2009 must be a year of real change and of hope says Nick Clegg in his new year message. Transcript: Britain is facing a difficult year. Every day, 200 families are now at risk of losing their homes, and three million people could be out of a job. The government got us into this mess [...]

New timetables brought in by London Midland following the completion of the upgrade of the West Coast Mainline leaves Walsall back where it was in the days of Dr Beeching, stuck up a siding cut off from everywhere other than Birmingham. “What sort of a message does that send out to would be developers at [...]

The closure threat hanging over Sneyd Community School receded after the Children and Young Peoples Scrutiny Panel rejected any proposal to close the school.  It was pointed out at the meeting that scrutiny panels can only make recommendations and that the final decision on the future of the school lay with the cabinet. Further meetings [...]

Half of children living in poverty are not entitled to free school meals, research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed. Parliamentary answers have shown that free meals are available to children whose parents are on a variety of benefits, but not to those who claim working tax credits. The information shows that: Families are paying [...]

A glossy leaflet being hand delivered to every door in the Borough by Walsall Council giving advanced notice of changes to the recycling and rubbish collection service isn’t worth the paper it’s written on reports Lib Dem councillor Ian Shires. The leaflet says it has “important information” telling residents what can be recycled and in [...]

Options for the future of Sneyd Community School will be put to Walsall Council’s Children’s and Young Peoples Scrutiny Panel on Thursday 18th December 2008. The panel will meet at 6pm in a conference room within the Council House and will be held in public. Four options will be put to members of the scrutiny [...]

Any chance of Willenhall getting a new train station linking the town with the West Coast Main Line at Wolverhampton could have been buried in the depths of a 200 page report on the future of the West Midlands had it not been for the eagle eyes of Lib Dem councillor Ian Shires. Ian spotted [...]