Worcester City Council

The Local Democracy Reporting Service in Worcester has been covering these stories:

• A university's plan to build 120 homes on land to the west of Worcester's been approved by councillors. The University of Worcester wants to put the houses on its University Park site off Bromyard Road, a move which effectively ends its ambition since 2009 to build a £100m science, health and enterprise hub there.

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• A road-sweeping firm will have to wait on a decision on whether it'll be allowed to build a processing plant near Droitwich. Green Waste Recycling Services wants to end having to drive 30 miles out of Worcestershire to throw away rubbish it's collected and proposed the idea for Station House, off Saltway, Hanbury. County councillors decided to hold off on making a decision but with a view to approving it at their next meeting.
• A plan to build two homes in the back garden of a house in Worcester's been rejected for not providing enough car parking spaces. Residents and councillors had opposed the plan to convert an old outbuilding on Sebright Avenue after the authority's highways department said it should be refused for not providing any new parking spaces in an already crowded street.

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.

Here are some of the stories the Local Democracy Reporting Service has been covering in Worcestershire:

• Worcester City Council collected more than £2m from car parking charges last year but revealed the figure was £300,000 lower than the year before.
• A claim Worcestershire County Council performed a u-turn over installing a zebra crossing in St John's has been denied by the councillor in charge of highways, who said it was never in the plans in the first place.
• A university must use its 'millions' to build more student accommodation on its campuses to stop student houses springing up across Worcester, a councillor's said.

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Plans for new powers to crack down on anti-social behaviours including "aggressive begging" in Worcester have been sent back to the drawing board for being too blunt and poorly worded.

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The city council wanted to bring in a Public Spaces Protection Order in the city centre which could have seen £100 fines handed out and even prosecutions.

But at a meeting last night, councillors said the draft public space protection order risked criminalising all forms of begging.

Other concerns included the lack of enforcement and the order will now be rewritten and delayed until January.

Seagulls in Worcester won't be culled next year after city councillors decided against the move.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The local authority has tried out other measures, such as "gull proof" bins and using drones to replace eggs with fakes, but neither method has been deemed a success.

Last night, councillors were told a general cull would be illegal.

Instead, they'll spend £30,000 on other measures to tackle the problem and gather evidence on the bird's threat to public health.

The council has long railed about the birds in Worcester saying they are a threat to health.

A cull's being demanded by a councillor in Worcester's ongoing efforts to try and cut the number of gulls in the city.

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For several years the city council has been trying to reduce the population of gulls as they're seen as a nuisance and have even been known to attack people.

Today, the owners of a pet Chihuahua said a gull had seized and flown off with the dog in Devon.

Spikes, gull-proof litter bins and replacing eggs with fake ones have all been considered or used by Worcester City Council, which claims there are now fewer gulls compared with a decade ago.

But residents and businesses in Lower Wick have told BBC Hereford and Worcester they believe there are more than ever and are calling for stronger action.

Quote Message: They're vicious, flying rats and they need to be culled. All the existing policies we've tried, the 'be ever so nice to gulls' policy, trying to get them to go away, they've all failed." from Alan Amos Worcester City Councillor

They're vicious, flying rats and they need to be culled. All the existing policies we've tried, the 'be ever so nice to gulls' policy, trying to get them to go away, they've all failed."

Worcester's ongoing efforts to try and cut the number of gulls in the city could see businesses putting spikes on their roofs this summer

BBCCopyright: BBC

The city council's been battling for several years to try and reduce the bird population as they're seen as a nuisance and have been known to attack people.

In their latest move, council staff visited dozens of businesses to encourage them to get rid of old nests, put up spikes to stop gulls perching and look at putting up netting.

The council's also working with local takeaways to cut the amount of food available for the birds to scavenge.

The top stories for the Worcester News today include:

• Man charged with murder
• Libraries saved from cuts by Worcester City Council's £157,000-a-year pledge
• Prisoner broke female governor's jaw in two places with powerful punch

Nationally the Green party has gained 42 councillors so far, with one of them winning in Worcester with almost 58% of the vote, toppling a Conservative opponent.

The success means the Green Party now has three city councillors.

The Green gain means the city council is now made up of 17 Conservatives, 15 Labour councillors and three Greens – meaning the Tories lost their overall majority.

Marjory Bisset said she was delighted to have been elected and it was a great honour.

The Conservative leader at Worcester City Council has called on the government to "get on with Brexit" after his party lost control of the authority.

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Eleven of the council's 35 seats were up for election: the Tories won seven, Labour three and the Greens secured one.

In total, the Conservatives now have 17 seats after losing one to the Green Party which has a total of three.

Like many parts of the country, the Worcester Tory leader was blaming a Brexit backlash at the ballot box.

Quote Message: There is a message to government here, get on with Brexit, get us out of Europe quickly and I call on my colleagues in the Conservative Party who are not voting for Theresa May's deal to vote for it and let's get this deal done." from Marc Bayliss Conservative leader, Worcester City Council

There is a message to government here, get on with Brexit, get us out of Europe quickly and I call on my colleagues in the Conservative Party who are not voting for Theresa May's deal to vote for it and let's get this deal done."

For those of you waking up, this is how the overnight election results have panned out in the West Midlands.

LDRSCopyright: LDRS

One of the big results saw the Conservative Party seize overall control of Walsall Council, taking two seats off Labour.

However, the party couldn't make enough gains to take Dudley Borough Council as it tied with Labour for the number of seats, although, with a Tory mayor, it has a casting vote when it comes to deciding later this month who'll lead the authority.

Elsewhere, the Tories lost their majority in Worcester but held on to North Warwickshire, Rugby and Tamworth.

Labour, meanwhile, held on to Coventry, Sandwell, Telford and Wrekin and Wolverhampton.

We're still waiting for the final result from Stoke-on-Trent.

Let's recap on the results we've had so far tonight.

• Coventry City Council - Labour hold
• North Warwickshire Borough Council - Conservative hold
• Rugby Borough Council - Conservative hold
• Sandwell Borough Council - Labour hold
• Tamworth Borough Council - Conservative hold
• Walsall Borough Council - Conservative gains overall control
• Wolverhampton City Council - Labour hold
• Worcester City Council - Conservatives lose overal control

There are still three to come from Dudley, Telford and Wrekin and Stoke-on-Trent.

This is the final picture from Worcester City Council after tonight's election results, with the Conservative Party losing overall control:

The Conservatives have lost overall control of Worcester City Council.

With a third of seats being voted on this election, and the Conservatives holding a slim overall lead from the last time people went to the polls, they can't now get an overall majority.

With one ward to be declared, we have totals of 16 Conservative councillors, 15 Labour and three Green Party members.

Let's take a little break from the results business.

We're getting some turnout figures - these are from Worcester City Council and BBC Midlands Today's Ben Godfrey, who's been at Telford and Wrekin.

Well, after considering some of the close battles in the West Midlands, let's look at who was in control of some of the other authorities before polling opened.

Worcester City CouncilCopyright: Worcester City Council

We're expecting results for the following authorities before 07:00:

• After last year's elections, Labour kept control of Coventry City Council with 40 of the 54 seats
• In North Warwickshire, the Conservatives gained control from Labour with 22 seats to 13
• A third of Sandwell Borough Council is up for election this year but, with 70 of the 72 seats, Labour will still hold control after tonight
• The Conservatives run Tamworth Borough Council with 22 out of 30 seats
• Labour were in control of Wolverhampton City Council after last year's elections, holding 51 of the 60 seats; 20 of which were voted on this time
• Worcester City Council has switched hands four times in the last six years with no overall control after last year's elections