Please save this booklet – either in electronic format or handwritten – in a place where it can easily be found if the person it refers to goes missing.
https://www.westmercia.police.uk/notices/af/herbert-protocol/
The Nominated Neighbour Scheme is a community initiative designed to protect vulnerable individuals from unwanted and unverified callers. It involves a trusted neighbour, friend, or relative who can check the identity of callers and accompany them to the homeowner’s address if necessary. This scheme aims to enhance safety and reduce the risk of scams and burglaries by ensuring that genuine callers do not have to speak to the homeowner directly.
To participate in the scheme, individuals can nominate a trusted neighbour or offer to be their Nominated Neighbour. The nominated neighbour will then be able to handle any unrecognised callers on behalf of the homeowner, ensuring their safety and security. The scheme is particularly beneficial for elderly or vulnerable members of the community, providing them with peace of mind and protection from potential threats.
For further information: https://www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/residents/keeping-safe/nominated-neighbour-scheme/
Following consultation with neighbouring local authorities, there is now a new proposed boundary for 8 Hills. This revised area includes parts of Dudley, Birmingham and Solihull, covering approximately 58 square miles.
The project to establish the 8 Hills Regional Park is being led by the National Trust, with the support of various stakeholders, including Fairfield Village Community Association, representing Fairfield, Wildmoor & Stoneybridge.
As part of the project a pipeline of footpaths are being created and we would like to hear your suggestions, email chair@fvca.org.uk. It is hoped, working with local landowners, permissive footpaths can be created, with the landowner receiving a Payment for Access, funded by Cotswold Outdoors; landowners being fairly compensated based on the number of people using the path, ensuring that both the community and the landowner benefit from improved access to nature. Cotswold Outdoor has produced a short film for their social media channels, highlighting their role in the Payments for Access paths and how their sponsorship is being used: CLICK HERE
As an active partner in ReNEW, the Cultural Compact for North East Worcestershire, we look forward to collaborative working with 8 Hills community and local creatives to develop a cultural identity for the 8 Hills Regional Park which celebrates local people’s connectedness to the landscape. This will inform the production of a public art gateway that will act as the first physical marker for access to the regional park. Once further information is known we look forward to people in our community being part of this initiative.
The following planning application is available to view and comment on. Please use this
link to take you to the home page of Public Access
https://publicaccess.bromsgroveandredditch.gov.uk/online-applications/ which is the tool for
viewing applications and making comment electronically.
| APPLICATION REFERENCE : | 26/00106/FUL |
| APPLICATION TYPE: | Full Application |
| DATE ACCEPTED: | 05.02.2026 |
| LOCATION: | Bluebell Barn , Dordale Road Bournheath Worcestershire DY9 0AJ |
| PROPOSAL: | Change of use from agricultural barn to residential annexe |
| APPLICANTS NAME: | |
| PARISH COUNCIL: | Belbroughton Parish |
| WARD: | Belbroughton And Romsley Ward |
| CASE OFFICER: | Laura Russ |
| TELEPHONE: | 01527 534122 |
| l.russ@bromsgroveandredditch.gov.uk |
From Everlock Productions, the feature length documentary ‘Our Planet, The People, My Blood’ will be having one of it’s first public UK screenings at Bromsgrove Arts @ Fairfield Village Hall on the 8th and 15th March 2026. The screening on the 8th will be joined by a select few participants from the documentary who will be available for a Q&A session after the screening.
After 3 years of filming, Director, Daniel Everitt-Lock is proud to present this global expos? of the effects of nuclear weapons testing.
Logline: “Alan Owen, a descendant of an Atomic Soldier, has fought tirelessly for the rights of those affected by Nuclear Weapons Testing around the world. Through global first hand accounts, we follow Alan on his journey, as he takes on the UK’s Ministry of Defence, in a landmark legal battle that seeks recognition and compensation for millions.”
The film was recently sponsored by Sir John Hayes, CBE MP, and Rebecca Long Bailey MP, for a special parliamentary screening on the 13th January, that saw the UK’s Atomic Test Veterans, who are the main subject of the documentary, gain cross party recognition and support from multiple MP’s.
