There’s a £40m boos on its way, but the question will be how best to invest the cash

Despite the sunny weather and holidays, lots of the shops in Peel Green, Salford, are shuttered up and the streets are quiet. The suburb on the edge of Eccles has seen a steady decline over the past few years, say local residents.

So much so, the government is handing £2m to locals for the next 10 years to try and rejuvenate the area. As part of the Pride in Place scheme, Brookhouse and Peel Green are one of two Salford areas to benefit from a £40m cash boost – with the other area being Pendleton.

Locals are being asked to join a ‘neighbourhood board’ to decide how the money should be spent. And anyone with a ‘strong connection’ to the area – so living, working, or other ‘strong ties’ – has until Sunday to sign up.

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But the question will be how best to invest the cash, with locals naming everything from more shoe shops and pubs to safer streets.

“This area definitely needs help,” said Malik Usman, a 29-year-old shopkeeper who has lived in the area for two years. Despite the nearby police HQ, Malik says security in the area is a big issue. “We’ve only had this business for seven months and someone tried to break in from the land at the back, which isn’t looked after by its owner. It really scared me, because I live upstairs with my partner and we have a newborn baby. They need to make things more secure around here.”

And that’s not the only problem facing business owners.

“I think another big thing is parking. It’s double yellows along the whole street. If there was parking, even just half an hour, I think that would make a massive difference to the businesses. Right now it’s a real struggle because people can’t stop, so they just drive on.”

And helping local shops thrive is exactly what the area needs, according to lifelong resident Susan Wilkes. The 77-year-old reminisced about her childhood, when the streets were full of shops and community events.

“Now there’s f*** all,” said the colourfully-dressed retiree. “They need to put more shops in. A butcher’s, a shoe shop, an eatery. Just more of a mixture. You’ve basically got to go all the way into town for that kind of thing now.”

Susan is concerned about the council being involved in improving the area – even though the scheme is supposed to be resident-led. “They seem to just put up loads of bl**dy flats,” she said.

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Yet according to local dad Emmanuel Dalmeida more housing options is exactly what the area needs. The 33-year-old, who has lived nearby for eleven months and works at Trafford Park, says he struggled to get a flat.

“I’ve been in the UK for 12 years, working and paying tax and I’m finding it hard to secure housing. Even though I’ve been here for a while, landlords ask me for guarantors. I came to this country by myself, I don’t have anyone here who could do that.”

He’s doubtful the Pride in Place scheme will be enough to transform the area, and that local problems are linked to national ones.

“It’s good that they’re giving money,” he went on. “But the issues are big ones, like houses. I think they need to build more houses for people in different circumstances. I also think they need to put local people first – people who’ve lived here for a long time.”

Back in Malik’s phone repair shop, the shop owner and local resident also thinks the local area’s decline is linked to wider issues.

“I do think people are becoming more selfish and isolated everywhere, because of cellphones,” he said. “So, actually, I think the single biggest thing we could do round here is create more parks, more community halls, more pubs, things like this. Places where people can gather, have chai with people. Have a community.”

Locals who sign up to influence the money-spending decisions will have their work cut out for them – but whatever they do could ‘create lasting change in the areas that need it most’, according to Salford Mayor Paul Dennett.

Residents have until 5pm on Sunday, May 31 to apply to join the local board.

A “key concern” raised by neighbours includes potential flood risks

Plans to build 15 affordable houses in Girton have been slammed by people living near the proposed site. Neighbours have shared a “key concern” about the potential flood risks at the development and in the surrounding area.

The homes are proposed to be built on the former practice ground of Girton Golf Club at land north of High Street in Girton, around two miles from Cambridge. Full Planning Permission is being sought by Abbey Properties Cambridgeshire Limited to provide 15 new homes – 13 of which would be made available as affordable housing for rent with the other two being for shared ownership occupation.

The properties comprise a mix of sizes including six two-bed houses, four one-bed houses, one three-bed house and four two-bed bungalows. Abbey Properties Cambridgeshire Limited said its proposals seek to “respond to an identified need for affordable housing” and that “the type of units being proposed reflects the identified need for smaller dwellings”.

