​A “carrot and stick” pilot project in Scarborough has been approved by North Yorkshire Council’s executive committee and could see it use compulsory purchase orders to address the “blight of empty and increasingly derelict properties” on high streets.

​The scheme will see the introduction of new powers that allow local authorities to require landlords to rent out “persistently vacant commercial properties to new tenants such as local businesses or community groups”.

​Following its approval at a meeting on Tuesday, March 17, preparatory work will start immediately, and the high street rental auction process could start as early as May.

​Cllr Mark Crane, executive member for open to business, said: “We decided on Scarborough because of the number of empty properties,

​“We want to work with owners of vacant commercial properties to help drive footfall in the area.”

​He added: “We could compulsorily purchase the properties, but I’m not sure we want to do that. It’s a bit of a carrot and stick approach, and hopefully we can increase the number of shops for people living and visiting there.”

​Scarborough has the highest town centre vacancy rate in the county at 18.6 per cent, followed by Malton at 17.1 per cent, while Whitby has a vacancy rate of just 7.6 per cent, according to a council report.

​​The council said its previous strategies, including offering fully funded vinyl wraps for vacant properties, had failed.

​Properties that have been vacant for more than a year in the past two years would be eligible if they are deemed suitable for high street use, such as retail, offices, public services, hospitality, entertainment, or light industry.

​NYC stated that the properties would also need to be considered beneficial to the local economy, society, or environment if occupied.

​Cllr Liz Colling, chair of the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee, said: “It’s a marvellous opportunity and there are plenty of places that are vacant.”

​Nic Harne, NYC’s corporate director for community development, said: “These are very new powers and just by bringing this in, we can bring landlords to the table.”

​​A report prepared for the executive committee meeting stated: “Increasingly, the condition of the town centre of Scarborough, in particular Huntriss Row, where there is a concentration of vacant premises, is being raised with the Council.

​​“Given the lack of impact of earlier initiatives, the limits of existing powers and the local imperative to tackle the issue, it is proposed the council pilots the use of the new high street rental auction (HSRA) powers to compel landlords to improve the vacant premises and secure new tenants.”

​​The HSRA process takes around 22 to 24 weeks to complete.

​Cllr Heather Phillips, executive member for corporate services, told colleagues: “The state of some of the buildings in Scarborough is horrendous and we have a history of landlords hanging on to their properties.

​“The prospect of them having their properties taken off their hands might encourage them to let their properties, and that’s encouraging.”

​However, at the meeting, councillors also criticised the combined authority’s elected Mayor of York and North Yorkshire for what they described as an absence from the development of the scheme.

​Cllr Richard Foster, executive member for managing the environment, said: “The mayor is supposed to be the man of economic development – it’s a Labour policy and I thought the Labour mayor would have been all over this, but he hasn’t shown his face at all.

​“After all, he’s the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, and that includes Scarborough.”

​Cllr Crane said: “I completely agree with you about David Skaith.”

Ministers were told not to pursue an immediate ban as there wasn’t ‘robust’ evidence, it has emerged

Senedd members have backed a ban on greyhound racing – but it has emerged Welsh Government ministers were told they shouldn’t pursue an immediate ban as there wasn’t enough evidence to justify one. Opponents of the law have pursued a judicial review of it which could scupper the Welsh Government’s plans for a ban.

The Greyhound Board of Great Britain’s (GBGB) case is that appropriate consultation was not undertaken prior to the decision to ban, and that the decision and introduction of the bill was therefore unlawful.

The High Court hearings have taken place, with hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. Judgement was reserved, and will be handed down potentially as soon as next week.

The ban was agreed as part of a deal with sole Liberal Democrat Senedd member Jane Dodds so the Labour government could pass its budget for 2025-26. Ms Dodds, a greyhound owner, has been a vocal advocate of a ban.

It has now emerged that before the deal was announced, government officials sent a document of “ministerial advice” to deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies in February 2025, which did not recommend an immediate ban.

GBGB argue that Mr Irranca-Davies has said there was evidence on which to base a ban, telling, for example, a Senedd committee member that: “Actually, we have very, very robust evidence of why there’s a need for this legislation”.

The 23-page ministerial advice document gives a 100 word summary, and recommendations including four options.

Option 1 : An immediate ban on greyhound racing (no phased approach).

