The organisers of the St Albans Nutcracker Trail have been busy installing the large nutcracker soldiers in locations in the city and surrounding area.

The trail, where people mark the ones they have found on a special map, starts tomorrow and runs until 4 January.

St Albans Business Improvement District (BID) said it hoped the free activity over the festive period would get people out and exploring the hidden corners of the city.

Here are a few spotted so far...

Image source, St Albans BID

Image source, St Albans BID

Hertfordshire Mercury

A kind-hearted man who launched a campaign to get a homeless man off the streets of Stevenage is in "shock", believing he was , external"duped".

Northampton Chronicle & Echo

A man was approached in Northampton town centre by a man who shouted at him and robbed him of his phone, wallet and money, external.

Watford Observer

The multi-million pound development at Intu Watford has reached a key milestone, external with a “topping out” ceremony taking place.

The chief executive of Bedford Hospital claims there is widespread support for the proposed merger with the Luton and Dunstable.

Stephen Conroy said: "So far, almost everybody thinks it's a good idea."

He said the hospitals were expected to keep their individual names, but the new organisation would be called the Bedford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The trust is preparing to submit a full business case by 22 December, with approval expected in March.

Jenny Feneley, from the Hands Off Bedford Hospital (HOBH) group said: "We feel that the history of similar mergers demonstrates that this will probably a stepping stone to downgrading one of the hospitals, and in all likelihood, that would be Bedford."

Image source, South Beds News Agency

Large numbers of people are expected to attend a public meeting, external about the changes at Bedford Hospital this afternoon between 15:00 and 16:00.

A consultation on a new local plan, external for St Albans will take place in the new year after the plan the district council submitted in 2016 was rejected by the government.

Image source, Google

A Local Plan identifies what land will be used for future residential and commercial developments and also specifies the infrastructure, such as roads and schools, required to support the growth.

The authority said the reasons for the rejection were "complicated", but "essentially other councils thought we were not allocating enough land for housing".

During the new consultation, which will take place from 9 January to 21 February 2018, people who live and work in the district will be able to have their say about how development will be managed up to 2036.

A massive new technology park which could provide employment for 4,000 people is being proposed for land near Hinxton, in the south of the county.

If plans are approved, companies based at the AgriTech park will develop technologies to help farmers and others involved in the food chain to improve their performance, according to SmithsonHill Ltd, which has submitted its proposal to South Cambridgeshire District Council.

Image source, Terence O'Rourke Ltd

The park would have about 112,000 sq m (27 acres) of employment space. The applicants propose to change to the access to Whittlesford Parkway railway station, including a new foot and cycle bridge over the A505, and a bus and cycle interchange on green belt land.

A public consultation, external on the plans closes on 4 January.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

More than 550 years after the Battle of St Albans marked the beginning of the Wars of the Roses, the city centre is set to be invaded by a new army over the festive period.

Image source, St Albans BID

In 1455 Richard, Duke of York, led a force of 3,000 on a march towards London before clashing with Henry VI’s Lancastrian troops in the city at the top of Holywell Hill.

In 2017, 15 giant nutcracker soldiers and their King will be positioned at key locations around St Albans and surrounding villages as part of the St Albans Nutcracker Trail which starts tomorrow and runs until 4 January.

The names for each have been suggested by members of the public and I'm told that there's definitely a Nutty McNutface in there somewhere!

Helen Burridge, manager of St Albans Business Improvement District (BID), said: "We’re sure that this trail will brighten everyone’s Christmas as well as providing much needed footfall to the shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants around the city."

Image source, St Albans BID

A man has died after he fell from a bridge and was hit by a lorry, police say.

He "fell from the B1049 bridge" over the A14 near Histon at about 20:00 last night and was struck by an HGV.

Image source, BCH Road Policing

The man was pronounced dead at the scene, Cambridgeshire Police say.

The incident is not being treated as suspicious.

The A14 was closed in both directions for several hours and reopened at about 01:00.

Adam Jinkerson
BBC Local Live

You may have read a lot of stories this morning about massive queues outside electrical stores and pushing and shoving in the aisles of supermarkets as Black Friday sales begin.

Well, not in Cambridge city centre.

The Grand Arcade, Lion Yard and the Grafton shopping centres were all relatively quiet around opening time, despite "sale" signs in most shop windows.