All of the proposed houses and their amenity areas are located within flood zone one. The proposed drainage attenuation feature and a landscaped area which is to be used for biodiversity net gain purposes is located mainly within flood zone two, according to a planning statement.

Plans for the new homes has seen local backlash with multiple objections lodged so far. One objector said that they “recognise the need for new housing of this size in Girton”, but a potential flood risk is a “key concern”.

They said: “The assessment appears too narrow because it focuses on the proposed development site, rather than the long history of flooding affecting nearby homes around Fairway and Oakington Road.

“This local history should be considered before assessing the risk to any new homes. The fact that the proposed homes are shown in Flood Zone 1 does not demonstrate that the development is safe, or that it will not increase flood risk to existing homes nearby.”

The same objector said the proposed access onto Oakington Road would be “dangerous”. They wrote: “The main access is onto Oakington Road close to a blind bend with vehicles coming into the village at speed. This presents a real hazard, particularly for vehicles manoeuvring in or out (eg refuse lorries or delivery vans that need to swing across both lanes).

“The situation is also dangerous for pedestrians who are expected to cross the road at that location to use the footpath on the other side of the road. Anyone with reduced mobility, or parents with a toddler or a pushchair, would struggle to cross both lanes in the time between cars appearing round the bend and reaching that part of the road.”

A similar concern was raised by another local who said that their property, along with neighbouring properties have experienced flooding on multiple occasions and suggests that “any new development should mitigate rather than worsen these risks”.

They said: “This is already on a knife edge with numerous flood warnings each year and the Brook regularly at maximum capacity however this application focusses too narrowly on managing flood risk in the development itself rather than the impacts on nearby homes on Fairway and Oakington Road.”

Another concern was raised about the proposed development being “built in green belt” which is “likely to disturb habitats”.

Meanwhile, a separate concern regarding privacy and property boundary issues was raised by another neighbour. They said that plots one, two and three would cause “significant privacy loss” for their house and back garden, with potentially some overlooking their property from plots four and five.

A Chinese activist was detained in South Korea after crossing more than 300km of open sea in a rubber boat, spending nearly 30 hours sailing in a fourth attempt to flee the country and reunite with his family in Canada.

Dong Guangping, 68, a former police officer who was previously jailed for his activism, was spotted 38 nautical miles off the South Korean coast on Monday evening by a fishing boat, which then alerted the coast guard.

He had left from China‘s eastern Shandong province on a 3.3-metre boat with a 10 horsepower motor.

In a statement on Wednesday, the South Korean coast guard confirmed that a Chinese man in his 60s had been arrested and was being questioned on suspicion of immigration law violations, according to Reuters.

Mr Dong was fired from the police force in 1999 after co-signing a letter marking the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protests. He was then imprisoned for three years in 2001 for “inciting subversion of state power” and arrested again in 2014 for participating in another Tiananmen commemoration.

This is at least his fourth attempt to leave China. In 2015, he fled to Thailand with his wife and daughter, where the family was granted refugee status by the UN. While his wife and daughter were able to travel to Canada, Mr Dong was deported back to China. He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison and released in 2019.

That same year, he tried to swim to Kinmen, an island controlled by Taiwan a few kilometres off China’s eastern coast, but was reportedly picked up by Chinese fishermen and handed to police.

In 2020, he crossed into Vietnam and lived there for two years before being detained and deported. He was released in October 2023 after serving 11 months for illegal border crossing.

“For more than a decade, he has never ceased striving for liberty and reunion with his family,” Human Rights in China, a rights group in New York, said in a statement. “That a man nearing seventy years old was driven to cross open seas in a small inflatable boat is itself a devastating indictment of the human rights situation in China.”

The group urged Seoul to uphold humanitarian principles and not return Mr Dong to China, where it said he faced “a grave risk of persecution and torture”.

A proposal by Belfast’s Deputy Lord Mayor will go to the City Hall Planning Committee

Two Belfast independent councillors are calling for City Hall to adopt a plan making it a requirement for developers to include community food growing procedures in certain planning applications for housing in the city.

Former SDLP elected representatives, the current Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Paul Doherty, and Councillor Paul McCusker have forwarded a motion which will be heard by the Planning Committee next month.