Option 2: A phased ban on greyhound racing.

Option 3: Develop proposals for the licensing of owners, trainers and keepers of racing dogs.

Option 4 :Do nothing (continue to work with industry).

Officials recommended the third option and to “develop proposals for the licensing of owners, trainers and keepers of racing dogs, including greyhounds, and greyhound racing establishments”.

It says: “The call for evidence in the consultation did not provide enough robust evidence on which to justify or negate a phased ban on welfare grounds and did not include questions on an immediate ban.”

The document lists the risks of pursuing an immediate ban. “Assessing the impact of a ban is required to ensure animal welfare, social and economic impacts are understood.”

Among the seven concerns were the fate of those animals racing, or being bred to race, as well as closing down the Valley stadium, the only active track in Wales.

It says the rescue sector could be impacted negatively, as well loss of social cohesion and economic impacts.

It also says that a phased or immediate ban would bring “reputational risks” to the Welsh Government, “with regards to overreach by the Welsh Government and in driving through policy without relevant consultation”.

There are a number of paragraphs of the advice document that are redacted.

When the budget deal was agreed there was anger with the inclusion of the ban being called “dirty” and “dodgy”.

When the Senedd’s culture committee looked at the proposed ban, the committee also raised concerns about whether a “robust evidence base” was used.

“The committee is concerned that the Welsh Government has relied heavily on the headline figures from the 2023 consultation to suggest that there is a strong level of public support in Wales for prohibiting greyhound racing.

“We note that the consultation was not primarily focused on this specific proposal, and that it relied on a self-selecting methodology, which is inherently vulnerable to bias and does not provide a representative measure of public opinion.

“This approach, combined with the volume of duplicate responses, undermines the robustness of the evidence base for legislative decisions.

“In our view, further meaningful and targeted consultation should have taken place alongside the development of a robust evidence base before a decision was taken to legislate.”

A spokesperson for the Greyhound Board of Great Britain said: “The Welsh Government has shown the same attitude to rushing this through as they have from the very start of this process.

“It is a wonder that – given the legal proceedings underway – they’ve chosen to push this Bill forward at all costs, even while judges consider whether it is unlawful.

“We are pleased to have set out our case against this flawed legislation. The Welsh Government always had the option to pursue regulation as a highly effective way to ensure the welfare of racing greyhounds.

“Instead, as the documents presented at the hearings show, they chose to pursue this misguided dodgy Bill even while being told by officials that there was insufficient consultation or evidence to support it. The lessons laid out raise serious alarm bells not just about the treatment of this Bill and our sport but for the wider legislative process. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here

“We hope the Court comes to the right conclusion when a judgment is handed down but, in any case, the hearings have exposed the failures in evidence gathering and due diligence that we have been challenging throughout.”

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “As this is ongoing litigation and we are awaiting the Court’s judgment, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.”

Huw Irranca-Davies, Deputy First Minister with responsibility for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, said: “Wales is a progressive nation, committed to ethical standards and forward-thinking legislation. This Bill strengthens our reputation as a leader on animal welfare and delivers the standards that the people of Wales rightly expect.”

Donald Trump’s most senior counterterrorism official has resigned, saying he “cannot in good conscience” support the Iran war and claiming the country posed “no imminent threat” to the United States.

Joe Kent was director of the National Counterterrorism Center, leading the agency as it detected and analysed terrorist threats to the US.

Announcing his resignation in a post on social media, he wrote: “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

Iran war latest: Senior US official quits and blames Israel

Who is Joe Kent and why did he resign?

Mr Kent, who was appointed by Mr Trump and confirmed by the Senate in his post last July by 52 votes to 44, unsuccessfully ran for Congress twice and has been criticised for his connections to right-wing extremists.

The 45-year-old is the highest-ranking administration official to publicly voice his opposition to Mr Trump’s war with Iran, highlighting concerns among some of Mr Trump’s supporters about his justifications for the conflict.

Mr Kent said he was resigning over concerns about the reasons, or lack of reasons, given for the strikes on Iran.

Some experts have claimed an imminent threat would have been required for Mr Trump to launch his war without congressional approval and under the international law of war.

Mr Trump has given several reasons for the war, including stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons, destroying its ballistic missile capabilities, and regime change. He has disputed claims Israeli action forced the US to strike.

