News in Heswall

The construction of a building containing eight apartments on Teviot Bank, Cottage Lane, Gayton, looks set to go ahead following a recommendation from Wirral Council planning officers that permission to build is given.

A two storey dwelling currently occupies the plot of land, in a slightly elevated position above Long Meadow. This will be demolished to make way for the new development.

Police and Trading Standards officers have warned that criminals are spamming fake texts that offer vaccination against COVID-19 in return for payment - which involves unsuspecting people giving away financial details.

The texts come with a link to a convincing website that appears to belong to the NHS. The site invites visitors to add their bank details while registering for their vaccination.

Following the closure of our schools, and our feature yesterday picking a handful of Heswall Nub News' favourite online learning resources for youngsters, there's good news for homeschooling parents and children.

A rapid response initiative by the BBC will ensure all children can access curriculum-based learning, even if they don't have access to the internet.

As we begin a new 'stay at home' lockdown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has announced a new £4.6bn lockdown fund to help businesses through a third period of enforced economic inactivity.

This morning, the Chancellor detailed the new package - it includes one-off top up grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to £9,000 per property, plus an extension to the furlough scheme.

Having your say about Wirral Council budget cuts may not seem like the most thrilling or optimistic opportunity in the first month of a new decade, but that's what the Council would like you to do.

The borough's finances have been weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the response to it, and to avoid falling into the illegal position of running out of cash, savings need to be made to balance the budget.

Amid intensifying national debate about schooling, and calls by the Labour Party for an instant total lockdown, parents of local primary children are preparing for a first day of term tomorrow.

Secondary and college students will make a staggered start.

Plans lodged with Wirral Borough Council by pub chain Wetherspoon reveal how the site at 1-5 The Mount formerly occupied by the abandoned Exchange venue will be transformed.

In a nutshell, a single storey side and rear extension will be added to the existing premises. The proposal also includes internal alterations and additional beer garden areas.

Pauline Fielding, the Heswall mum and grandmother who has fought for better road safety ever since the death of her son in a car crash 26 years ago, has been awarded the MBE.

Pauline started campaigning after her 18-year-old son Andrew was killed on the A540 in Neston in 1994. She has described what happened:

Today feels like a case of one vaccine step forward, one variant step back.

We discovered a late Christmas present had arrived in the shape of the approval of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine for use in the United Kingdom, and that the government had ordered enough doses to add to those of the Pfizer-BionTech vaccine to protect our adult population as quickly as they can be administered.

Christmas trees bring such joy!

Faces young and old illuminated by both twinkling lights and the glowing inner spirit of Christmas!