Economy

Plymouth Pirates Weekend returns to the city

by Kayla
written by Kayla

Organisers of the Plymouth Pirates Weekend are hoping to attract 45,000 visitors over the two-day event.

Last year the event attracted a record 41,000 visitors

Plymouth Pirates weekend is set to return to the city on 17 and 18 May and will features street entertainers, story tellers, face painting, traditional shanty bands, a pirate dog show and more.

Entertainment takes place across the waterfront, including the Barbican, Sutton Harbour, West Hoe and Royal William Yard.

'Nine months of planning'

The weekend officially starts at 10:00 GMT on Saturday with the annual cannon firing, organisers said.

The event will see the Johanna Lucretia – the largest vessel in The Island Trust fleet and was originally built as a fishing vessel in 1945 – visit Sutton harbour.

Barbarossa's Band of Buccaneers would be new to pirates weekend 2025.

A Pirate Fun Run, which raises money for Jeremiah's Journey, will see people dressed as pirates taking part in a 5km or 2.5km course.

Jon Walton, CEO of the Plymouth Waterfront Partnership, said the event involved about nine months of planning.

He said the Plymouth Waterfront Partnership worked in partnership with Plymouth City Council and was entirely funded by businesses.

Mr Walton said: "If the businesses didn't fund this, this event wouldn't happen, and there'd be less smiles, which isn't good for anyone.

"Meeting people, having fun and enjoying themselves is so so good for everyone's mental health."

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Economy

Former landfill site earmarked for redevelopment

by Henry
written by Henry

A council is asking people for ideas about how best to transform a former landfill site in Surrey.

The site in Weydon, Farnham, served as a landfill from the 1950s until the 1980s when it was closed and sealed with clay to minimise its effect on the environment.

Waverley Borough Council said the clay covering required extensive repairs, but that it hoped to open a new park at the site by 2031.

Residents can share their ideas about what should be done to the site, known locally as Brambleton Park, through an online survey until 13 July.

Councillor Mark Merryweather, the council's portfolio holder for finance, assets and property, said: "We are still in the early stages of planning, but now is the ideal opportunity for local residents to have a direct influence on the future direction of the project.

"Over the years, many ideas have been suggested for this site but transforming a former landfill into a genuine and sustainable community space is no small task.

"We have completed extensive environmental assessments and now we're eager to engage with the community and gather their valuable input."

The council has suggested ideas such as an outdoor gym, a café, a children's playground or even a cycling pump track for the 10-acre site.

The results from the survey will be used to form a business case. If this is approved by the council, initial plans for the site will be designed.

Paper copies of the survey are also available at Farnham Town Council in South Street.

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Global Trade

Bike hire scheme start under review, says council

by Tiffany
written by Tiffany

The start date for an electric bike hire scheme in Bradford, previously expected to be up and running by spring 2025, is "under review", the council has said.

In September, Bradford Council approved plans to roll out the scheme across the district with the project being funded through cash raised from the city's Clean Air Zone (CAZ) charge.

It would allow cyclists to hire e-bikes from docking stations and return them to either the same or a different docking station when done.

The council said it was in "detailed discussions with a bike share scheme provider" and the launch date was "under review to ensure that we maximise the bike usage when it is launched".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a spokesperson said the precise location of docking stations would be determined "through consultation with the scheme provider and other key stakeholders".

But the authority said the network would be designed to cover "key trip origins and destinations in the main urban area" such as Bradford Interchange, Forster Square Station, Darley Street market as well as the university, colleges and hospitals.

Previous council reports on the scheme had said areas outside the city including Bingley five rise locks, Haworth, and East Riddlesden Hall in Keighley could also be included.

West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds

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Global Trade

Work starts on new heritage railway museum

by Thomas
written by Thomas

Work has started on a museum which will tell the story of part of the country's industrial transport heritage, according to a charity.

Bosses at the Moseley Railway Trust, which runs the Apedale Valley Light Railway, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, say they have one of the UK's most complete collections of rolling stock and other items from narrow-gauge railways.

The new museum will tell their story and is being built next to the trust's existing station building.

It will be modelled on a traditional railway building and contain three tracks and be "truly transformative for the Apedale site", interim trust chair Simon Lomax said.

"It cannot be overstated how important this project is to the Moseley Railway Trust, the local community and the UK industrial heritage generally."

The project was a long-held ambition of the group, he added.

Apedale Valley Light Railway
Construction of the new museum has been a long-held ambition of the heritage railway trust

Narrow-gauge railways, as their name suggests, are those railways where the tracks are closer than a standard railway.

They have been used across numerous industries including waterworks, peat bogs, mining and the military.

Funding for the new museum has mostly come from a bequest from the family of a trust member.

Mr Lomax said more than £500,000 had been raised towards the cost of the project, along with a donation of the bricks needed.

This will see the building made weather-tight but trustees estimate a further £50,000 is needed to complete the job and create a working display space.

The Apedale Valley Light Railway was officially opened in September 2010 and offers rides at weekends between spring and autumn each year.

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Innovation

City roadworks uncover medieval hospital remains

by Rachel
written by Rachel

Historic remains believed to be part of one of the largest medieval hospitals in the north of England have been uncovered during emergency roadworks in York.

The works began after a sinkhole opened up outside the Theatre Royal on St Leonard's Place in May.