Responding to Mr Kent’s resignation during an Oval Office news conference on Tuesday, Mr Trump said he always thought he was “weak on security”. He added that if someone in his administration did not believe Iran was a threat, “we don’t want those people”.

A career in the special forces and two unsuccessful political bids

Mr Kent previously served in the military for 20 years, undertaking 11 deployments as a Green Beret – an elite counterterrorism force known for conducting unconventional warfare – before joining the CIA as a paramilitary officer. He later served as counterterrorism adviser to Mr Trump’s 2020 presidential re-election campaign.

Before he entered Mr Trump’s administration, Mr Kent attempted two unsuccessful bids for Congress in Washington state.

He was previously a strong supporter of Mr Trump, having met the president after his wife Shannon, a cryptologist in the US Navy, was killed by a suicide bomber while fighting Islamic State in Syria in 2019, leaving him to raise their two sons.

Praise for Trump’s ’empathy and thoughtfulness’

In an opinion piece for NBC News, Sky News’ US partner network, published a year later, Mr Kent said he met Mr Trump in the days after his wife was killed and praised him for his “empathy and thoughtfulness on one of the worst days of my life”.

Mr Kent said he could “unmistakably” see in the president’s eyes “the same pain I’d seen in the eyes of other senior leaders who ultimately bear the responsibility for sending men and women to their deaths in combat”.

In a stark contrast to his resignation letter, Mr Kent went on to write: “His [Mr Trump’s] use of decisive military force only when absolutely necessary, combined with his reluctance to use the military as the sole tool of foreign policy, is not only good and smart, but the sign of utmost respect for the lives of our troops.”

He added: “Previous presidents’ support of endless wars has resulted in the loss of thousands of American lives and cost American taxpayers trillions of dollars, whereas President Trump’s limited use of military force and swift action when needed marks a decisive change from that policy.”

Ties to right-wing extremists and conspiracy theories

During his congressional campaign in 2022, Kent paid a member of the far-right group the Proud Boys, Graham Jorgensen, for consulting work.

He also worked closely with the founder of the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer, Joey Gibson, while attracting support from a variety of far-right figures.

Democrats opposed his appointment as head of the National Counterterrorism Center, criticising him for his past ties to far-right figures and his penchant for conspiracy theories.

During his Senate confirmation hearing, Mr Kent refused to distance himself from the conspiracy theory that US federal agents instigated the January 6 attack at the US Capitol in 2021 and did not back down from false claims that Mr Trump won the 2020 presidential election.

He was also grilled by Democrats on his participation in a group chat on the Signal messaging app which was used by Mr Trump’s national security team to discuss airstrikes on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, while Republicans praised his counterterrorism qualifications and pointed to his military and intelligence experience.

Manchester City welcome Real Madrid to the Etihad Stadium in their Champions League round of 16 second leg tonight.

Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium will have an entire tier closed off when Real Madrid visit in the Champions League tonight. The top tier of the North Stand has been closed recently due to the club expanding their stadium’s capacity and improving facilities.

The top tier of the stadium, once completed, will hold 7,000 extra supporters. As this project involves extensive construction work, that area of the stadium has been closed off for the entirety of the campaign and will remain empty for the clash with Real.

In their autumn progress report, City said the top tier of the North Stand would reopen for supporters before the end of this season. However, the other new additions to the stadium – including a 401-bed hotel, fanzone, new superstore and museum – will be opening in late 2026.

Get MEN Premium now for just £1 HERE – or get involved in our City WhatsApp group by clicking HERE. You can also join our City Facebook page by clicking HERE and don’t miss out on our brilliant selection of newsletters HERE.

Once fans are allowed into the top tier of the North Stand, the Etihad Stadium’s capacity will reach more than 60,000. For context, Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium holds 60,704 and Liverpool’s Anfield houses 61,276 supporters. As part of the work, the old roof on the North Stand has been removed and a new one added.

A new screen is already in place in the south-east corner of the stadium that mainly benefits those in the North Stand, while there have also been improvements to the concourses. In total, the work will cost £300m and will sit alongside the new 23,500 capacity Co-op Live as the regeneration of east Manchester continues.

City have a mountain to climb this evening. Federico Valverde’s first-half hat-trick at the Bernabeu last week has left City on the verge of elimination, but the Blues have hammered Real before and will hope to do so again as they aim to keep their Champions League hopes alive.

