The price of filling up
The TaxPayers' Alliance has launched a campaign to demonstrate to drivers where their money is going when they fill up
Run-down Midlands schools to receive cash boost
The Government has announced that 52 schools in the Midlands are to receive money to rebuild dilapidated buildings.
Empty fire control centres costing thousands every day
The Shadow Cabinet Minister Hilary Benn has called on the government to use the centres, which were scrapped after the last election.
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Cash boost for Coventry and Warwickshire projects
Three big projects in Coventry and Warwickshire will be boosted by a cash sum of over £21 million through the Local Enterprise Partnership.
The CW LEP has been granted about £24.4 million from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, which has now been approved and is ready to spend.
The cash will be allocated to three areas – access to finance, support for strategic companies and for help with infrastructure and large projects.
Three key projects have been picked to get funding. The Friargate scheme planned for the area around Coventry Station will receive £12.7 million; Junction 12 of the M40 will get £3 million, while an extra £6 million will be given for road transport upgrades north of Jaguar’s global headquarters.
European cash for better broadband in Nottinghamshire
Plans to start superfast broadband speeds to bolster industry could go further and faster after Nottinghamshire County Council got an extra £2.7m in European funding for the Nottinghamshire Broadband Plan.
The European Regional Development Fund money will benefit business premises which have little or no broadband access at the moment.
It increases the overall public sector investment in superfast broadband in Notts to £10.5m.
The extra funding will most likely mean the Nottinghamshire Broadband Plan will now exceed the Government’s national target for 90% of premises to have access to superfast broadband speeds by the end of 2015.
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Derby clears name of woman vilified for PM murder plot
by Peter Bearne
The city of Derby is today taking a first step towards rehabilitating a woman vilified for almost a century for plotting to murder the Prime Minister.
The city council will today unveil a blue plaque in honour of peace activist Alice Wheeldon.
Alice, a 50-year-old shopkeeper who lived in Pear Tree Road, was found guilty of planning to poison David Lloyd George in 1917.
Sentenced to 10 years, she was released after nine months due to ill-health from hunger strikes.
But she never recovered fully and died in 1919.
Her family and supporters believe the Government framed her because of her radical anti-war beliefs and support for conscientious objectors during World War One.
New law marks the end for money for scrap metal, full report
From today cash payments for metal at scrap recycling yards will be outlawed under new laws aimed at cutting metal theft. In recent years thieves have targeted churches, railways and even war memorials.
Police estimate metal theft costs the UK economy more than £700 million a year. Phil Brewster reports.
Cash payments scrapped for weighing in scrap metal
Today, new laws come in banning cash payments for scrap metal.
The aim is to prevent the theft of metal from places like churches, railway lines & war memorials.
Cash transactions for metal recycling scrapped
Cash transactions for scrap metal weighed in at recycling plants will be scrapped today.
It's in a bid to crack down on cable theft that's been plaguing the railway industry for years.
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act has been amended to close loopholes that allows criminals to weigh their stolen scrap metal in, for cash.
Incidents of cable theft have dropped from more than 2,600 in 2011 to under 1,300 so far this year, but it is still considered high compared to recent years.
Under the change, all cash transactions for metal at recycling yards across the country will be outlawed to get rid of the "cash-in-hand, no questions asked" culture.
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Report: thousands of families missing out on free school meals
Thousands of the country's poorest families are missing out on free school meals and other subsidies.
That's according to researchers at the University of Birmingham which say schools are also losing out on Government payments to support the most disadvantaged.
Stoke-on-Trent man arrested over Government cyber attack
A Stoke-on-Trent man has been arrested and bailed in connection with a cyber attack on Government websites.
Police arrested the 41-year-old today at his Staffordshire home on suspicion of encouraging a distributed denial of service attack on the sites.
He allegedly targeted the Home Office and Theresa May's constituency websites while encouraging others to take part in the online attack.
Calls for government to freeze fuel duty
An East Midlands haulier is backing a national campaign calling for the Government to freeze the duty on fuel.
The Advance Group based at Melbourne in Derbyshire says it has had to cope with a large increase in its fuel bills.
It spends a hundred thousand pounds a year and bosses say they're being put at a disadvantage against foreign firms who don't have to pay as much.
Today the Tax Payer's Alliance started a new campaign to highlight the problem.
"We spend, as freight forwarders and export packers, over a hundred thousand pounds a year on fuel.
"Even a small one pence, two, three pence increase affects our total drastically. We can't absorb these.
"After three years of recession, we can't absord these prices. It has to be passed on to our customers."
- Freight Manager - Steve Hodson
The price of filling up
The TaxPayers' Alliance has launched a campaign to demonstrate to drivers where their money is going when they fill up
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