News in Heswall

Wirral Council's controversial cuts plans were slated by all parties last night, as councillors feared they could do serious damage to the borough.

The authority's budget consultation, which ends at midnight tonight, includes the options of closing the Williamson Art Gallery, Europa Pools and three of the borough's four public golf courses.

Drivers will be charged for using council-owned car parks and on-street parking once again in Wirral.

At a meeting of Wirral Council's policy and resources committee last night, an "immediate" return to parking charges was voted through.

Coronavirus infections are falling in Wirral, but the rate remains incredibly high.

The latest figures figures show Wirral's infection rate is now 721 cases per 100,000, with 2,336 cases recorded in the week up to January 17. That is down on the rate of 904 seen seven days earlier.

Terrible stories of injured animals and safety concerns have led Wirral councillors to support a campaign for stricter rules on fireworks.

Cllr Lesley Rennie, a Conservative member for Wallasey, is pushing Wirral Council to do all it can to improve firework safety in the borough.

At the peak of Wirral's third wave of COVID-19, more than 500 cases were registered in a single day, putting the NHS and social care under serious pressure.

Last night Julie Webster, Wirral Council's director of public health, told a meeting of the authority's adult social care and health committee just how high case levels at the peak of the borough's third wave were.

Merseyside Police is appealing for information following an incident in Thingwall on Saturday at around 2:50pm.

Two teenage girls were out on a horse ride on Barnston Road, near the Bassett Hound pub, when one of their horses became spooked. The spooked horse reportedly bolted into a post, causing the rider to fall off. Sadly, the horse died as a result of its injuries.

For three and a half million people - and fair play to the government for rolling out vaccination at speed - the experience described below will be old hat.

And I dare say many of those who accompanied an elderly relative will have felt what I felt - nevertheless, I thought I'd try to describe both facts and feelings on the basis that facts will put some minds at rest, while it's no bad thing to share something uplifting at a time when restrictions and anxieties are beginning to bear down on many of us.

Heswall Nub News is part of a rapidly expanding network of more than 60 hyperlocal news and views sites across the country. Many thanks to Layth Yousif of Hitchin Nub News for filing this report of Tranmere Rovers' away game at Stevenage Borough.

A match full of endeavour and enterprise from both sides ended honours even, with Rovers in 15th place in League Two, and the home side third from bottom just out of the relegation places.

Small businesses could receive insurance payouts covering losses they endured during the first national lockdown.

This follows a ruling by the Supreme Court which found largely in favour of small firms receiving payments from businesses with insurance policies that include cover for 'business interruption'.

'Ask for ANI' is a new domestic abuse codeword scheme launched by the Home Office with support from Boots and other independent pharmacies.

This follows the revelation yesterday that, according to official figures, in the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a fifth of offences recorded by police officers in England and Wales related to domestic abuse.