We didn't spot any crowds jostling to bag a bargain... but we think we saw some tumbleweed rolling along the near-deserted shopping streets.

Are you standing in a queue? Get in touch with us by email, Twitter, external or Facebook, external.

The Comet

Three men have been arrested on suspicion of grevious bodily harm with intent, external after an incident in Stevenage Leisure Park resulted in a policeman being taken to hospital.

A man has died in a crash on the A414 North Orbital Road near the Colney Heath Lane roundabout on Thursday evening.

Image source, Google

Hertfordshire Police said a silver Vauxhall Astra was in collision with a white lorry just before 20:00 on the westbound carriageway, between what is know locally as the "longabout" and the Shell petrol station. The cause of the crash is not yet known.

The Astra driver’s injuries were severe and he died at the scene. The lorry driver was uninjured.

The road was closed until just after 02:00 on Friday.

PC Jackie Lister said: "We are continuing to investigate and I would ask anyone who saw the collision or the vehicles prior to the incident to contact me."

Stuart Bailey
BBC News

Police in Northampton have been given additional powers after a shooting last Friday evening.

Two women in a car were shot at in South Holme Court, Thorplands, and suffered minor injuries.

Officers are allowed to "exclude" people from the area if they believe anti-social behaviour or crime is likely to occur.

The powers will initially be in force for 48 hours until 18:00 on Saturday.

A 22-year-old man arrested in connection with the incident has since been released under investigation.

Image source, Google

Welwyn Hatfield Times

The result for Hatfield Town Council’s East Ward by-election has been announced, external.

Stuart Bailey
BBC News

Argos has doubled the number of staff at its Kettering distribution centre ahead of the Christmas period.

The site - which is the company's biggest in the country - employs about 300 permanent staff, and a further 300 temporary workers have been brought in.

The festive rush begins today with so-called Black Friday, an annual discount sales event that started in the United States and many shops in the UK now take part in.

Argos Kettering warehouse in numbers:

• It covers an area of 700,000 sq ft (65,000 sq m) - the size of 11 football pitches
• The length of its perimeter fence is one mile (1.6km)
• It has 60 forklift trucks, the tallest-reaching in Europe
• About 140,000 items will be processed there today and five million over the whole Christmas period
• 210 vehicles will arrive and leave the site today

Thousands of pounds spent on the bid for Milton Keynes to become European Capital of Culture has not been wasted, according to the Labour leader of Milton Keynes Council, Peter Marland.

Yesterday, six UK cities were told they could not compete for the title in 2023 because of Brexit.

Mr Marland said although the decision was "a loss to the city", the £150,000 already spent "has already been earned back".

Image source, CultureMK

Dr Ann Limb, chairwoman of the bid team, said the money spent has been an investment in projects that were likely to take place anyway and were in keeping with Milton Keynes' vision for a "a cultural and creative city".

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

Christmas started with a bang in Bedford last night.

Thousands turned out to celebrate the annual turning on the Christmas lights, which ended with a free firework crescendo.

The lights were turned on by a very special man, Father Christmas.

Families crowded along the town's Embankment to see the spectacular show, with many spectators saying it was the "best show yet".

Luton News

A young Luton man who saved lives through the gift of organ donation has been posthumously honoured at a moving awards ceremony, external.

A petition has been started after "concerns about the amount of collisions, incidents and near misses" along the A6 between Bedford and Souldrop.

Bedford Borough Council councillor Doug McMurdo said he wants a "comprehensive review of all aspects of highway safety relating to the A6".

It comes after two people were seriously hurt in an accident that closed the road by Templars Way in Sharnbrook for several hours yesterday.

Simon Fletcher, a Sharnbrook resident, said "This stretch of road is a graveyard in waiting.

"I have been driving along it since 1987 and it has gone from bad to worse."

Stuart Bailey
BBC News

Police carrying out patrols in Northampton, after two women were shot at on Friday, have made five arrests.

Officers were given extra powers to conduct searches in Thorpland after the incident in South Holme Court at about 18:00.

Both suffered minor injuries and required hospital treatment.

Two men in their 20s and three teenage boys were arrested following the search of a vehicle in Birds Hill Road, Lings, between Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning, though the arrests are not believed to be in connection with the shooting.

All have since been released under investigation.

A quantity of drugs were recovered and number of weapons seized (pictured).

Image source, Northamptonshire Police

Image source, Northamptonshire Police