Business

Plans to raise ground levels next to a flood defence wall in response to anti-social behaviour fears have been given the green light.

Westmorland and Furness Council has approved an application from the Environment Agency (EA) to regrade the ground levels in order to reduce the appearance of the defence from within New Road Common in Kendal.

Concerns had been raised that the solid stone wall next to the River Kent would "reduce visibility" onto the common and lead to anti-social behaviour.

Glass panel walls were proposed by councillors instead, but the EA said the use of glass would add in the region of £750,000 to the scheme and delay construction by a year.

Plans for flood defences at the site were previously approved in 2019, but had to be changed because of "additional topographical data".

The revised proposal with raised ground levels was approved by the South Lakeland planning committee in September, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Councillor Matt Severn, previously said the proposed solid stone walls would "reduce visibility".

"I fear the proposals as they stand would make New Road a no-go area for some people as they would feel unsafe, and would be worried about harassment as they are no longer visible when exercising across the common," he said.

Villagers in Charfield, South Gloucestershire, say they have been ordered to remove new goalposts, bought by the community.

Local mother of three, Olivia Dibden said: "The money that we raised was donated kindly and generously by over 27 families within the village."

But days after the goalposts were put up on a public green space, close to housing on Underhill Road, residents said they were ordered to remove them within seven days.

South Gloucestershire Council said it had a duty of care to ensure all play equipment on public open spaces was "appropriately installed and maintained".

Residents said the letter stated: "If the encroaching material remains in situ, the council will remove the items and dispose of them."

Olivia Dibden said: "It was heart-breaking. The letter was entitled 'fly-tipping', which angered quite a lot of people."

Six chickens have been found with their heads cut off in an allotment.

The Thornhill Gardens site in Hartlepool was broken into between 18:00 BST on Wednesday and 09:00 on Thursday.

The birds' heads were severed and another had a leg cut off, police said.

Cleveland Police has appealed for information about the "sickening" act.

A spokesperson said: "Hartlepool police are appealing for information after an allotment was broken into and someone carried out sickening cruelty to animals.

"The heads of six chickens were cut off and killed and another chicken had a leg cut off."

A CCTV camera was stolen from the allotment, along with a 6in (15cm) boning knife.

A nuclear site's emergency siren may be heard this week, residents have been warned.

Sellafield, based in Seascale, Cumbria, is due to hold an emergency exercise on Wednesday.

The siren, which can be heard off-site, might be sounded as part of it, the site said.

A Sellafield spokesman said: "Emergency exercises are held regularly at all nuclear licensed sites to test their readiness in the event of an emergency."

The company added access to and from the site would be as normal up until about 08:15 BST and that residents signed up to text and email warnings might be contacted on the day.

The site manages more radioactive waste in one place than any other nuclear facility in the world.

She has given Kaleb a run for his money and now Harriet Cowan wants to be a voice for young farmers.

The 24-year-old, from Derbyshire, has become Jeremy Clarkson's new sidekick on the latest series of his popular show Clarkson's Farm, standing in for Kaleb Cooper for several episodes while he toured.

She describes herself as both a full-time farmer and nurse, working as a community nurse in Belper when she is not on the farm.

But she says her appearance in the Amazon Prime series has given her a new opportunity to speak up on farmers' mental health, be a voice for young, female farmers and attempt to change stereotypes of farming.

The programme has proved a major hit for the streaming giant since it first aired in 2021 and is now into its fourth season.

Harriet's appearances in the show have provided a further window into the mental pressures faced by the farming community.

"It's the unknown all the time," she said.

"You don't know if the grass is going to grow, you don't know how much the fertiliser is going to cost, you don't know how much you're going to sell that cow for.

"It's hard because you're in an industry where a lot of the time you work alone, and we do. It's lonely, you don't have anyone to talk to.

"I've seen a lot of farmers shut off since Covid, and they don't want to go out and socialise anymore because they're used to being isolated.

"We lost a lot of social skills. Now, it's about building them back up and getting farmers to talk again and tell people about the challenges they're facing.

"If I can do anything, I'm going to use the platform to promote the mental health aspect in farming and if I can save one life, it's something."

