BBC News England

Outline proposals are to be discussed for a £50m redevelopment of a Birmingham railway station.

The proposed overhaul of Snow Hill in the city centre is expected to help create more than 7,700 jobs.

Papers due to go before the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) next week have revealed early plans for the "major" scheme.

Other transport plans due to go before the WMCA next week include a £285m maintenance project on the original Line 1 Metro route between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, and £109m interchange improvements at Sutton Coldfield and Solihull.

Birmingham City CouncilCopyright: Birmingham City Council

Proposals are set to be discussed at the West Midlands Combined Authority’s (WMCA) board meeting on 17 September.

A police commissioner has unveiled plans to enlist academics to help redesign efforts to tackle speeding across England’s largest county.

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner websiteCopyright: North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner website

Philip Allott, who was elected to oversee North Yorkshire’s police and fire services in May, says he aims to enable the force to deal decisively with safety on rural roads and in villages, but with more than 6,000 miles of roads and 800 villages to cover, demand for enforcement is outstripping police resources.

It follows years of controversy surrounding North Yorkshire Police’s speed camera vans.

Earlier this year, Mr Allot said he had “big concerns” over the vans, which were introduced in North Yorkshire in 2011.

While fixed cameras have repeatedly been deemed an unsuitable solution for the largely rural county, the North Yorkshire force has insisted the vans are used to deter speeding at sites of accidents.

Julia Mulligan, Mr Allott’s predecessor, frequently defended the use of the vans and denied they were a revenue generator.

Mr Allott says universities have been invited to tender to review how speed limits are enforced in the county and he is hopeful work to come up with alternatives will shortly get under way.

Telford's MP Lucy Allan has criticised the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust over a decision to cancel some elective appointments.

Nigel Lee, chief operating officer, said in line with pressures across the NHS, the trust was seeing high levels of demands for patients needing urgent care, as well as rising numbers of Covid-19 patients needing inpatient treatment.

As such, he said, the trust "had to temporarily step down some of our least clinically urgent planned surgeries", but urgent procedures were still taking place.

UK ParliamentCopyright: UK Parliament

Ms Allan said: "I have constituents who are in debilitating pain and who have had to wait throughout the pandemic for an operation, but even now cannot be offered a date for surgery.

"A surgery date gives people hope that their suffering will end."