News in Heswall

Storm Dudley came and went with strong winds but mercifully little disruption or damage.

Storm Eunice is shaping up to be a much more powerful weather event, obliging the Met Office to issue a large swathe of the country, including Wirral, with an Amber warning, the middle tier of alerts.

Frank Field has been given the freedom of the borough after 40 years as Birkenhead's MP.

Lord Field, now a crossbench peer, was awarded the honour at an extraordinary meeting of Wirral Council tonight.

At last night's meeting of the council's most powerful committee, the Policy and Resources committee, some of the measures which together must save £20m were scrapped, while a chink of light was given to those trying to save some of the borough's much loved leisure facilities.

The changes will go forward to a full council meeting on February 28, where a budget saving £20m must be agreed.

The number of people in Wirral's hospitals with COVID-19 has dropped by almost a third.

On February 8, there were 30 people being treated for the virus in the borough's hospitals, down from 49 a week earlier.

The cost of building a major new flood barrier in West Kirby has risen by more than £4m.

The flood defence, which could save more than 20 lives and protect more than 70 properties from flooding, is seen as a threat to the appearance of the town by some.

A massive plan for 500 homes on the former Birkenhead docklands has been given a big boost.

The scheme is part of Wirral Waters, a project led by Peel L&P which is set to see up to 13,000 houses built over the next 25 years.

As storm names go, 'Dudley' may sound on the harmless and cute side, but from 3pm tomorrow until 4am the following day, there's a strong chance it could bring treacherous weather conditions with ugly consequences.

Wirral finds itself in a Met office Yellow weather warning zone stretching from well beyond Glasgow and down to the Midlands.

England need leadership at they take on Italy in the Six Nations tomorrow and they can look to a returning Joe Launchbury to make the difference.

The team clearly needs a victory following their loss to a resurgent Scotland and the pressure is on Eddie Jones after losing four of his last six matches in charge.

While rivals have been scrambling to produce designed-from-the-ground-up electric cars such as the BMW i3 and VW ID.3, Mercedes has taken a more practical approach – just convert existing cars. The first example of this was the EQC, which is an impressive machine but undoubtably has a few compromises as a result of sharing big bits with the petrol and diesel versions.

The company's next all-electric car was this EQA, which uses exactly the same formula. Unlike the posh and pricey EQC though, this is aimed at the more affordable end of the electric car market with prices starting at £44,495.

Footage shot by a drone pilot who goes by the youtube handle Mr Drone paints a grim picture of the damage done to Thornton Manor, and the scale of the restoration work required to return the 19th century Grade II listed building back to its former glory.

The fire began in a boiler room and was tackled by staff and extinguished.