housing, said the project now involved "a full exterior refurbishment of each block" and "complex projects such as this take time to plan and implement".

"It could take several years for all blocks to be refurbished," he added.

'Something out of a space station'

The council removed cladding from the 14 blocks of flats in May 2024.

Residents of the 250 flats have now been told the work to install new cladding is not due to begin until April 2026, but it will involve more extensive renovations.

Temporary insulation was put in place, but Mr Paternoster said it was "not properly finished".

"It looks like something out of a space station at the moment," he added.

Johnson said the previous cladding was removed "to protect people's means of escape in the event of a fire".

"Having had the opportunity to inspect the buildings in more detail, we are now planning to undertake a full exterior refurbishment of each block," he added.

The changes could include new windows and doors. The council says its current plans require planning permission and it is required to consult on the work with around a third of the flats' leaseholder residents.

Mr Paternoster said he was concerned plans to reorganise local government – which would see district and borough councils replaced by new, single-tier local authorities – could delay the work further.

"If the reorganisation goes ahead, will the work actually get done? Because it will be different people in charge," he said.

Johnson said the council was "carrying on as normal for now" and would "make appropriate decisions to support the completion of the refurbishment programme" once the new council structure was decided.

Plans to turn part of a former department store into flats have been approved after a successful appeal.

Developers want to convert the first and second floors of the old Peter Crisp building on the High Street in Rushden into 14 flats.

North Northamptonshire Council refused the application in July over concerns that some of the flats were too small and that it was too close to a nearby protected wildlife area.

However, the government's planning inspectorate overturned that rejection.

The upper floors of the building have been vacant since the family-run department store closed in 2009.

The ground floor has since been occupied by businesses including Tesco Express, an estate agency, and a gym.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the applicant made changes to the plans, including changing the layout in two of the flats to reduce the number of people living there.

The developer also showed evidence it had paid out money to mitigate the impact on the special protection conservation area, the inspectorate said.

The flats will include four one-bedroom and ten two-bedroom homes, each with an open-plan kitchen and living area.

No parking spaces are included.

The planning inspector said the new plans fixed the original problems and published its decision on 16 May.

The new chief executive of Leeds City Council has warned the city is facing one of its "most challenging years" financially for "a long time".

Ed Whiting was appointed in January after Tom Riordan stepped down following 14 years at the helm.

Four months into the role he said the council needed to "live within our means" and faced "tough choices" as it looks to save almost £104m by the end of 2025/26.

Despite the challenge he said he was "excited" about the opportunities ahead and said the chance to be a part of "what comes next for the city was "amazing".

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Whiting said notwithstanding the financial difficulties faced by the council he believed there was "light at the end of the tunnel" for local authorities.

He said he was hopeful that the government's Spending Review in June would deliver a multi-year settlement for the council.

While he said it would not "dramatically transform the amount of money we can spent as a council" it would provide stability.

"Pain as Spain mainly off the mains" reads the headline of the Metro.

The paper's front page shows a picture of travellers in Madrid, stranded as a result of the power blackout.

A picture of disgruntled travellers also features on the front of the Guardian.

The i Paper says Spain and Portugal were "thrown into chaos".

The Financial Times talks of people flowing on to the streets when metro stations were taken offline.

A different focus is taken by the Sun, which focuses on the impact on British tourists with its headline, "no beer in Benidorm".

The Daily Mail says the government is facing a "summer of discontent" after the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, ruled out extra money for public sector pay rises.

Independent pay review bodies are expected to suggest above inflation pay rises for teachers and nurses.

The paper says Reeves is now on a collision course with unions after warning the increases would have to be funded by cuts to services.

It notes that Sir Keir Starmer insists no decision has been made.

The Daily Telegraph reports on the proposed new law blocking sex offenders from gaining asylum in the UK.

The paper quotes the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, who said sex offenders that pose a risk to the community should not benefit from refugee protections. The new powers will be introduced through amendments to Labour's Asylum Bill, according to the report.

The Times says resident doctors at the British Medical Association have condemned the Supreme Court's ruling that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

It quotes the union as saying the conclusion is "scientifically illiterate" and "biologically nonsensical".

The paper suggests the BMA's stance could raise the prospect of health leaders seeking to block new NHS guidance on transgender patients being drawn up after the ruling.

And the Daily Express leads with a quote from the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, who has criticised the government's inheritance tax on farmers.

"I will not let Labour destroy rural way of life" reads its headline. Writing in the paper, Badenoch described Labour's plans as "cruel", warning it would crush families and destroy businesses. A Labour source said the party was delivering for working people.

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Five people have been taken to hospital after a crash involving a car and a van.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary is urging motorists to find alternative routes following the collision near Lyndhurst in the New Forest.

A police statement said it happened at 13:25 BST, and the A35 southbound is closed from Bank.

The A35 northbound is closed from Lyndhurst Road, and Rhinefield Ornamental Drive has also been shut in both directions.

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The force said five people have reported injuries.

It added: "Please find an alternative route if possible and we will update you when the road has been reopened. Thanks for your patience."

Shropshire Council is to launch a third in-house pothole filling team within the next few months, speeding up the process of repairing roads.

