Local News

The city council's Cabinet today approved a proposal to help cement Birmingham’s reputation as a host of major international sporting events. Cabinet Members have approved the submission of a city bid for the right to stage the World Athletics Road Running Championships in 2023 or 2024. The event is scheduled in a format that would deliver a festival of running for the city. The programme would include the Men’s Half […]

Work has begun on the infrastructure to transform the iconic 75-acre West Works site at West Longbridge. The £20m infrastructure investment is the next step in the £1 billion regeneration of Longbridge. It will see the derelict West Works site transformed into the high-quality Longbridge Business Park with 900,000 sq ft of commercial space, creating up to 5,000 jobs and an attractive new residential neighbourhood of 350 homes. Longbridge Business […]

A Coventry University Research Fellow with a passion for learning will become Coventry City Council's new Cabinet Member for Education and Skills. Councillor Dr Kindy Sandhu will become the first ethnic minority woman appointed to the cabinet, underlining a commitment to diversity. Cllr Sandhu will replace Councillor Kevin Maton, who will be appointed Deputy Lord Mayor.  For the last two years, Cllr Sandhu has been Chair of the Council's Scrutiny […]

  West Midlands Metro has taken delivery of the first of eight new state-of-the-art trams arriving this year ahead of the expansion of the region’s network. The vehicle, which weighs 45.5 tonnes, has been carefully lowered down a specially built ramp onto the track. The eight trams, manufactured to order by CAF, are arriving in the West Midlands over the next few months. The first five will be put into […]

The Leader of Coventry City Council has hailed the launch of Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture as ‘the fresh start that the city and country needs’. The year officially begins tomorrow (15 May), and thousands of tickets are now on sale for a range of exciting events over the coming months. Details of the opening day are being kept as a surprise by the City of Culture Team, […]

Collars are to be fitted to 78 head of cattle for their annual grazing period at Sutton Park in a new virtual fencing solution that helps better manage the land and the animals living on it. The short pulse delivered from the collar is much milder than that from a traditional electric fence and is designed to be uncomfortable rather than painful. Cattle receiving the pulse do not become agitated […]

The newly unveiled Paradise Public Transport Improvement Scheme looks to respond to the city’s air pollution challenges by prioritising the road for buses, trams, taxis (hackney carriage) and bicycles.  Paradise Circus, renamed Lyon Queensway, was initially closed to through traffic in September 2018 in order to facilitate phase one of the Birmingham Westside Metro extension to the current Library terminus and the Paradise redevelopment. The road is within the city’s […]

Petticoat Council is a folk musical telling the true story of a group of women from Bishop's Itchington near Coventry. In 1949 they formed the first female majority council in the UK post-WW2 and transformed the village into a thriving community.  With support from Arts Council England, Coventry City of Culture 2021 and Warwick Arts Centre, it will be touring to five community centres and village halls. The focus will […]

A proposal to help cement Birmingham's reputation as a host of major international sporting events is set to be considered by the city council's Cabinet on May 18. The event is scheduled in a format that would deliver a festival of running for the city. The programme would include the Men's Half Marathon, Women's Half Marathon, Men's 5km and Women's 5km races. It is expected that any bid will incorporate […]