People are being asked to check their store cupboards and donate any spare tins or packets of food and toiletries they may have to help support families in need. Residents are being encouraged to either drop off items at one of the designated collection points or get together with colleagues and organise ‘Bring a Tin to Work’ appeals.

Britain is apparently a nation of dog lovers but, according to Birmingham’s dog wardens, more than 25 strays a week are being found on the city’s streets. Despite a 26 per cent drop in the number of stray dogs found in 2014/15 (1,375 compared to 1,874 in 2013/14), wardens were still on average having to deal with at least three strays per day.

The City of Wolverhampton Council is embarking on a £1.7m scheme to deliver new build council housing on four small derelict sites across the city.

The works will be carried out by the council’s Strategic Construction Partnership (SCP) contractors, who are being given the opportunity to extend their portfolio from housing maintenance and repairs as part of a pilot project. The partnership – Wates Living Space and United Living – will deliver 12 homes by early 2016, at Redcotts Close, Fallings Park; Hughes Road, Bilston North; Welbury Gardens, St Peter’s; and Sunset Place, Spring Vale.

With less than three weeks to go until The Color Run descends on the NEC, keen ‘Color Runners’ are being urged to sign-up to the event before it’s too late. With entries closing on Sunday 9^th August, hopeful participants should visit www.thecolorrun.co.uk/Birmingham as soon as possible to secure their place at the ‘Happiest 5k on the Planet’.

Homeowners today would rather hide their mess as new research from The Co-operative Insurance reveals that cleaning is dying out, with a quarter of modern households struggling to manage an hour of cleaning each week (25%). Today’s home-makers no longer see cleaning as a priority with those aged (45-54 years) most likely to keep abreast of their chores, cleaning for an average of five hours and four minutes per week compared to those aged 25-34, who only manage three hours and 58 minutes.

Plans to bring life back to the former Armitage Shanks Tap Works Factory site have been revealed as part of an ambitious scheme by Wolverhampton City Council to build more than 100 homes across three derelict sites in Low Hill. The council now hopes to appoint a development partner next year to build a mix of high-quality council homes for rent and private homes for sale on the site, as well as on land on Fifth Avenue and Broome Road.