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Invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed and Himalayan balsam could increase the risk of flooding in West Yorkshire, a council warned.

The non-native species can spread rapidly but die back in the winter, leaving bare ground that floodwater moves across quickly, a Calderdale Council spokesperson said.

People are encouraged to report any sightings of invasive plants and to clean their boots after walking in the countryside to stop species from spreading.

Scott Patient, the council's member for climate action and housing, said: "Managing invasive species is crucial for reducing flood risk and creating a more biodiverse Calderdale."

Invasive plants can cause a particular problem in Calderdale, the council said, as water can flow rapidly down its steep hillsides and into the borough's rivers.

Japanese knotweed and giant hogweed require professional treatment, it added, but Himalayan balsam could be easily removed.

Boot cleaning stations have been installed at Jerusalem Farm in the Luddenden Valley in a bid to protect endangered white-clawed crayfish from invasive species.

The population is under threat due to the introduction of the non-native North American signal crayfish – which spread a disease which kills the native white-clawed crayfish.

The cleaning stations have also been put in place at Baitings, Ryburn, Withens Clough and Scammonden reservoirs.

Patient added: "Simple steps like using boot cleaning stations or reporting sightings of the most problematic invasive species can make a big difference."

West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds

A mental health trust still requires improvement in relation to its adult wards, an investigation has found.

The Care Quality Commission said it found "pockets of improvement" when it visited wards at Dorothy Pattison Hospital in Walsall but said leaders still have work to do.

The Black Country Healthcare Trust had already been told to improve its mental health inpatient services after safeguarding issues were raised following an inspection in February 2023.

The trust's chief nurse, Carolyn Green, said she recognised some improvements were needed and was pleased the inspectors had noted some improvements.

The trust's chair stood down in October after a critical report by leadership firm Xytal found distrust among staff at all levels.

This latest unannounced inspection was carried out in May 2024. The CQC apologised for the delay in publication and said it was due to a large-scale transformation programme which resulted in problems with systems.

"The amount of time taken to publish this report falls far short of what people using services and the trust should be able to expect and CQC apologises for this."

It added any immediate action would not have been affected.

The inspection was prompted by concerns raised around the management of the medical team and a poor culture where staff could not speak up.

Inspectors said this had not been substantiated.

The overall rating for the service, and the rating for how safe the service is, has again been rated as requires improvement.

The rating for how well-led the service is has improved from requires improvement to good.

Some staff had not completed mandatory training including basic life support, inspectors said. The trust said all staff were booked in to complete this.

Inspectors also found some wards to be cluttered and some areas "shabby" and "damaged".

People were allowed to smoke in garden areas which led to a "a large quantity of cigarette ends and litter" and there were also exposed sharp edges on doors which people could use to hurt themselves, the report stated.

However, inspectors found staff felt supported and listened to and were confident in raising concerns.

Andy Brand, CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said: "We clearly saw that Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust had made improvements in how management oversaw the service since our previous report.

"However, leaders still have work to do to make changes to support the trust's caring staff with good processes and systems to support them to keep people safe and wards running effectively."

"We recognise that some improvements are needed, and we are committed to deliver these, to provide the best possible service for our patients and working environment for our staff"," Ms Green said.

She said the hospital trust is launching a new approach to 'smoke-free' in summer.

Here's our weekly roundup of stories from across local websites in the West of England.

We have a daily round up as well. Make sure you look out for it on the website and the local section of the BBC News app.

What have been the big stories in the West this week?

At the start of the week Bristol woke up to the news of a death at the half marathon event on the weekend.

ITV West Country reported 28-year-old rugby player Jon Devereux, from Chester, died after after collapsing and falling ill at the Great Bristol Run.

Bristol Live's article on the sudden closure of part of the Co-op car park in Westbury-on-Trym and some walls installed there also gained a lot of attention this week. Nearby residents are now calling for an investigation after the area was cordoned off with blue walls.

The body found in the search for missing 16-year-old Athrun got a lot of reaction from ITV West Country and Bristol Live audiences. Searches had been ongoing in the West Shore area of Llandudno following the sighting of a body on Tuesday.