The motion, titled “Embedding Community Food Growing in the Planning Process for New Housing Developments” states the council “recognises Belfast’s status as a Right to Food City and affirms that the planning system has an important role to play in building healthier, more sustainable and more food-resilient communities.”

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The motion says that housing developments should not only provide homes, “but should also contribute to the long-term health, wellbeing, sustainability and resilience of the communities in which they are built.”

A Right to Food city is one that has formally committed to treating access to adequate and nutritious food as a legally protected human right, and believes that citizens should not be dependent on emergency charity.

Such cities in theory should be pushing for governments to be held legally accountable for ensuring citizens do not go hungry. Belfast officially became a Right to Food city in October 2023, following a successful motion at Belfast City Council by Councillor Doherty.

The Doherty motion adds: “The council notes that Belfast’s existing policy framework already recognises the importance of open space, residential amenity, placemaking, biodiversity, climate resilience, health and wellbeing, and council strategies also acknowledge the value of allotments, community gardens and local food growing.”

The proposal tasks council officers with making a report examining how Belfast Council, through its planning processes, could introduce a planning requirement to ensure appropriate space for community food growing in new social and private housing developments.

This would include allotments, community gardens, orchards, raised beds, edible landscaping and other forms of productive green space. The motion states: “This would represent a practical and innovative next step in giving meaning to Belfast’s status as a Right to Food City, placing food resilience, health and community wellbeing at the heart of how our city is planned and developed.”

The Deputy Lord Mayor left the SDLP following a major disagreement over a council vote on a Bobby Sands statue in April this year. Councillor Doherty said it was on a “matter of principle” after SDLP councillors left the chamber before a vote took place on a DUP motion to reopen an investigation into the erection of the statue in West Belfast.

Paul McCusker announced he left the SDLP in March 2023, citing frustration with political progress, particularly regarding his core issues of homelessness, addiction, and poverty. Not long after leaving the party, he successfully retained his council seat as an independent candidate in May 2023.

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Coldwater, which was filmed in Scotland, saw a middle-aged man move to a Scottish village while in the midst of an identity crisis.

Hollywood star Andrew Lincoln, who also played Rick Grimes in 11 seasons of the US horror drama The Walking Dead, played the main character, John.

Lincoln first found fame in BBC drama This Life and has since had starring roles in Teachers and classic film Love Actually.

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ITV drama Coldwater axed by broadcaster after one series

In the six-part crime thriller, John moved his family to the Scottish village of Coldwater to escape London.

After moving to the village, he befriends his new killer neighbour Tommy, who is harbouring horrifying secrets, unbeknownst to John.

His secrets lead to a series of unsettling events.

Ahead of the launch of the show, playwright David Ireland, said: “Coldwater started with a question I was asking myself, where do I want to live?

“The countryside or the city?

“Such an innocent beginning, but from it came this dark, funny, twisted thriller.

“I was delighted when Sister loved the script and thrilled when ITV decided to commission it.

“And I’m amazed we’ve managed to attract such a peerless cast, led by the formidable Andrew Lincoln.

“I hope viewers will find it intoxicating.”

Coldwater starred Andrew Lincoln, Ewen Bremner (pictured), Indira Varma and Eve Myles (Image: ITV)

The series also starred Ewen Bremner as Tommy, Indira Varma as John’s wife Fiona, and Eve Myles as Tommy’s wife Rebecca.

While ITV viewers were able to sit through the first series, there won’t be another as ITV confirms “there are currently no plans for a further series”.

An ITV spokesperson told Newsquest: “We’re hugely proud of Coldwater and everyone involved in making it.

“Whilst there are currently no plans for a further series, we loved bringing this story to screen.”

At the end of the series, viewers saw Tommy disappear, meaning John and his family were frightened as they didn’t know if or when he’d return, reports The Sun.

Almost 3.8 million viewers started watching the series, but viewing figures dropped to 1 million, the newspaper states.

The series was produced by Sister, which has produced Eric, This Is Going To Hurt and Chernobyl.

ITV’s head of drama, Polly Hill, who commissioned the show for the broadcaster, said she was “very excited” to see it on the small screen.

Ahead of the launch, she said: “David’s scripts are wonderful and original and have attracted an incredible cast led by Andrew Lincoln.

