Wolverhampton City Council

Businesses across the West Midlands are offering free meals to families from today to help stop children going hungry over half term.

The School Food PlanCopyright: The School Food Plan

Cafes, hotels, community groups and councils such as Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Telford & Wrekin and Staffordshire have stepped forward to offer food.

It's after a campaign to extend the free school meals scheme over the holiday by footballer Marcus Rashford was rejected by the government.

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Kate Taylor (pictured), from the Courtyard Cafe in Tardebigge, Worcestershire, said they would be offering free lunches for children this week.

"We didn't have a lot when I was growing up, same as Marcus Rashford, so we just decided that, this is a new cafe, recently opened, so we thought we would offer something to the children."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the community collaboration was "brilliant" - but said providing help through councils was "the best way to do this".

Outdoor play areas in Wolverhampton will reopen from Monday, the city council's said.

Wolverhampton City CouncilCopyright: Wolverhampton City Council

Playgrounds in England were closed in March to contain Covid-19 but the government gave the green light to reopen them last month.

Wolverhampton City Council said it had taken until now to be ready to reopen the sites, and people would have to follow advice on social distancing and cleaning their hands regularly.

If rates of infection started to rise, the authority added, it would "be left with no alternative but to close them again”.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service in the West Midlands has been covering these stories this week:

• Council-run swimming pools and gyms in Sandwell which reopened last week could shut again over a pay dispute. Unions say they will ballot staff on strike action unless Sandwell Leisure Trust improves its offer of a 1% wage increase over the next two years. The trust says the proposed offer is about the financial viability of the leisure centres.

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• Children going to a pupil referral unit in Walsall are set to move to temporary buildings ahead of the construction of a brand new school. The council's expected to approve spending £850,000 on facilities for pupils of the New Leaf Centre while a new £7.5m new centre is built.
• A new learning centre could be built next to a Sikh temple in Wolverhampton to teach younger members about the religion. Guru Nanak Gurdwara, in Wednesfield, has submitted a proposal to Wolverhampton Council for a two-storey building next to the temple.

Further testing for Covid-19 will be carried out in Wolverhampton with the city council concerned at a slow rise in positive cases.

Wolverhampton City CouncilCopyright: Wolverhampton City Council

Latest figures show 15.26 cases per 100,000 residents over the seven days to 1 August, up from 14.49 cases a week before.

The council has put the rise down to an increase among households while it also said many of the new cases were asymptomatic with individuals not showing symptoms at the time of the test.

Ankush Mittal, a consultant in public health with the city council, said the team were shifting to more proactive testing to get a better idea of the situation.

"We'll be trialling lots of new methods, proactive testing in particularly high-risk businesses, large employers and potentially more opportunistic testing in certain communities where we know testing rates may be lower than others."

People living in Wolverhampton are being urged to get tested for coronavirus even if their symptoms are mild.

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The city council is hoping extra testing will help them avoid a local lockdown after a recent increase in cases.

Their latest figures show 12.2 cases per 100,000 people in the city for the week up to 27 July, compared to 2.7 per 100,000 for the week before.

The authority says many of the new cases are being linked to family clusters or contacts of known cases.

The Covid-19 pandemic will leave two councils facing budget shortfalls of more than £20m each, the local authorities have revealed today.

PA MediaCopyright: PA Media

In Stoke-on-Trent, teams put the figure at about £27m due to the cost of issues including the high cost of supporting children and families, adult social care and lost income.

The city council said it had £18m coming from the government towards the cost but has written to the government calling for urgent additional funding.

While in Wolverhampton, the council said today it expected the first wave of the pandemic to cost it £22.5m including paying for an emergency food hub and personal protective equipment.

The local authority said it would also lobby ministers for more cash on top of £19.4m it has already received but added, without more money from the government, it would have to consider cuts to services this year.

A Wolverhampton City Councillor has been arrested on suspicion of fraud.

Wolverhampton City CouncilCopyright: Wolverhampton City Council

Councillor Harman Banger was cabinet member for city economy on the Labour-run authority until last week when he was said to have stood down by the council "for personal reasons".

West Midlands Police said a 38-year-old man arrested on suspicion of fraud offences had been released pending further investigation.

Mr Banger has been approached by the BBC for a response.

It's "inevitable" school doors will open to more pupils on 1 June in Wolverhampton, the city council's said.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

About 1,000 pupils in the city have continued to attend through the coronavirus crisis.

Councillor Dr Michael Hardacre, cabinet member for education and skills, said the council had had positive discussions with schools and teaching unions, but the "acid test will be whether or not parents send their children".

He said: "They will have to be certain their child is safe, it is their decision and we will respect it. There will be no penalties for those who choose to keep their children at home."

Ministers are facing pressure from some councils and teaching unions to reconsider plans to reopen primary schools in England to some pupils from 1 June.

A milestone's been reached by Wolverhampton City Council under lockdown - it's delivered its 10,000th food parcel.

Wolverhampton City CouncilCopyright: Wolverhampton City Council

Hundreds of the authority's staff have been packing the boxes at the WV Active Aldersley leisure centre which was turned into a distribution hub.

The council says it's delivering more than 3,000 of the parcels each week to vulnerable people, and demand for them is still growing.

From the Express and Star today:

• Black Country care home staff in coronavirus epicentre left short of PPE
• 35 more coronavirus deaths in region
• Wolverhampton Council to spend £3.3 million on council tax relief amid increase

As well as elections for the West Midlands Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner, the following councils were expecting to be holding elections for some of their seats on 7 May.

• Cannock Chase District Council
• Coventry City Council
• Dudley Council
• Nuneaton and Bedworth District Council
• Sandwell Council
• Solihull Council
• Walsall Council
• City of Wolverhampton Council
• Redditch Borough Council
• Rugby Borough Council
• Tamworth Borough Council
• Worcester City Council

They will now be held next year instead.

A drive-through centre opens today in Wolverhampton to test people for coronavirus - but you have to be referred to be able to use it.

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The facility has been set up by the city council who said the aim was to protect healthcare workers as well as patients in hospitals and doctors surgeries, by reducing the risk of infection.

The centre's on the car park off the A449 to the north of the city centre and the authority said only people referred by NHS 111 would be able to use it.

People will be swabbed from their vehicle before returning home to wait for the results.

Earlier this week, it was confirmed a patient with the virus, who had been treated in Wolverhampton, had died.

The Union flag will fly over Wolverhampton to mark the UK’s official exit from the EU on Friday.

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At a meeting of the city’s full council yesterday, Conservative member Simon Bennett put forward a motion to raise the flag outside the Civic Centre for the duration of the day to officially mark Brexit.

It was given the full backing of the city’s Labour leader.

Mr Bennett said: “Regardless of whether you voted to leave or remain – and it is no secret that there are many in this chamber who voted remain – nobody can be in any doubt that this is a significant moment in our country’s history."