A bill which aims to ensure all pupils in Wales finish school as "independent Welsh language users" has passed its final detailed stage in the Senedd.

The Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill is intended to contribute to the target of one million Welsh speakers by 2050 and is expected to pass a final Senedd vote next week before becoming law.

Finance and Welsh Language Secretary Mark Drakeford said this target had "galvanised efforts by so many organisations and individuals across Wales to join us on this journey".

About 23% of pupils are educated in Welsh and the government's ambition is to increase that to 30% by 2030-31 and 40% by 2050.

Members of the Senedd (MSs) did not pass an amendment by Plaid Cymru MS Cefin Campbell who wanted to add to the bill that half of school children should be in the "primarily Welsh language" category of school by 2050.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith (the Welsh Language Society) called on MSs to support that "insufficient but essential" amendment, but 39 voted against and 12 in favour.

A father and son have appeared in court charged with murder following a crash in Kent in which a four-year-old family member died.

Patrick Maughan, 53, and Owen Maughan, 27, both from Hill Rise, Darenth, were charged with murder on Wednesday and appeared at Sevenoaks Magistrates' Court to each face four charges.

They are accused of the murder of four-year-old Peter Maughan and causing grievous bodily harm to Peter's 24-year-old father Lovell Mahon, who is in a critical condition in hospital.

A one-year-old girl also suffered minor injuries in the crash involving two grey Ford Ranger pickup trucks in New Barn Road, Southfleet, on Sunday.

The two men are also charged with the attempted wounding with intent of Peter's one-year-old sister and their mother, Hayley Maughan.

Mr Mahon and the two children were travelling in the same car.

The two suspects were dealt with in short, separate hearings, speaking only to confirm their identities.

They were remanded in custody and will next appear at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday.

A provisional plea and trial preparation hearing date of 2 July was set.

Anyone who witnessed the crash or who has information is urged to contact Kent Police.

The government's efforts to fix the prison crisis may not work without "bold investment decisions", the leading union for the probation service has said.

Ian Lawrence, general secretary of Napo, said a review of sentencing policy by former Conservative Justice Secretary David Gauke "may come to little effect" if the probation service was underfunded.

The union boss said he supported proposals to scrap short sentences for some offenders and toughen up community orders supervised by probation officers.

But he said probation staff were already "overworked" and suggested any "cost cutting" could increase pressure on the service.

"I'm struggling to see how a package of sentencing reform can work without the necessary support," Lawrence told the BBC.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said a "crisis" in the justice system had "put a huge strain on the probation service".

"We are hiring 1,300 new probation officers, investing in technology to cut back on admin, and increasing focus on those offenders who pose the greatest risk to the public," the spokesperson said.

"This will ease pressure on the service, help cut reoffending and keep our streets safe."

Gauke is understood to be considering recommending the idea of scrapping short prison terms as part of the sentencing review.

The review comes as prisons across the country are struggling to deal with overcrowding after the number of offenders behind bars hit a new high.

In an interim report, Gauke warned that unless radical changes were made, prisons in England and Wales could run out of cells by early next year.

Gauke's sentencing review is expected to be published this month, before the government sets out its spending plans for departments in June.

"Napo would welcome any initiatives to reduce the numbers of people in our prison estate," Lawrence said.

"But that can't come without the lord chancellor absolutely recognising the pressures that the probation service is now facing and will in the future.

"And that's why we need brave, bold investment decisions by this government and not more of the same."

Tight budget

The prisons and probation budget fell by 12% when inflation was accounted for between 2007–08 and 2023–24, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has outlined plans for efficiency savings and in her spring statement, said day-to-day government spending would fall by £6.1bn per year by 2030.

But the chancellor has not yet stated which departments will have less money to spend, meaning it's not clear how the probation service will be affected.

The money allocated to government departments for the three years beyond 2025-26 will be set out in the spending review in June.

Lawrence said a reduction in funding for the Ministry of Justice, which oversees the probation service, could mean less funding to support offenders in the community and worse outcomes.

