Category: News Story

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Mid Devon District Council has formally begun work on a new Local Plan, launching a process that will shape development in the district for the next 20 years.

The council said the plan would identify how the area should accommodate new homes, jobs, infrastructure and other land uses, while protecting the natural and built environment and responding to climate change. A new timetable has been published alongside a notice formally starting the process.

A scoping consultation has opened to ask residents, businesses and stakeholders what the plan should cover, which issues it should address and how people want to be kept informed. The council said the work follows new Government requirements for councils to prepare local plans within a 30-month timeframe.

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South Cambridgeshire District Council has opened its latest Zero Carbon Communities grant scheme, with £152,000 available for local projects that cut carbon, support nature recovery and bring communities together.

The maximum grant per project has been increased to £19,500, and eligibility has been widened to include projects on school sites and applications from parent and teacher associations where there is a wider community benefit. Sports and recreational groups can also apply where projects support wellbeing, mental health or stronger local connections.

The council said half of the funding would be reserved for schemes that directly reduce or lock up carbon, with the rest available for community engagement and nature-based projects. Applications are open until 24 July 2026.

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Applications have opened for a chair to lead the Marsh Farm Neighbourhood Board in Luton, which will help decide how up to £20 million of Pride in Place funding is spent over the next decade.

The board will bring together residents, businesses and community organisations to gather local views and develop priorities for the area. Luton Council said it was looking for a community champion with the ability to bring people together and ensure the funding reflects what Marsh Farm residents need most.

Council leader Tahmina Saleem said Marsh Farm had a strong sense of community and that the board offered local people a significant opportunity to shape the future of their neighbourhood. Recruitment for the role is being supported by the council.

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Salford City Council is to receive a further £2.1 million to support reform of services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

The council said the funding would be used to strengthen early intervention and build specialist capacity across education and care, as part of the national SEND Reform Programme. The allocation for 2026/27 is intended to support better local provision and improve outcomes for children, young people and families.

The decision follows Salford Cabinet approval of new grant arrangements on 26 May 2026. The council said the work would continue its focus on improving support for children and young people in a system which, across the country, remains under considerable pressure.

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Nottingham City Council has launched a four-week consultation on a proposed Public Spaces Protection Order for the city centre, with residents, businesses and visitors invited to comment on measures aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour and protecting public spaces.

The proposed order would cover issues including obstructing access to buildings or highways, interfering with street cleansing, unauthorised requests for money, disruptive busking, unauthorised leaflet distribution, mobile advertising and public urination or defecation. The council said the aim was to balance a lively and welcoming city centre with powers to respond when behaviour causes nuisance, obstruction or distress.

The consultation runs until 23 June 2026, with online responses invited and paper copies available at Byron House and Nottingham Central Library. The council said responses would be reviewed before a final decision is made on whether to introduce the PSPO.

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The UK has condemned Russia’s latest aerial attacks on Ukraine, warning that Moscow’s use of nuclear-capable missiles and threats against Kyiv risk a dangerous escalation.

Neil Holland, the UK’s Ambassador to the OSCE, told a meeting in Vienna that Russia had launched around 600 drones and 90 missiles against Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine overnight on 23 and 24 May. He said it was the largest attack on the Ukrainian capital in a single night since 2022 and followed another major Russian assault less than two weeks earlier, when around 1,530 drones and missiles were launched across Ukraine within 24 hours.

Holland said Russia had again used an Oreshnik nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile, describing it as a reckless attempt to terrorise Ukraine’s population. He said the repeated use of nuclear-capable missiles increased the risk of misperception and dangerous miscalculation, adding that Russian attacks on Kyiv over the weekend had killed at least four people and injured around 100.

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A Sudanese man has pleaded guilty to endangering people during a Channel crossing after four migrants drowned while trying to reach a small boat off the coast of France.

Alnour Mohamed Ali, 27, admitted the offence after the deaths of two men and two women on 9 April. The four died after being swept away while trying to board a dinghy at Equihen-Plage, near Boulogne-sur-Mer. More than 40 people were rescued off the northern French coast that morning, with two children taken to hospital as a precaution and another person treated for hypothermia.

Ali pleaded guilty through an Arabic interpreter to piloting a boat in a way that created a risk of death or serious injury to others on board, while knowing he would arrive in the UK without valid entry clearance. The National Crime Agency had previously said he was charged after being arrested at the Manston processing centre in Kent, following an investigation into the fatal crossing.

The case is one of the first prosecutions under a new offence of endangering another person during a journey by sea to the UK. The NCA said in April that the deaths happened as migrants tried to board what it described as a “water taxi”, a smuggling tactic increasingly used to avoid police on French beaches. Ali is due to be sentenced on 10 June.

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A man from Everton has been banned from entering Sainsbury’s and Home Bargains stores across Merseyside after being convicted of a series of shop theft offences.

Colin Poole, 45, of no fixed address, appeared at Wirral Magistrates’ Court on 13 May after being arrested and charged with seven shop theft offences. Merseyside Police said he was also wanted on recall to prison after breaching his release conditions on several occasions. He was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison and handed a two-year Criminal Behaviour Order, which will remain in force until May 2028.

The order bans Poole from entering any Sainsbury’s or Home Bargains store in Merseyside. Chief Inspector Hamish Rawcliffe said local policing officers had taken “firm action” after thefts between 26 April and 12 May, adding that officers had analysed CCTV footage from different stores to secure the order.

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Harriet Harman has warned that Britain could be “tipped into a general election” if Andy Burnham were to replace Keir Starmer as Prime Minister. The former Labour deputy leader said Burnham could come under pressure to seek his own mandate from voters if he entered Parliament, won a future Labour leadership contest and became Prime Minister. Speaking at the Hay literary festival, she said opponents such as Nigel Farage could argue that Burnham was a “usurper” if he entered Downing Street without a General Election.

Harman said she supported Burnham returning to Westminster, but did not want to see either a leadership contest or another election. Her comments come ahead of the Makerfield by-election on 18 June, where Burnham is Labour’s candidate and where the result is being closely watched because of wider speculation about Starmer’s leadership.

She compared the situation with Gordon Brown’s decision not to call an election after succeeding Tony Blair in 2007, a choice later widely judged within Labour to have been a mistake. Harman said the public wanted political stability and rejected suggestions that Britain was ungovernable, but acknowledged that any change of Prime Minister in the current political climate could rapidly create pressure for a fresh national vote.

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The UK has called for the United Nations to be used more effectively to prevent and resolve conflict, warning that the international system is facing severe pressure from crises in the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.

James Kariuki, the UK Chargé d’Affaires to the UN, told a Security Council meeting in New York that Russia’s recent attacks on Ukraine had moved the world further away from the peace repeatedly demanded by the international community. He said conflicts required a coordinated global response and a renewed commitment to the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity, human rights and international law.

Kariuki said the Security Council had the tools to act, including peacekeeping deployments, diplomatic good offices and sanctions, but needed the political will to make them effective. He also said the Council should better reflect the modern world, with the UK supporting permanent African representation as well as permanent seats for Brazil, Germany, India and Japan.

The UK also backed wider UN reform, including the Secretary-General’s reform initiative and the UN80 process. Kariuki said the UN’s record included more than 70 peace operations, work to reduce polio by more than 99% and landmark climate agreements, but argued that multilateralism had to be strengthened if it was to meet current global challenges.