Ribbon Daycare, located at Fishburn Primary School, has shown consistent excellence in its approach to early childhood education.

In terms of achievement, children make steady progress from their starting points, whether they have special educational needs or face learning barriers, the report explains.

The daycare has hit ‘expected standards’. (Image: Ribbon Daycare Fishburn)

Ofsted say staff encourage toddlers to predict words and engage in critical thinking, discussing concepts like which feathers will fall the fastest.

Behaviour and attitudes are also a strong focus in the report.

Staff are described as positive role models who speak to children in a respectful manner, which helps to build trust and strong bonds.

It adds that children demonstrate an understanding of rules, like explaining why they wear aprons during painting – staff help children learn how to take turns and share, creating a supportive environment.

In terms of welfare and wellbeing, the staff’s warm relationships with children are also praised, stating they foster secure attachments, making children feel confident and happy.

Ofsted added that the curriculum is well-balanced and ambitious, catering to all children, including those who are disadvantaged.

Staff adapt their teaching to meet children’s individual needs, ensuring they can understand early mathematical concepts through play.

Read more:

The report adds that leaders work closely with parents to identify children needing additional support, creating individual plans that promote development, stating: “parents discuss that they feel included and supported by the setting.”

Children thrive in this nurturing environment, according to the report’s conclusion.

They are greeted warmly by staff and engage in learning with excitement and curiosity, stating that parents report that their children feel happy, secure, and prepared for the transition to school.

Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that the Iranian regime and Vladimir Putin’s Russia are connected in hate amid reports that Putin is harbouring the injured Ayatollah in Moscow.

The Ukrainian president highlighted co-operation between Tehran and Moscow on Shahed kamikaze drones which had targeted Ukraine and countries across the Gulf.

Speaking in a Westminster committee room, Mr Zelensky said: ‘The regimes in Russia and Iran are brothers in hatred, and that is why they are brothers in weapons.

‘And we want regimes built on hatred, to never, never win in anything. And we want no such regime to threaten Europe or our partners.’

It comes after reports that Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been secretly flown to Moscow for life-saving surgery after he was severely injured in an Israeli airstrike.

Khamenei was severely injured in the attack that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the outbreak of the Iran War.

Citing a ‘high-ranking source close to the new Iranian supreme leader, Kuwaiti paper Al-Jarida claimed that Vladimir Putin personally offered Khamenei medical treatment in the Russian capital during a phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday.

When asked about Al-Jarida’s claims during a press briefing in Moscow, a spokesperson said that the Kremlin did ‘not comment in any way on such reports’.

On Tuesday, Zelensky told MPs that his drone squads were far cheaper to counter Iranian or Russian strikes.

He said: ‘Together Europe is a global force – one that the world cannot do without and that no-one can stand against. We must grow this strength, and we must direct it, and we can. We must act now, so that future generations can say ‘these leaders acted when it mattered’.

‘Work with us as closely as possible so that neither Kyiv, nor London, will have to hide under drone nets or live under concrete without a safe sky.’

‘There has been no real peace while this regime has been in Iran,’ Zelensky says.

‘We are entering a time when such regimes are gaining new ways to kill, cheaply, over long distances, using AI, and simply because they want to destroy you and can force their own people to work for war.

‘One Iranian Shahed missile costs $150,000. To shoot it down pilots sometimes use missiles some costing up to $4m.’

But he says the Ukrainian approach is ‘far most cost effective’. With smaller missiles costing less than $10,000 dollars.

Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the UK for its support over the a ‘difficult winter’

The Ukrainian president said he would update Sir Keir on battlefield developments and energy security, saying: ‘Of course, we can’t sleep, we must move quickly.’

‘Also not to forget about our diplomatic efforts and negotiations and where we are with the Americans and with the Russians.’

MORE: US’s top counterterror chief quits with damning statement on Iran war

MORE: What will it take for Trump to end the nationwide blackout in Cuba?

MORE: Iran responds to Donald Trump World Cup threat and demands to play games outside America

One of the couple also stole from Home Bargains, Waitrose, and Next while on bail

A couple worked together to steal hundreds of pounds worth of items from a Peterborough filling station. The Peterborough pair stole from the same place four times, and one continued to steal while on bail from the likes of Home Bargains and Next.

