More burial plots will be provided in Wakefield, after concerns about limited space in the city's main cemetery.

Wakefield Cemetery, on Sugar Lane, dates back to 1859 and is set to become full within seven years, according to a council report.

Opposition leader Nadeem Ahmed, from the Conservative and Independent Group, called for the allotments next to the site to be given priority when negotiating more space for burials.

However, Wakefield Council has instead pledged to consider a range of suitable sites in the city, so options are not limited.

Labour deputy leader Jack Hemingway told the council debate that securing burial provision that met the needs of all communities was being taken seriously.

"There is currently sufficient burial space at Sugar Lane and the council is pro-actively using the time we have to seek expanded burial provision when that space runs out," he said.

The councillor added the process to create burial land was not straightforward, with high environmental requirements now in place.

A finance report, published last month, estimated the cost of the work at a potential new site to be around £100,000, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Unequivocal commitment

The council has extended cemeteries or explored other potential sites across the district in recent years.

In January 2023, work began to create 1,000 plots by extending Hemsworth Cemetery.

In the same year,  surveys and drilling were carried out at Barracks Field, in Pontefract, to test if it was suitable to be turned into a cemetery.

Hemingway said surveys had also been carried out at a number of potential burial sites in Wakefield.

"We want to ensure that families can choose to bury their loved ones in the towns in which they lived," he added.

"We aim to meet the needs of all faiths, and those of no faith.

"We have already made a commitment to ensure sufficient burial space for Wakefield. I am happy to unequivocally repeat that today."

The deputy leader said the council did not want to preclude other sites that might be more suitable at this stage.

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An associate of the tech billionaire Mike Lynch had been "enjoying getting his life back" when he was fatally struck by a car while out on a run, an inquest heard.

Stephen Chamberlain died in hospital three days after a collision involving a Vauxhall car on the A1123 at Stretham in Cambridgeshire on 17 August 2024.

The 52-year-old had previously faced fraud charges in the US alongside Mr Lynch, who died after his superyacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily on 19 August.

In a statement read by lawyer Sally Hobson, Mr Chamberlain's widow Karen said he had taken up running after the fraud charge, and it had "helped him mentally stay calm and focus on what was ahead".

Mr Chamberlain and Mr Lynch were found not guilty of the charge in June last year following a trial at a federal court in San Francisco.

Mrs Chamberlain said her husband would "meticulously spend hours planning his routes" and competed in ultra-distance races.

He was "safety conscious", she said, and he would wear one earbud but leave the other ear free.

She told the inquest at New Shire Hall, Alconbury Weald, that he had been home from the US for two months and was "making up for lost time, enjoying getting his life back".

'A matter of seconds'

The inquest heard the collision happened as Mr Chamberlain was crossing a road between two parts of a bridleway and he was struck by the car as it crested a humpback bridge.

In a statement summarised by area coroner Caroline Jones, the driver involved said that as she "approached the bridge she proceeded down the incline" and a man "suddenly emerged into the road".

She said she saw Mr Chamberlain "looking to his left away from her and only looked to his right just before the collision".

She said she had "braked hard and steered to the nearside", but "he was too close" and the front offside of the vehicle collided with him.

She said she had been driving within the 60mph (97km/h) speed limit, had been on her way to a shop in Newmarket, Suffolk, and had "no time pressure", the coroner said.

A witness statement said Mr Chamberlain was thrown "approximately 15ft" in the air and "the entire incident must have been a matter of seconds".

The coroner said the female driver of the car should not be named at the hearing.

Police forensic collision investigator PC Ian Masters said it was "not an ideal crossing point by any stretch of the imagination".

Asked by the coroner if it was his view that it was not an avoidable collision, Mr Masters replied: "Yes, that's correct".

The coroner concluded that Mr Chamberlain died as the result of a road traffic collision.

She shared the concerns of the family that the humpback bridge was an "irredeemable barrier" to visibility for pedestrians and other road users.

She said she would write to Cambridgeshire County Council as the highways authority for further information before deciding whether a report to help prevent future deaths was necessary.

Mr Chamberlain's daughter Ella said in a statement to the inquest that her father was the "perfect role model in every way".

His son Teddy said in a statement: "He was the glue of our family, always ready with an answer.

"The mental and physical strength he showed was beyond anything I could imagine."