New council leader Heather Kidd has made improving the state of Shropshire's roads one of her top priorities within the first 100 days in power.

Her new Liberal Democrat administration said road maintenance over the past 20 years had not been good enough.

But the group, which took control of the council following local elections earlier this month, admitted that the previous Conservative administration had begun the process of launching a third team.

The poor state of the county's roads was an issue raised by residents across the county in the lead up to elections on 1 May.

"People have been complaining about potholes time and time again and often repairs have not been good quality," said Lib Dem councillor David Vasmer, the new portfolio holder for Highways and Environment at Shropshire Council.

"There is a huge backlog and catching up will be an enormous job."

Mr Vasmer said the council was not putting a target on the number of potholes it intends to fill, but hopes residents will see "a bit of a difference" in key areas, like roundabouts and junctions.

More than 41,600 potholes were filled in 2023, with half being carried out within five days of being reported.

Shropshire Council is funding its new team using some of the £33m it received from government last year to improve the county's road network.

Council highways contractors Kier and Multivo are also part of the multi-agency effort to maintain Shropshire's 3,200 miles of roads.

Kier's contract, which has been worth about £28m a year since 2017, was due to end in April but it has been extended by 12 months.

According to the council, there is also an opportunity for Kier to be awarded two further 12-month extensions to take highways maintenance provision through to March 2028.

An e-scooter rider has been arrested on suspicion of drink driving following a collision with a taxi.

A 19-year-old rider was involved in the crash in Ilkeston Road, Radford, Nottingham, at around 03:00 BST on Thursday.

Nottinghamshire Police said the scooter was hired through the council transport scheme and was therefore allowed on the road, but e-scooter riders "must adhere to the same rules as any other driver".

Ch Insp Paul Hennessy, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "In the same way as driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol is illegal, riding an e-scooter whilst over the limit is also a criminal offence and will be punished accordingly."

"So rather than thinking of their rented e-scooter as a novelty to be taken lightly, I encourage users to think of them instead in the same way they would think of a car or a motorcycle," he added.

"Because if we catch them drinking and driving, they will be treated in exactly the same way as other road users – with all the legal, personal and professional consequences that go with that.

"Thankfully no one was injured as a result of this incident, which I hope will serve as a warning to others."

"One home would be bad enough but not three, all in a short time."

Former milkman Tony Fowler, 66, from Leicestershire said he had raised concerns he had about three care homes in the last four years to the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Mr Fowler said he had been a regular visitor to care homes in the Melton area as he had built up relationships with some of his elderly customers, which he maintained after they went into care.

He is now calling on the CQC to inspect homes annually and hand out fines. A CQC spokesperson said the frequency of its inspections depended on previous findings and information received.

Tony Fowler, who ran a milk and grocery delivery business, said he used to check in on his elderly customers across 26 villages in north Leicestershire.

"We all expect as we get elderly to be looked after and cared for in a comfortable manner and when this doesn't happen, small things add up to make life a misery really," Mr Fowler said.

The latest care home which Mr Fowler complained about was The Amwell near Melton.

It was rated as inadequate by the CQC last month after an inspection in December 2024. A spokesperson for the home said a new leadership team has now been put in place.

"The quality of life that my friend received had been very poor, often he hadn't been washed or changed [he was incontinent].

"You'd often go into his room and the smell of urination sometimes brought tears to your eyes, you couldn't be in the room for more than half an hour," he said.

Mr Fowler admitted that caring for the elderly was a difficult job but said at times he would find it upsetting to visit and had witnessed residents left in their rooms calling for help in the evenings.

"One of them was a blind person who'd been left some food but nobody was helping her to eat.

"It can be quite upsetting for the person seeing it and obviously the person involved as well," he said.

A spokesperson for The Amwell Care Home said the "health and wellbeing of our residents is our absolute priority".

"We take all feedback extremely seriously and have invested in long-term action, working tirelessly to ensure we are delivering the highest standards of care.

"We are in discussion with Mr Fowler to address his concerns about previous challenges in the home, and we would like to reassure our residents and their families that the findings of last year's CQC inspection are in no way reflective of the current high quality of care being delivered at the home today.

"We remain committed to delivering the highest standards for the people in our care, and our significant progress has been recognised by the local authority which is satisfied with the action we have taken.

"We look forward to welcoming the CQC back to our home, and we are confident that they will reaffirm the positive steps that have been made."

'Heart breaking'

Mr Fowler said he had made complaints about two other care homes, including one where he said his friend received inadequate care.

"I had to wash his hair, cut his hair and shave him," he said.

"When he was done you showed him himself in the mirror and he smiled, he felt good."

Mr Fowler is now calling on the CQC to hold annual checks on all care homes similar to a car MOT.

"These are people who are vulnerable and elderly, when you've worked hard all your life you expect the minimum at least of care, not to be short changed. It's heart breaking," he said.

A CQC spokesperson said: "The frequency of our inspections depends on previous inspection findings and ratings, information we receive and evidence we collect.

"The CQC can use its enforcement powers when care isn't meeting the standard that people should expect. This can include imposing conditions, suspending or cancelling a service's registration, issuing fines, and in some cases a prosecution."