Lewis Howden, 40, and Charlotte Ritchie, 39, stole almost £500 of goods from the BP filling station, in Bretton, across four visits between February 5 and February 10. However Howden continued committing crimes after he was arrested.

The pair were arrested at their home in Tyesdale, Bretton, on February 11, and charged with the offences. Each was bailed by a court pending a further hearing, which Ritchie failed to attend.

While on court bail, Howden committed a further three thefts in Peterborough. He stole from Waitrose, in Mayors Walk, West Town, Peterborough, on February 23, Home Bargains, in Bourges Boulevard, on February 24, and Next, in Brotherhood Retail Park, on March 2.

The pair were arrested again on March 11 and appeared at Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court the following day. Howden was jailed for ten months and ordered to pay £207.99 in compensation after admitting seven thefts.

Ritchie was ordered to pay £234 in compensation and handed a two-year conditional discharge. It means that if she commits another crime during that period, she can be sentenced for the four thefts, which she also admitted.

PC Jack Jenkins, who investigated, said: “I would like to thank the businesses impacted by the pair’s offending for continually reporting incidents to us. This helps us to identify those involved and put them before the courts.”

Fans have been waiting three years to for the third season of the hit BBC drama

An EastEnders legend has joined David Tennant and Siobhan Finneran in a revamped BBC drama that’s set to air in the coming months.

It was announced last year that Jimmy McGovern’s BAFTA-winning hit drama Time would be coming back for a third season. Featuring a new cast every season, the first two seasons followed the lives of inmates and staff in His Majesty’s Prison Service.

Get MEN Premium now for just £1 HERE – or get involved in our WhatsApp group by clicking HERE. And don’t miss out on our brilliant selection of newsletters HERE.

First starring Game of Thrones’ Sean Bean and Stephen Graham in 2021’s first season, Doctor Who’s Jodie Whittaker picked up the reins two years later, with The Last of Us’ Bella Ramsey joining the cast. The latest edition of the BBC anthology series will be set in a young offenders’ institution.

Consisting of three episodes, Rivals; David Tennant is starring as Prison Officer Bailey with Happy Valley’s Siobhan Finneran reprises her role as Marie-Louise, a prison chaplain. The series will explore the impact of locking up teenagers and the effects on those who look after them.

Its synopsis reads: “Prison Chaplain Marie-Louise comes to the YOI having lost her faith. When tragedy strikes within the prison, Marie-Louise clashes with veteran officer Bailey, a man in the midst of his own crisis.

“Bailey knows more about the circumstances that led to this major incident – but will he come clean before the guilt gets too much? Meanwhile, two teenage young offenders, Peter and James, struggle through the terrifying first weeks and months of their incarceration.

“Can James ever face his broken parents after an unforgivable act of violence and will Peter tell the truth about the death of an innocent man, or does family loyalty mean more?

“An unlikely friendship between them looks to shift the trajectory of their futures, but in an increasingly unstable environment, is change ever possible?”

Series creator and writer Jimmy previously said: “Siobhan Finneran is back! And we’ve got a wonderful leading man in David Tennant. And a brilliant director in Paul Whittington. I think it’s going to be wonderful.”

On Tuesday (March 17), the BBC announced further additions to the cast as filming begins in Belfast. Leading the additions is Boiling Point and The Lazarus Project’s Vinette Robinson as Erica. If that wasn’t enough, Jo Joyner will play Nicola.

EastEnders fans will recognise Joyner from her time playing Tanya Branning on the BBC soap. Recent years have seen her appear in his series Little Disasters and Stay Close.

Also appearing in Time season three are The Bay’s Daniel Ryan as Custodial Manager Jennings, The Responder’s Warren Brown as Albie, Stranger Things: The First Shadow’s Louis McCartney as James, with Ollie McNulty and Chukwubuikem Molokwu making their screen debuts as Peter and Christopher, and Hollyoaks’ Ethaniel Davy playing Jayden.

Co-writer Samuel Bailey said: “It’s been an absolute honour to work with Jimmy on Time series 3, and with the brilliant cast put together by the team, I think this series will be just as impactful and devastating as Time 1 & 2.

“I’m particularly excited for audiences to meet the lads playing our young offenders, who are all remarkable actors that I know we’re going to be seeing a lot more of in the future.”