Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather

It will be a cloudy and cool day with some rain and highs of 15C (59F).

The latest news, sport, travel and weather across the West Midlands and south Cheshire.

Historic paintings, furniture, ceramics and carpets in Grade I-listed Mawley Hall are up for sale.

Matthew Leggett was granted bail and will be retried on 30 September.

BBC Shropshire

Resurfacing work has been officially completed on Shrewsbury's main shopping street, almost a year after it first started.

The project on Pride Hill cost nearly £900,000 and a new contractor had to be appointed midway through the work after complaints from traders and local politicians, about the level of disruption and lengthy delays.

Image source, Google

Speaking in October, Council Leader Peter Nutting described the experience as a "nightmare".

Speaking today, however, project Manager Matt Johnson praised the new contractors, saying they had done a "fantastic job".

Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather

It will be a dry night with clear spells and lows of 8C (46F).

BBC Shropshire

A woman who started a football boot "swap shop" in Shrewsbury says she's already had other people across the UK wanting to copy her idea.

Image source, Sarah Hopper

Sarah Hopper started the scheme two weeks ago after finding it expensive to keep up with her son's growing feet over the years.

She says she has 20 pairs ready to swap now and has already had parents turning up to swap boots and telling her she's saving them £100.

Since beginning in Shrewsbury, Sarah told BBC Shropshire people in Berkshire want to copy the idea and she's also going to get boots brought in from Wrexham.

Shropshire Star

A few of the headlines appearing on the Shropshire Star website today:

• Big boost as Telford to get up to £25 million in New Towns initiative, external
• Cat ban call for house buyers on Shropshire estate, external
• Apology over Shropshire pavement permits price hike, external

The cynics are already asking if this morning's Town's Fund announcement could be a pre-election giveaway for voters in marginal seats, but is that fair?

Looking at the 16 towns in the region in the running for millions of pounds from the Towns Fund, five are found, at least partly, in parliamentary constituencies with Conservative majorities of 5,000 or less.

Another six towns are found in constituencies with Labour majorities of 5,000 or less, including three won by 50 votes or fewer at the 2017 election.

Of the remaining five towns, three feature seats which were won by 10,000 or more votes at the last general election.

The other two, Redditch and Rowley Regis were in constituencies won by the Conservatives by 7,363 and 5,253 respectively.

The government said the 100 places chosen nationwide often had "proud industrial and economic heritage" but had "not always benefitted from economic growth in the same way as more prosperous areas".

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said it was important that "prosperity and opportunities are available to everyone in this country, not just those in London or our biggest cities".

The government has invited 16 towns in the region to apply for regeneration funding of up to £25m

They're among 100 towns around the country to be told they're eligible for money from the £3.6bn Towns Fund, external.

Image source, Getty Images

The towns in the West Midlands are: Redditch, Bloxwich, Burton upon Trent, Crewe, Dudley, Hereford, Kidsgrove, Nuneaton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Telford, Walsall, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton and Worcester.

They're being asked to submit proposals to "transform their town’s economic growth prospects with a focus on improved transport, broadband connectivity, skills and culture".

Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather

It will be a cloudy day with some rain and highs of 18C (64F).

More potholes are going to be repaired at night in Shropshire.

Image source, Shropshire Council

A new method using a new material called Texpatch is much quieter, Shropshire Council said, after trials in Whitchurch and Market Drayton last month. , external

Currently, just 20 potholes are repaired at night each week, but the local authority reckons it could increase that to 40 every night.

Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather

It will be a dry night with some clear spells and lows of 9C (48F).

BBC Politics Live
BBC2's lunchtime political programme

The prime minister's being urged not to allow 21 rebel Tory MPs back into the Conservative Party.

Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski told the BBC he believed the group - which includes former members of the cabinet like Philip Hammond, David Gauke, Justine Greening and Ken Clarke - had lost the confidence of their local Conservative associations.

The 21, who also include Midlands MPs Margot James and Antoinette Sandbach, lost the party's whip, expelling them from the parliamentary party, after they voted against the government in a key ballot on Tuesday.

Mr Kawczynski told BBC Politics Live "I said to the prime minister yesterday, I very much hope that he will stand by his decision not to back off and not to restore the whip."

That was despite being booed by Tory MPs for similar comments he made at a party meeting last night.

Shropshire Star

The Shropshire Star's headlines today include:

• Teenage motorcyclist airlifted to hospital after Oswestry crash, external
• Electricity transformer fire causes power cut near Much Wenlock, external
• Burglars take car and equestrian equipment from address near Market Drayton, external

Acres of once-purple heather on the Long Mynd in Shropshire and Holnicote on Exmoor turns brown.

BBC Shropshire

Climate change is being blamed by the National Trust for heather at a Shropshire beauty spot turning from its usual purple to a muddy brown colour.

A combination of last year's drought and a mild winter are the reasons the National Trust says up to three-quarters of the plants on the Long Mynd are in poor health, external.

Image source, National Trust

The organisation, which manages the area, part of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, says last year's high temperatures followed by a lack of rain left the heather "seriously stressed and unlikely to flower".

While the mild winter led to an increase in heather beetles, which attack the plants' leaves.

Keith Jones, a climate change specialist at the National Trust, said the organisation was "seeing first-hand the impacts of climate change on at least two of these special landscapes within our care".

BBC Shropshire

A collection of doorknobs have been attached to trees in the Mortimer Forest, near Ludlow, to conjure up thoughts of fairies and other childhood stories.

Local arts group Storymine set the project up to mark the 100th anniversary of the Forestry Commission and Forestry England spokesperson Sara Pearce (below, left) said: "I love the way that it leads you off the path and into the woods a bit more."

Artist Emma Summers, from Storymine, said "We're interested in the whole idea of fairy tale, this whole idea of portals."

"Its about discovery and engaging in the forest in a slightly different way to normal."

Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather

It will be a dry and fine day with highs of 17C (63F).

The haul is only the sixth hoard of Roman hacksilver found in Britain and is declared treasure.