“It promises to be a really unmissable drama and I am delighted to be working with Jane Featherstone again and her brilliant team at Sister.”

Where was Coldwater filmed?

Coldwater was filmed in various locations in Scotland, according to Glamour UK.

The show was filmed in locations around Glasgow, Dunlop, and beyond.

A funeral scene was filmed at Dunlop Kirk, with the wake shot at Edmonstone Hall.

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Pollok Country Park in Glasgow features in scenes set in the woods.

Exterior shots of the houses were filmed in a South Lanarkshire town while interiors were shot on specially constructed sets.

John’s therapy sessions were filmed at a house overlooking Loch Lomond, designed to reflect his and Fiona’s dream of an idyllic Scottish lifestyle.

Filming also took place at The Lade Inn, which you can find on the edge of the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, including night-time scenes in the pub’s car park.

What’s the best ITV drama you’ve watched? Tell us in the comments below.

Arsenal have a clear priority heading into the summer transfer market after their Premier League triumph was nearly undone by one glaring issue for Mikel Arteta

Sunday’s champagne might still be bubbling – and a Champions League final still awaits – but Arsenal are already turning their attention toward the summer transfer window. After finally being crowned champions of England for the first time since 2004, the Gunners will be determined to ensure their spell at the top is not a short-lived one.

As a result, a number of high-profile arrivals are expected. With a defence widely viewed as their strongest area and a midfield already packed with quality, Arsenal are set to focus on strengthening their attacking options this summer.

Although marquee signing Viktor Gyokeres enjoyed a respectable first season in North London, he has yet to provide the ruthless, relentless edge associated with Europe’s elite sides. Beyond him, the rest of the squad has largely failed to provide enough goals – with Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze the only other Arsenal players to reach double figures this season.

Arsenal ended the season with 71 league goals – the lowest total for a Premier League champion since Leicester’s 68 in 2015/16. Consequently, improving their attacking threat has become a clear priority. Here, Mirror Football explores what Arsenal’s ideal first signing of the summer could be.

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Reports suggest Arsenal are weighing up a £100million move for Atletico Madrid forward Julian Alvarez. It’s understood that Alvarez has informed Atletico of his desire to leave and while Barcelona is his preferred destination, Hansi Flick’s side are currently unable to meet their La Liga rivals’ £100m valuation due to financial constraints.

This situation has therefore opened the door for Arsenal, who are keen to bolster their attack with a versatile, high-energy forward. Alvarez, who spent two seasons at Manchester City, is capable of playing as a No. 9, as well as on either flank or in the No. 10 role.

Arsenal have been tracking the Argentina international, 26, for several years, with sporting director Andrea Berta previously overseeing his move to Atletico in 2024. Mikel Arteta is known to favour adaptable, high-intensity forwards and Alvarez fits that profile – combining clinical finishing with relentless pressing ability.

He has scored 20 goals in 49 appearances this season, following a 29-goal debut campaign at the Metropolitano Stadium. A signing of his quality would not only ease the scoring burden on Gyokeres but also add a more complete attacking dimension to Arsenal’s frontline.

However, the Gunners will need to act carefully. A £100m transfer for Alvarez would take up a significant portion of their summer budget and with Arteta also keen to strengthen at left wing, Arsenal may be forced to prioritise certain attacking areas over others.

Players such as Bradley Barcola and Nico Williams have also been linked with moves to the Emirates Stadium but – like Alvarez – any deal for either player would likely carry a similar £100m valuation.

With Financial Fair Play still a consideration and multiple areas of the squad under review, Arsenal’s recruitment team will need to strike a careful balance between immediate impact and long-term squad depth.

At the same time, competition for elite attacking talent across Europe remains intense, meaning hesitation could prove costly if rival top clubs enter the race later in the window. And with Alvarez already proven in the Premier League, a move for him would be well worth the price.

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Go vegan, ditch the car, avoid air travel. Or forget all that – because it’s corporations and governments that are really to blame. This argument can feel quite paralysing but what if this is the wrong debate to be having?

Our research shows that the most effective approach to climate action is for people to make change within societal systems, not just as consumers. After all, what are systems made of if not people? Harnessing this agency to shape institutions, norms and networks will unlock broader social and structural changes.