Finally, news from The Dorset Echo, Somerset Live and ITV West Country on the temporary closure of Yeovil's maternity unit gained a lot of traction this week. In a statement the hospital trust told ITV West Country, it "cannot currently safely run the unit" or "safely provide care during labour and birth".

Top six stories for the BBC in the West

A man will appear in court in July charged with the murder of a nine-year-old girl in Lincolnshire.

Lilia Valutyte died after being stabbed as she played with a hula hoop in the street outside her mother's shop in Boston town centre on 28 July 2022.

On Thursday, a hearing was held at Lincoln Crown Court.

Deividas Skebas, 25, formerly of Thorold Street, Boston, is due at the same court on 28 July – the third anniversary of the stabbing.

Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds latest episode of Look North here.

Soon after Jess gave birth to her first baby, she ran out of freezer space.

"I was producing so much breast milk my husband couldn't fit the food in the freezer," said Jess, a 30-year-old mother from South Derbyshire.

It was then that she found out about the option of donating surplus breast milk to a local milk bank.

"I knew that poorly and premature babies in the neonatal unit were fed with donated milk. So I thought why not give them some of mine?"

Jess said donating her milk was easy, adding: "I phoned Birmingham milk bank and they sent me a blood test in the post."

She added that other than dropping off the blood test at the hospital, she did not have to leave the house to donate.

"They sent me all the bottles and equipment," she added. "It was all free."

She said her first donation was 10 litres (two gallons) of breast milk.

Jess described her 13-week-old baby Lucas as a "big chunky baby" weighing nearly a stone.

She added: "I thought he's got loads of my milk, so I'm going to help make chunky babies all over the nation!"

Jess's milk was transported from her house to the human milk bank Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital by Derbyshire Blood Bikes – a charity which provides a medical courier service for NHS hospitals across the county.

"The Blood Bikes were so good," says Jess. "They came right to the door and gave me the cooler bags they transport the milk in.

"I literally just had to take it out the freezer and give it to them."

"It created space for more food, actually. My husband was happy!"

A spokesperson from the Birmingham Women's Hospital milk bank team said: "We'd like to say a huge thank you to all of the generous women who donate their breast milk to help protect tiny babies.

"Donations are crucial, they play a huge part in providing the necessary care for our unwell babies in our neonatal unit, as breast milk is vital at protecting extremely sick babies.

"We know that many hospitals are in need of human milk for their neonatal services which is why we supply milk to surrounding hospitals throughout the UK."

How does it work?

On its NHS trust website, the milk bank at Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital said it was providing donor breast milk to its own neonatal babies as well as to other hospitals across the region and beyond.

Donor breast milk, it says, can be offered to support mothers while they are establishing their own milk supply, or if they are unable to provide their own milk due to geographical separation or maternal illness.

Eligible donors would have established breastfeeding with their own baby and find they have surplus milk to their baby's requirements.

Blood tests are done before donations to ensure infections will not be passed on via the milk, and certain reasons will exclude people from becoming donors such as smoking or taking certain prescribed medicine.

Last month, Royal Derby Hospital used donor breast milk to feed babies on their neonatal unit for the first time.

The first batch of donor milk came from the human milk bank in Birmingham, which was delivered by a Derbyshire Blood Bikes volunteer.

Mark Vallis, Operations Manager at Derbyshire Blood Bikes, said: "It means mothers at the hospital can rest assured that the neonatal unit will be able to get milk to them. In all instances that will be milk from the Birmingham bank, delivered to Derby free of charge by Blood Bikes."

Jess said the move was "amazing", adding: "I see on Facebook groups mums asking for spare milk, and that's obviously not right. So it's really important they can get it from a safe source."

A spokesperson for the University Hospitals Trust of Derby and Burton said: "We offer expert advice and breastfeeding support to women, however, where expressing milk is not an option, donated breastmilk is a more suitable way to support pre-term baby's development.