He added that he was the "greatest dad I could ever have asked for and I'm so proud to be his son".

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is set to approve an extra £7m for adult social care services to help suppliers meet rising costs.

Care homes and providers – some of whom challenged the previous settlement at the High Court – have told the authority increases in National Insurance and the National Living Wage have pushed their costs up.

The council's previously suggested fee rises of 2-4% would typically increase to 5-7% under the revised plans for the coming year.

The proposal will be discussed by the authority's cabinet on 29 April.

In January, the High Court ordered the council to reconsider its 1.4% fee rise for the 2024-25 financial year, after Staffordshire Care Association challenged how the decision was reached.

Although the rise was later confirmed, council officers warned that "members should read this judgement in full" before considering this year's fees.

Sustainable care market

In a consultation in December and January, providers from different sectors told the council that staffing costs would rise by up to 10% because of changes announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in October's budget.

The Labour-run authority has assessed those rises, along with general inflationary pressures, to come up with new rates for firms providing residential and at-home care.

Despite the council's own financial challenges, cabinet members have been warned they have to follow government guidance and maintain a "sustainable" care market.

The authority's budget for this year had initially allowed for a planned increase of about £6m for social care.

The report to councillors said that while an additional £1.1m would be provided centrally, the service would have to "actively work to reduce expenditure and mitigate the additional costs over the course of the financial year".

Last Thursday's Shropshire Council election was as fascinating as it was unpredictable.

Nobody I spoke with before the election, including national party leader Nigel Farage, expected Reform UK to win as many seats as they did in the county.

On the other hand, though we were almost certain the Conservatives would lose control at this election, their bone-crunching fall from grace took many by surprise.

Friday was a day of recounts, a Reform surge and random chance as the Liberal Democrats took charge, with one seat even decided through the electoral equivalent of drawing lots.

Here is the tale of Shropshire's election in numbers.

34 votes gave the Lib Dems a majority

Some of the seats being contested were won by incredibly thin margins.

In fact, eight of the 74 seats on offer were decided by fewer than 20 votes each.

The Liberal Democrats won five seats with a grand total of just 34 votes, including Whitchurch South (9), The Strettons (1), St Oswald (8), and Cheswardine (15).

Bridgnorth South and Alveley was finally won by the Lib Dems following three recounts.

Colin Taylor and Reform UK's Karen Webb-James each received 508 votes, but there could be only one winner.

The vote was decided by two ballot papers being put back into a ballot box and one randomly taken out. Mr Taylor won the contest and took the seat by an extra vote.

The five narrowly-won Lib Dem seats gave the group their majority and overall control of the council.

Tory support down 60%

All six Conservatives standing for re-election who were part of the council's previous leadership team, or cabinet, lost their seats.

Former deputy leader Ian Nellins, who was the face of unpopular decisions like the £56 garden waste charge and the now-cancelled tip booking system, came third in Market Drayton North with 199 votes, behind Reform UK and the Lib Dems.

The councillor in charge of finance, Gwilym Butler, who oversaw cuts totalling more than £100m in the last few years, also lost his seat in Cleobury Mortimer.

He said he was disappointed not to have been re-elected after years of hard work, but proud to have avoided bankruptcy for the authority.

The councillor who championed the controversial northern Shrewsbury bypass, the North West Relief Road, lost Burnell to the Lib Dems.

Four other Cabinet members, including leader Lezley Picton, did not stand for re-election.

England's 'single biggest election win'

Seasoned councillor Heather Kidd won the largest vote of any councillor up for election in England last Thursday, according to the Liberal Democrats.

Kidd, who will officially become the new council leader later this month, took 71% of the vote in Chirbury and Worthen.

In 2021 she received 84%.

Fellow party councillor Ruth Houghton, who won Bishop's Castle, was a close second with 70%.

From 97 votes to 27,732

Reform UK's success at last week's election cannot be overstated.

The party stood candidates in all 74 seats, won 16 of them and officially became the party in opposition. In total, the group received 27,732 votes, which is around 27% of the vote share.

In 2021, the party fielded just two candidates and won 97 votes between them.

Reform's victory saw the group take chunks out of both the Labour and Conservative groups.

Labour received almost 11,000 fewer votes, resulting in their number of councillors dropping from nine to four.

Meanwhile, support for the Tory group fell by 60%, from 51,442 in 2021 to 20,118.