Leicester

Councillor Rory Palmer considers the challenge facing a newly set up team of experts.

A child who grows up in poverty or in a household with low income will suffer from poorer health, achieve worse results at school and find it more difficult to get into training or employment, compared to children who grow up in households with average or higher incomes. In Leicester over 35 per cent of children and young people – that's 26,500 – currently live in poverty, and many more grow up in low-income households. This is a challenge we will not ignore. Tackling child poverty is a top priority for the city mayor's administration and that's why we have established the Leicester Child Poverty Commission.

On Monday people will have an opportunity to have a look around the new Interact Gallery in Leicester.

This is a self-funded project to created a dedicated digital and interactive arts gallery for Leicester.

It is based upstairs at the Fabrika Independent Arts Centre on Humberstone Gate, Leicester.

LOCAL people are being invited to see the latest proposals for new football facilities at the Riverside College site and Aylestone Playing Fields.

The city council has cut spending on consultants by millions of pounds in the first three months of the financial year.

Between May and July last year, Leicester City Council's bill for outside experts and advisers stood at £4.3 million.

A bid to set up an enterprise zone, to boost the economy and bring jobs to Leicestershire, has been backed by the Government.

Earlier this year, the Government announced that it would establish 21 Enterprise Zones in LEP areas in England and named the first 11 areas. The remaining 10 locations would be designated through a competitive process.

Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) has welcomed the Government's approval of its proposal for an enterprise zone at MIRA Technology Park in Hinckley which will create 2,000 new jobs.

Pride Guide now available.

A consultation has been launched on plans to increase parking charges at hospitals.

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust has put forward proposals for increases which, in some cases, would see charges double.

Attila the Stockbroker will be in town on Friday 16th September for a night of song and verse, plus support from local poets.

It's at The Old Packhorse, Woodgate, Loughborough. Doors 8pm, £7 entry. This gig is also to raise funds and awareness for UKuncut.

More than 150 staff have taken voluntary redundancy as part of £6 million cost-cutting measures at a university.

De Montfort University, which employs about 2,500 people, asked all employees to consider voluntary redundancy after the Government announced a 40 per cent cut in its funding for higher education last year.

Since the end of July, 155 people have left the institution in total. It is believed about half of those were academic staff.

Two men – whose posts did not result in riot-related event – sentenced at Chester crown court after arrests last week...