"We are pleased to be working with Birmingham Milk Bank so that some of our families, with neonatal babies, can access donor breastmilk."

Fire crews will take part in a training exercise at Lincoln County Hospital to help prepare them for high-rise emergency situations.

The sessions will be carried out in an area currently under refurbishment and synthetic smoke will be used to emulate real-life scenarios.

Fifty firefighters and six fire engines will be involved later and on Thursday, and Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue has urged people not to be alarmed.

Matt King, head of response at the fire service, said: "It's a brilliant opportunity for us to test our plans and preparedness."

He added: "It's really about making sure that we are well prepared for real-life emergencies.

"We really want to reassure people that there will be a lot of activity going on, there will be a lot of fire appliances, but there is nothing to be worried about.

"There is no fire involved, and it is just us in a training environment."

Firefighters will be on site from 19:00 to 21:00 BST, and on Thursday from 13:30 to 15:30 and 19:00 to 21:00.

Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds latest episode of Look North here.

On Wednesday evening, under the domed ceiling of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, 133 cardinals will vote to elect the Catholic Church's 267th pope.

The day will begin at 10:00 (09:00 BST) with a mass in St Peter's Basilica. The service, which will be televised, will be presided over by Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old Cardinal Dean who was also the celebrant of Pope Francis' funeral.

In the early afternoon, mobile signal within the territory of the Vatican will be deactivated to prevent anyone taking part in the conclave from contacting the outside world.

Around 16:15 (15:15 BST), the 133 cardinal electors will gather in the Pauline Chapel and form a procession to the Sistine Chapel.

All the while they will be singing a litany and the hymn Veni Creator – an invocation to the Holy Spirit, which is seen as the guiding hand that will help cardinals choose the new Pope.

Once in the Sistine Chapel, one hand resting on a copy of the Gospel, the cardinals will pronounce the prescribed oath of secrecy which precludes them from ever sharing details about how the new Pope was elected.

• Follow the latest updates
• How the Vatican keeps its pap vote secret

When the last of the electors has taken the oath, a meditation will be held. Then, the Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations Diego Ravelli will announce "extra omnes" ("everybody out").

He is one of three ecclesiastical staff allowed to stay in the Sistine Chapel despite not being a cardinal elector, even though they will have to leave the premises during the counting of the votes.

The moment "extra omnes" is pronounced marks the start of the cardinals' isolation – and the start of the conclave.

The word, which comes from the Latin for "cum clave", or "locked with key" is slightly misleading, as the cardinals are no longer locked inside; rather, on Tuesday Vatican officials closed the entrances to the Apostolic Palace – which includes the Sistine Chapel- with lead seals which will remain until the end of the proceedings. Swiss guards will also flank all the entrances to the chapel.

Diego Ravelli will distribute ballot papers, and the cardinals will proceed to the first vote soon after.

While nothing forbids the Pope from being elected with the first vote, it has not happened in centuries. Still, that first ballot is very important, says Austen Ivereigh, a Catholic writer and commentator.

"The cardinals who have more than 20 votes will be taken into consideration. In the first ballot the votes will be very scattered and the electors know they have to concentrate on the ones that have numbers," says Ivereigh.

He adds that every other ballot thereafter will indicate which of the cardinals have the momentum. "It's almost like a political campaign… but it's not really a competition; it's an effort by the body to find consensus."

If the vote doesn't yield the two-third majority needed to elect the new pope, the cardinals go back to guesthouse Casa Santa Marta for dinner. It is then, on the sidelines of the voting process, that important conversations among the cardinals take place and consensus begins to coalesce around different names.

According to Italian media, the menu options consist of light dishes which are usually served to guests of the residence, and includes wine – but no spirits. The waiters and kitchen staff are also sworn to secrecy and cannot leave the grounds for the duration of the conclave.

From Thursday morning, cardinals will be taking breakfast between 06:30 (05:30 BST) and 07:30 (06:30 BST) ahead of mass at 08:15 (07:15 BST). Two votes then take place in the morning, followed by lunch and rest. In his memoirs, Pope Francis said that was when he began to receive signals from the other cardinals that serious consensus was beginning to form around him; he was elected during the first afternoon vote. The last two conclaves have all concluded by the end of the second day.

