LABOUR councillors were speaking out over a family of four that couldn’t get a mortgage and hadn’t been rehoused by the council. Opposition leader, Councillor Trevor Porter, said: “The Conservative- controlled council is refusing to build any more homes even though they have got permission to do so.Thefact is that Bromsgrove council has built no new houses for rent in the past 10 years since the Conservatives took control. It’s absolutely scandalous.”

 HUNDREDS of campaigners against the red and yellow routes proposed for the western orbital motorway staged massive protests over the bank holiday with former Crossroads actress Lindsay Armstrong returning to the area where she grew up for a protest walk along the red route. On the yellow route Northampton model Philippa George dressed in the briefest ofbodystockings to recreate the historic horse ride of Lady Godiva who came from the village of Fairfield.

 POLICE had asked county councillors to back a parking ban along the Charford Road in Bromsgrove after local MP Sir Hal Miller complained about traffic conditions there. A report to the county council’s traffic management and road safety committee said that the chief constable thought the road was dangerous for youngsters leaving South Bromsgrove High School and St Peter’s School in the afternoon because parents were parking on both sides of the road.