After further investigation, archaeologists uncovered what is believed to be part of the 12th to 13th Century St Leonard's Hospital, which covered an area between the modern day Museum Gardens and the theatre.

Councillor Kate Ravilious, executive member for transport, said the finds were "fascinating" but admitted they had delayed the completion of the roadworks.

"We knew that there is a lot of complex archaeology in the area dating back to the Roman legionary fortress," she said.

"Throughout the works we have been live to this while doing all we can to get off site as quickly as possible."

Fiona Callow/BBC
One carriageway has been closed on St Leonard's Place as part of the repair work

The area around the discovery was used as the Royal Mint in the post-Reformation era.

The finds, which have been documented and sent for further analysis, are believed to become part of the Mint Yard, a sprawling area of streets and buildings in the early 19th Century.

The buildings were flattened in 1836 to make way for a Georgian streetscape and the area became one of the most fashionable parts of the city during the time period.

Demolished parts of the city walls were used to make the base for the road.

Repair works are now able to resume, but the current closure of one lane on St Leonard's Place will remain until 13 June, when it is anticipated both lanes will reopen.

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Economy

Charge after 17 shop windows smashed by skateboard

by Nicole
written by Nicole

A 35-year-old man has been charged after 17 businesses had their shop windows smashed with a skateboard.

Suffolk Police was called to Ipswich town centre shortly before 00:40 GMT on Thursday to reports that a man had been using a skateboard to smash shop fronts.

Premises along Princes Street, Tavern Street and Queen Street were among those affected.

The 35-year-old man was charged with 17 counts of criminal damage and is due to appear before Ipswich Magistrates' Court.

Jamie Niblock/BBC
Subway suffered damage during the incident

Other roads where shops were affected include Friars Street, Coytes Gardens, Falcon Street and Great Colman Street.

Photos taken from the town centre show numerous businesses including Subway with smashed windows.

Some businesses were already in the process of fixing the damage on Thursday afternoon.

Jamie Niblock/BBC
Police believe at least 17 businesses have suffered damage
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Business

Numbers of Welsh bus users lag behind rest of Britain

by Hailey
written by Hailey

Wales' bus network has recovered slower post-Covid than any other nation in Great Britain, a Senedd report has said.

Passenger numbers in Wales in the year to March 2024 were 78.3% of the levels before the pandemic – lagging behind both England and Scotland.

The figures have been blamed on fewer older people using concessionary fare passes.

Members of the Senedd's climate change committee urged Welsh government ministers to get to the bottom of the issue. The Welsh government said it would study the report.

Transport for Wales (TFW) said recently published plans to bring buses under public control would "allow us to really focus on providing an integrated public transport network that works for the people of Wales".

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Tech

'Construction firms won't let me work because I'm a girl'

by Addison
written by Addison

A stonemasonry student said companies had told her she could not join the profession "because she's a girl".

Alice, who is 17, was one of the students who took part in a competition for apprentices at Moulton College in Northampton on Thursday.

Industry experts have said 19,750 extra construction workers are needed in the East of England by 2028 to meet government housebuilding targets.

However, some students, like Alice, said they still faced barriers which made it difficult to pursue a career in construction.

The SkillBuild competition, organised by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), tested apprentices and trainees in a variety of tasks, from furniture making to tiling.

Alice, from Weston Favell in Northamptonshire, inherited her interest in architecture from her grandfather and wanted to work on some of the UK's greatest stone buildings – cathedrals.

But she said her journey had not been easy.

"I've tried to contact some companies to get onto that kind of work, but it hasn't really worked out," she told the BBC.

"The main thing is that I'm a woman and a lot of companies have told me 'you can't do this because you're a girl – you're not strong enough, you won't be able to do the heavy labour'."

Kate Bradbrook/BBC
Maizie said people needed to realise the value of careers in construction

Another competitor, Maizie from Bury St Edmonds in Suffolk, wanted to encourage more women to join the industry.

The 17-year-old goes to college in Colchester and said: "In my class it's actually a pretty good mix, but in the industry as a whole, it's definitely a big imbalance.

"People need to realise the value of these industries, and we need to push more young people to go into it. It can be a bit inaccessible at the beginning, especially for young people, since working in these workshop environments can be quite dangerous."

Kate Bradbrook/BBC
Sean believes more apprenticeships are needed for young people

The first obstacle in the competition for Rugby man Sean, 18, was having to "scavenge" for the right tools to make a porch roof, having brought the wrong ones.

The bigger issue for him, generally, was the lack of opportunities for young people.

He said: "There's not enough apprenticeships – it took me two years to get here, and I feel like that's one of the biggest problems.

"The amount of houses they're trying to build; they definitely need more apprenticeships."

Kate Bradbrook/BBC
CITB's Robert Smith said the construction industry needed to make itself more attractive

A CITB report published this month said 19,750 new workers were needed in the region.

Robert Smith, from the CITB, said "we really need to make that attractive so that they know there are jobs for the future, secure opportunities and great career pathways".

The figures suggest there is a long way to go before there is a gender balance in the industry.

According to The Office for National Statistics, women comprise just 15.8% of the construction workforce and only 2% of workers onsite.

There is some hope, though, with the number of women as a proportion of the overall construction workforce increasing by 36.9% since 2012.

The government said construction would be one area to benefit from a "record-breaking £3bn apprenticeship budget".

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