We’ve developed a way to help you find your highest-impact actions, based on who you already are and what you can realistically do. It starts with three questions. Which roles do you already occupy? Within those roles, which actions carry the most climate weight? And what’s holding you, or others, back from taking them?

In our new research paper, we focus on five roles identified in previous research that link personal action with the potential for system change: citizen, professional, investor, consumer and role model. Previous work has prioritised a handful of high-impact actions within each role, such as using your vote as a citizen to elect leaders who will make strong climate policies, or by divesting from fossil fuels as an investor.

Climate action goes way beyond consumption. By identifying the most effective actions within your current roles, and overcoming barriers for you and others to take them, you can unlock the potential of your biggest leverage.

Consider a community member: someone who simply lives somewhere and knows their neighbours. They might not think of themselves as a climate changemaker at all. Yet they can organise others to campaign for low-carbon infrastructure, or speak up for those who face risks in being vocal. Or take a hospital procurement officer: by shifting institutional catering towards plant-based options or selecting renewable energy providers, they shape the choices available to dozens or hundreds of colleagues, influencing supply chains and shifting perceptions of what’s normal and doable along the way. And someone who discovers their pension is funding fossil fuels can push their employer to offer ethical options to all staff, not just those who are in a position to ask.

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The framework works at every level of influence, from a community member to a CEO. Those in high-leverage roles have multiplier effects. This happens when an action they take, such as implementing climate into school curricula, can extend well beyond their own choices, in this case by enabling children to have conversations about climate with their friends and at home. However, not everyone has the same responsibility or leverage to act.

In previous work, we showed how inequality constrains many people’s capacity to participate in climate action, whether that’s sustainable investing, protesting, or simply having the resources to make different choices. The same people with the most freedom to act often have the biggest footprints.

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In the UK, one-third of people take more than 80% of all flights, while half the population doesn’t fly at all. Positions of privilege and leverage are not evenly distributed, so different people will have varying levels of influence. But if you are a frequent flyer, taking responsibility might mean recognising your unequal impact on the planet, reducing your flights and advocating for flying to pay its climate costs.

Climate paralysis often comes from feeling powerless in the face of vast systems. But perhaps the most important insight from our work is this: systems are made of people, and people have roles, choices and influence that extend well beyond their shopping habits.

And most of the former Sedgefield MP’s devastating criticism is correct – although the one big success of Mr Starmer’s time in office has been his refusal to stand shoulder to shoulder with Donald Trump in his ill judged war against Iran.

Mr Blair talks of Mr Starmer’s government having “no coherent plan” which is much like this column’s view that it has no guiding vision – it put itself forward as being the antidote to the incompetence of the Conservative years but didn’t have a plan, or a vision, about what it wanted to achieve when in power.

Consequently, we’ve had two years of negativity, U-turns and climbdowns, and the big decisions about benefits, pensions, social care, taxes, defence spending have been dodged, as Mr Blair suggests.

He also says that elections are won from the “radical centre”, not from the left, as Jeremy Corbyn showed, and Reform will have to get much more than its current 27 per cent to win from the right.

The “radical centre”, though, must get things done, and despite a huge majority, Mr Starmer’s government has been characterised by dither.

So Mr Blair is largely right – but was this the right time to air these views? He has cut Mr Starmer off at the knees and Kemi Badenoch will surely used “no coherent plan” against him at Prime Minister’s Questions.

And Mr Blair himself is so toxic, largely because of his support for the American war against Iraq, that some Labour MPs may swing to the left just to differentiate themselves from him – exactly what he is arguing would damage the party and the country.

Jack Patrick Tuttle, 30, of Oak Green, Brandon, appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on May 25.

Tuttle pleaded guilty to driving a Nissan Juke with more than 800 Benzoylecgonine in his blood on November 13, 2025, exceeding the legal limit.

Tuttle also admitted driving without a valid licence and using the vehicle without third-party insurance on the same date and location.

The court took his guilty pleas into account.

For the drug drive offence, Tuttle received a 17-month driving ban and a £200 fine.

He must also pay £85 in prosecution costs and an £80 surcharge, with deductions to be made from his benefits.

No separate penalties were imposed for the licence and insurance offences.