There is no way of knowing at this stage whether this will be a long or a short conclave – but cardinals are aware that dragging the proceedings on could be interpreted as a sign of gaping disagreements.

As they discuss, pray and vote, outside the boarded-up windows of the Sistine Chapel thousands of faithful will be looking up to the chimney to the right of St Peter's Basilica, waiting for the white plume of smoke to signal that the next pope has been elected.

Vandals have caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage at a nature therapy centre.

A group broke into a polytunnel filled with seedlings at The Flower Patch in Middlesbrough and caused "as much destruction as possible".

Founder Nicky Morgan, 57, said the "mindless" attacks had been happening since February and it was the same group of youths every time.

The crime has been reported to police and CCTV footage has been handed over. Cleveland Police has been contacted for comment.

The vandals ruined 40% of the seedlings that were growing in the polytunnel, Ms Morgan said, and hundreds of hours of volunteer time has been wasted.

She explained: "When we looked at the CCTV coverage it looks like they came with one aim, to cause as much destruction as possible.

"They had everything covered. They had gloves on, you couldn't see their faces, we watched the whole thing play out on video.

"What you've got to appreciate is that it has taken us five years to get to where we are now.

"In terms of volunteer time since February we are talking hundreds of hours.

"It is completely mindless. There is no rhyme or reason for it."

A road dubbed the "worst in Oxfordshire" has been resurfaced, after users called on the authorities to make it safer.

Work to resurface the A417 between Faringdon and Wantage was carried out by Oxfordshire County Council last week.

The council said recent dry weather meant it was able to bring forward the programme of work, which had originally been planned for late June.

Locals had previously told the BBC that the road was decaying and prone to flooding, with vehicles often having to drive through deep potholes.

In a statement, the council said: "Persistent flooding in the area had made it difficult to carry out these much-needed repairs, which needed to be completed in dry conditions."

It added that further work to clean drainage systems was planned "for the coming months".

Talking before the resurfacing work, Steve Henry, who runs an MOT workshop at Mellor's Garage, said the state of the road was "shocking" and "disgusting".

Mr Henry, who used to own the garage he operates from, told the BBC: "It's cost me my business. I had to sell it last year. It was closed for a period of time, flooded.

"If you're on a motorbike or pushbike it's dangerous. Someone will lose their life," he warned.

Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber also raised concerns about the route, asking on his Facebook page: "Is this the worst road in Oxfordshire?"

"It's bad enough on four wheels, but imagine riding this stretch of road on a bicycle or motorbike," the post added.

A new portable oxygen delivery system has been developed to improve casualty survival rates for soldiers and civilians.

The system, which was developed by the Wiltshire-based Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and the Defence Medical Service (DMS), weighs just 5kg (11lb) and is able to offer sustained oxygen supply in a safer and easier form than conventional gas cylinders.

"The ability to deliver oxygen at the point of injury represents a game-changing advance in battlefield medicine," said Major Andrew Maggs, DSTL military advisor.

The system works by taking air from the environment and removing nitrogen to leave a breathable oxygen-rich gas that can be delivered to patients.

'Every second counts'

Oxygen therapy is critical for trauma patients suffering from blood loss, head injuries and lung trauma.

By getting oxygen delivery directly to the point of injury, the system can dramatically improve the likelihood of survival and recovery.

"By reducing logistical burden and improving safety, the system will provide critical care in situations where every second counts," Major Maggs explained.

Dr Paul Hollinshead, DSTL chief executive, added: "In operational terms, this system will reduce the logistical strain on supply chains while improving battlefield care.

"The ability to also reuse the system with external power or replaceable batteries means it offers unparalleled flexibility."

It is not yet known when the system will be first used, but 15 prototypes will soon be ready to deploy.

DSTL is also working on a mass-producible version that can withstand rigorous military use.

The system currently costs £15,000 per unit but it is hoped a more cost effective version can be designed.