West Country (E) Money News

Due to large increases in food, transport and staff costs, the price of a school meal is going up by 10p from June 3rd.

We recognise that parents are also being affected by the increased cost of living and we endeavour to keep school meals as affordable as possible. We are confident that school meals continue to offer excellent value for money.

Our school meals are healthier and better quality than ever before, freshly cooked with as many local ingredients as possible, and pupils are telling us the taste has improved too.

That shows in their increased popularity, with a 7.4% increase in the number of pupils choosing hot school meals in the last year.

• UK
• Gloucestershire
• school meals

The price of school meals in Gloucestershire is due to go up by 10p to £2.20 next month.

There's criticism that the rise is coming when money is already tight.

However, Edwards and Wards, which supplies primary and special schools in the county, says it's necessary due to large increases in food, transport and staff costs.

• UK
• Gloucestershire
• school meals

Demand for property in the South West rose over the last month according to the latest survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

It says the Government's 'Help to Buy' scheme announcement has had an impact on the market. The amount of houses to sell also increased.

• UK
• South West
• property

The Illegal Money Lending team is launching a week-long campaign in Keynsham on Monday. It aims to raise awareness of the dangers of loan sharks, encouraging people to turn away from them and report the crime if they have been a victim. It is supported by BANES Trading Standards team.

Organisers estimate that 310,000 households across the country are in debt to a loan shark. Their campaign will include:

• Stop Loan Sharks beer mats delivered to pubs
• Door-to-door visits in social housing areas
• Posters in local shops
• Promotion of the campaign at the Bath Citizens Advice Bureau
• Workshop for young people at the Timeout Drop-In Centre, Keynsham

• UK
• Keynsham

A foodbank charity based in Salisbury says it's seen the biggest ever rise in people using its service.

The Trussell Trust says over fifty nine thousand people in the South West have received at least three days emergency food from its foodbanks during the last 12 months, almost twice the number helped in the previous year.

It runs three hundred and forty foodbanks across the country, with nearly all the food donated by the public.

• UK
• Trussell Trust
• Salisbury

Post office workers across the country are going on strike today. In Bristol, five post offices will be affected. These are: The Galleries, Kingswood, Yate, Nailsea, and Keynsham.

The strike has been called in response to disputes over jobs and pay.

The Post Office plans to close 76 offices which will affect more than eight hundred jobs.

The union is seeking protection for jobs and the service. It also wants to secure a fair pay rise for staff who haven't had one since April 2011.

Today, the strike will affect three hundred and seventy three post offices across the country.

• UK
• Bristol
• Post Office

Gloucester is one of seven places in the UK being rewarded for revitalising its high street.

It'll get over a hundred and thirty thousand pounds of the High Street Renewal Award.

The city has been praised by the Local Growth Minister for supporting local-start ups and providing advice to growing businesses.

• UK
• Gloucester
• High Street

A woman who ran a brothel in Bradley Stoke has been ordered to repay £1,115 and given a one year community order.

An investigation was launched earlier this year after police received reports of men calling at an address in Boursland Close and that young women were also seen there.

Enquiries suggested the address was being used as a brothel.

Police were given a search warrant and subsequently, 46-year-old Jana Chmelickova was charged with keeping a brothel.

During the warrant £1,115 cash was found at the premises.

Jana Chmelickova appeared at Bristol Crown Court today and was given a one-year community order and subject to a curfew for three months.

The court heard that Chmelickova's benefit from crime was £1,115 and the cash was confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

We are committed to seizing any assets that criminals have gained as a result of crime. It is not acceptable that criminals benefit from illegal activities and we will relentlessly pursue them through the courts to ensure their money is taken. By doing this we show criminals that they will not benefit from crime and hopefully deter others from entering a life of crime.

• UK
• Brothel
• Bradley Stoke

Could you get by on spending just £1 per day on all the food you eat? That's what one family in Somerset is trying to do to highlight what millions of people around the world face each day. Karen Griggs reports:

• UK
• Somerset
• Poverty

The inventor Sir James Dyson has been named the richest person in the south west.

Sir James, from Malmesbury in Wiltshire, is said to be worth £3 billion, according to a list compiled by The Sunday Times.

In second place is Sir Henry Keswick, whose family has a large stake in Hong-kong trading house Jardine Matheson.

Co-founder of Bristol financial firm Hargreaves Lansdown, Peter Hargreaves, was listed third.

• UK
• inventions
• Wiltshire