Sir John Hayes said: “This outstanding film chronicles a decades-long campaign for the recognition of those who witnessed the first nuclear tests. Recognition must go beyond a medal, it must include acceptance of the effects of radiation on them and their descendants. The work addressed in this film will, in the end, deliver what these people deserve: justice.”
The film took Daniel and his team 3 years to complete, travelling over 100,000 miles across the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. They interviewed over 50 people with first hand accounts of the effects of nuclear weapons testing. Though most testing ceased in 1996, Trump and other have condoned a restart to testing.
Daniel is quoted as saying: “The injustice that these people have suffered by multiple governments for decades, cannot be left unnoticed any longer. It is my hope that this film brings to light the plight of these people, and the strength they have had to endure such suffering for so long. In the UK particularly, the nuclear test veterans have been denied justice and compensation for almost 70 years. Something needs to be done!”
The film will be beginning its theatrical run in March 2026.
For tickets: https://bromsgrovearts.org.uk/event/our-planet-the-people-my-blood/
The production company will donate 50% of the ticket sales to LABRATS International, an organisation that represents nuclear veterans, atomic veterans, scientists, civilians, and their families across the world who have been affected by the Atomic / Nuclear Testing program.
If we organised another BASIC EMERGENCY FIRST AID course, on a Wednesday evening, 6pm – 10pm, with a course cost, to be confirmed, likely £55.00 to £65.00, would this be of interest to you?
If yes, which of these dates would best 15th July, 22nd July, 26th August?
Please email admin@fvca.org.uk to register your interest and your preferred date(s).
Accidents do happen…but…to leave the soiled hand towel and paper towels next to the Wood Lane bench, not far from a dog waste bin (which is in sight), words fail us or cannot be repeated. Our volunteers should not be clearing this mess.
A new dog waste bin has been sited in the Swan Inn car park, thanks to the Swan Inn and the Community Association.
Tell the police about cyber crime and fraud by visiting www.reportfraud.police.uk or calling 0300 123 2040.
The City of London Police, the national lead force for fraud, today announces the full public launch of Report Fraud – a new national service designed to transform how victims and businesses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland report cyber crime and fraud, and how law enforcement and industry respond.
Cyber crime and fraud are now the most common crime in the UK, accounting for around 50 per cent of all offences and costing the economy billions of pounds each year. Cyber-enabled crime and fraud continues to grow in both scale and sophistication, targeting individuals, small businesses and major organisations alike. Report Fraud has been created to meet this challenge head-on, providing a single, modern national gateway for reporting and intelligence that will strengthen the collective response of policing, government and the private sector.
Report Fraud is the most significant evolution of our national capability. It provides, for the first time, a single, modern national reporting, triage and intelligence platform for both cyber crime and fraud, enabling the City of London Police to lead policing’s 4Ps response – pursue, protect, prevent and prepare – at a national level. Through the new service, intelligence will be assessed and disseminated across forces, serious and complex cases will be identified for specialist investigation, and victims will be directed into a consistent national standard of care and support.
The service also reflects the City of London Police’s position at the heart of the UK’s financial centre, with unparalleled access to industry, regulators and international partners. This proximity enables real-time collaboration, faster disruption of criminal networks, and a stronger collective defence of the UK’s economic security, supported by specialist capabilities and training delivered through the force’s Economic and Cyber Crime Academy.
More than just technology, Report Fraud is the result of one of the largest transformation programmes ever undertaken by the City of London Police. Built from the ground up around the victim journey, it brings together the reporting of both cyber crime and fraud in one place for the first time, making it quicker, clearer and more supportive for people and businesses to come forward – and ensuring that every report counts, helping to protect others.
The City of London Corporation has provided significant financial support to the development and launch of Report Fraud, including a £13.2 million contribution. In addition, the organisation will contribute £2.5 million per year towards the ongoing running costs of the service, underlining its long-term commitment to tackling fraud, supporting victims, and strengthening the UK’s economic security.