LDRS Stories

A Dudley councillor with 27 years of experience as a member of the authority has been made a freeman of the borough.

A date has been set for an upcoming Birmingham by-election battle following the resignation of a councillor.

Bosses at a landlord which has around 25,500 social housing properties in total and hundreds in Shropshire has been hauled over the coals by regulators.

The deputy leader of Reform has announced that the council is in ‘advanced talks’ about the return of the Walsall Illuminations.

The controversy surrounding a fun fair in a popular park is set to be discussed by members of Dudley Council.

Birmingham Council’s bins boss has insisted no final decision has been made on whether to introduce fortnightly collections city-wide despite concerns from opposition councillors.

Political leaders in Walsall have slammed new planning rules set to be introduced by the Labour Government later this month.

The opposition leader at Walsall Council has called for an end to the ‘softly softly touch’ with enforcement notices.

Sandwell Council will spend £2.4m extending its IT contract with Oracle.

Residents in a Birmingham area will soon be heading to the polls again just months after May’s local elections following the resignation of a councillor who made “unacceptable” comments.

A real estate firm which failed to put post-Grenfell recommended fire protection in a Birmingham apartment block where 160 live has been hit with a £250,000 court bill.

Dudley councillors should be made to publicly apologise if they misbehave according to a member of the authority’s Standards Committee.

NHS bosses in Birmingham would ‘love’ to see a pilot dementia project that is already cutting assessment waiting times rolled out across the rest of the city.

A former Dudley Labour and Black Country Party councillor has taken a long political journey to join Reform UK Coseley councillor Peter Drake will sit as a member of the official opposition leaving his former group with just two councillors.

Reform in Walsall has been accused of ‘hijacking Christmas’ in a row over a Willenhall light switch on event.

The team behind Birmingham’s prestigious Paradise project have said works to improve the appearance of a landmark building are still ongoing.

A new rule which requires all HMOs in the borough to have planning permission has been approved by Reform-led Sandwell Council.

Birmingham Council has vowed that lessons will be learned after 50,000 residents were affected by a blunder linked to bin collection changes.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s pledge to make dementia research a top national priority has been described as ‘long overdue and much needed’ by Birmingham medics.

An innovative pilot project has slashed waiting times for dementia assessment and treatment for North Birmingham people aged over 80 by 20 weeks.

The number of complaints against Dudley councillors in the first half of 2026 was more than the total for the entire previous year.

A Walsall company is due to appear before magistrates after it allegedly spilled around 4,000 litres of toxic chemicals into the canal in 2024.

Planners have thrown out an application for a £4m apartment block in Dudley town centre which ‘looked like a prison’.

A former newspaper printing works will be converted into new padel courts.

Dudley’s Reform UK deputy leader branded racist and sexist comments from party members recorded by ITV undercover reporters as ‘disgusting’.

Phase two of a huge £126million industrial and logistics development is now complete.

Benches removed from the market in Dudley after becoming an eyesore and magnet for yobs are to be relocated to Himley Hall.

Dudley Council plans to almost double spending on centres dedicated to helping children with special needs over the next five years.

Dudley Council’s leader has welcomed a decision not to spend quarter of a million pounds on public artwork at Dudley’s new bus terminus.

Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s main stage is set to temporarily close next year as a project to remove RAAC gets under way.

A Walsall nightclub has lost its licence following a ‘sustained pattern of public safety failings’.

A council’s planners have said a Reform councillor’s cafe which opened nearly two years ago without permission should be allowed to stay.

Birmingham City Council is set to dispose of an ‘eyesore’ children’s centre as its huge assets sale rumbles on.

Dozens of fire doors at a Birmingham primary school are to be replaced after an inspection found they do not meet safety regulations.

Reform UK said it will cancel a climate emergency declaration made by Sandwell Council.

Questions have been raised over Reform UK’s commitment to introducing free parking across Sandwell.

Reform UK has vowed to declare a ‘housing emergency’ in Sandwell to battle the ever-increasing wait for a council home.

Plans have been approved to convert Walsall County and Family Court into 54 homes.

Dudley’s council tax increase seems certain be 4.99 percent for the next three years regardless of who is in control.

Councillors in Walsall could be told what to wear following a request from the authority’s Reform leader, Councillor Elaine Williams.

A plan to convert a former police training centre into a 69-bed HMO has been thrown out again after receiving more than 800 objections.

There have been calls and vows to uncover the truth after a national grooming gangs inquiry announced recently that it would expand to Birmingham.

The Leather Museum’s future remains uncertain as Walsall College has remained silent over its lease of the building.

Dudley Council has scrapped means testing for late stage motor neurone disease (MND) patients after a woman died waiting for help.

Major plans to demolish a former police station and build new apartments in Ladywood have been given the green light.

Dudley’s leaders are facing calls for more detail on how a deal with Worcester University to run a new college collapsed.

A warrant has been issued against a Black Country builder accused of defrauding people of more than £130,000 after he failed to attend court.

A plan to open a children’s home in Wolverhampton that has been thrown out three times in the last two years will now be allowed to go ahead.

A new political group has been formed by ex-Reform councillors in Walsall.

A “deeply distraught” Birmingham Cantonese restaurant boss who admitted a string of hygiene failings has been fined thousands of pounds.

A Birmingham off licence was so overrun with rats it was forced to close for a couple of days, a court heard.

Two businesses on the same Birmingham road have been forced to close following the discovery of an infestation of pests.

The Conservative group leader in Walsall has raised concerns about a new West Midlands bus franchising system.

Labour MP Alex Ballinger says new planning rules which remove councillors’ right to ‘call-in’ applications for committee decisions will unblock the system.

Dudley Council has scrapped plans for a tip czar to find a permanent home for a household waste recycling centre (HWRC).

Birmingham City Council is set to fund roof replacement and repair works at a secondary school amid an ‘increasing risk of failure’.

The licence of a Walsall club which caused ‘serious endangerment to life’ will be reviewed by councillors next week.