"In other words, they go out of prison and they've got no option but to commit crime because they have no means of supporting themselves," he said.

"They're back in prison within weeks. And so it goes on and that costs the taxpayer millions."

A source at the Prison Reform Trust, a charity, said the probation service would need to be resourced properly if there was more community sentencing.

They said the government may have to divert funding from prisons towards probation and community solutions.

"It needs to make a strong economic case for why this would be a spend-to-save policy," they said.

Pay dispute

In a national inspection report, the probation watchdog said there was a high shortfall of officers in some regions and workloads were a problem.

Lawrence said Napo was in dispute with the prison and probation service over pay progression and workloads.

He said the union had submitted a claim for a 12% pay rise for probation staff this year.

That's way above the increases independent pay review bodies have advised the government to give teachers (4%) and NHS workers (3%).

Lawrence said probation workers going on strike was a possibility if the pay offer was too low.

"We think senior leaders in [the service] have a responsibility to let ministers know the gravity of the situation," he said.

"And that worries me as to whether ministers are truly sighted on the operational crisis that exists in probation right now."

In a speech in February, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood set out her vision for reforming the probation service.

She said probation officers were "responsible for caseloads and workloads that exceed what they should be expected to handle".

The changes she announced included 1,300 new trainee probation officers by next March, and an £8m investment in new technology to reduce the administrative burden on staff.

The appeal of a former nurse who was convicted of murdering four elderly patients is a "straightforward" case, the Court of Appeal has heard.

Colin Campbell, formerly known as Colin Norris, was found guilty in 2008 of killing four women by injecting them with insulin and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Doris Ludlam, 80, Bridget Bourke, 88, Irene Crookes, 79, and Ethel Hall, 86, were inpatients on orthopaedic wards where Campbell worked in Leeds in 2002 and developed unexplained hypoglycaemia.

However, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which referred the case to the Court of Appeal four years ago, said prosecutors had relied on a "wholly circumstantial" case.

Campbell, originally from Glasgow, was also found guilty of attempting to murder another inpatient, with his sentence carrying a minimum term of 30 years.

On the 13th day of the appeal hearing in London, judges heard closing submissions from Campbell's barristers.

In written submissions, Michael Mansfield KC said: "The appellant submits that this is a straightforward case in which this court must conclude that these convictions are unsafe."

Campbell, who denied any wrongdoing and said he did nothing to cause hypoglycaemia, unsuccessfully appealed against his conviction in 2009 and applied to the CCRC in 2011.

James Curtis KC, representing the Crown Prosecution Service, told the court there were "certain matters to which we take exception" from the defence's closing submissions.

"There are a number of matters that I would seek to issue corrections on, things we firmly disagree with my learned friend on," he said.

The appeal before Lady Justice Macur, Sir Stephen Irwin and Mr Justice Picken is due to conclude on Friday.

West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds

Cutting waste bin collections to once every three weeks is being considered by a council.

The idea is being looked at by South Norfolk District Council as a way to help reduce costs, with a meeting told collecting general waste less frequently could help increase recycling rates.

However, some councillors were sceptical, suggesting it could result in a build-up of unpleasant waste, including used nappies.

A meeting of the scrutiny committee was told the council's cabinet would discuss the idea in more detail at a later date.

Currently, general waste bins are collected every fortnight.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the proposal to make changes emerged in discussions about the implementation of weekly food waste collections, which will be introduced next year.

The government is requiring councils to bring in the service and Conservative-run South Norfolk recently started buying the necessary vehicles and containers.

It is planning to start phased collections from the deadline of April next year but said it would not be able to procure enough vehicles for a full district rollout immediately.

The upcoming changes to waste collections has led to the authority looking at other aspects of the service, with officials asked to consider how reducing the frequency of non-recyclable waste collections could help to increase recycling rates and cut costs.

Labour councillor Deborah Sacks said changing to collections of general waste every three weeks would be "a big step" and wanted to know more about how much they would save.

Conservative Kathryn Cross warned making such a change would be "complicated".

"Added to the fact that you have waste like nappies and things, which, building up over three weeks is not going to be very nice," she said.