20/01/2017 Midlands Today

It's feared thousands of fish may have been killed

after chemicals were found in the River Morda, near Oswestry.

The water company, United Utilities, say there's been an issue

at its nearby water treatment works and is investigating.

It may look beautiful in the winter sun, but last night local people

were sickened to see hundreds of fish gasping

Acid from a nearby water treatment works flowed into the Morda,

Staff at Western Pools Fishery witnessed the river

They fear it'll take years for the habitat to recover.

The river was white and there was evidence of dead and dying fish.

The length of time it's taken to build up this system,

plus four or five generations of trout

which spawned after the original, all wiped out.

By this afternoon, the dead fish had been washed downstream after water

levels were raised to flush the pollution out.

The Environment Agency has launched an investigation and is working

There's acid that has gone into this river.

Even for our staff that are working here today

and the work that we're doing, we have to be exceptionally

I advise people to keep their pets, themselves out of the water and,

where possible, keep livestock out of the water

Fortunately, the pollution doesn't appear to have got

But the owners fear it'll be a long time before the River Morda is once

As Donald Trump settles into his new life in the White House,

it's not just in America that his Presidential inauguration

Here in the Midlands opinion is equally divided,

As Donald Trump became the 45th president of the

a peaceful protest had taken place in the unlikely setting

of historic Ironbridge - birthplace of the

It was one of a hundred such demonstations by

I think there's a lot of suspicion and fear,

Trump is, from his personality, a president which we have

never experienced before and we don't actually know.

In the summer, Ironbridge is packed with tourists and today's winter

sunshine brought out the visitors too, all with views

I have my doubts about whether he's wired up right.

Some of the things he says are excellent, but some

of the other things, I think he's just gone

My view is to give him a bit of time and just see how it goes.

Many experts say Pennsylvania was the state that swung it

for Trump, an area suffering from a decline in industry.

It's where mum of two Cathy Wardius is from.

I think, like most Americans, we're apprehneisve because we don't

know what the next four years are going to bring.

But then, like I said, I know a lot of really good hard

working people who had voted for him, who are optimistic.

I wonder how they're feeling at the White House right now.

I think it's the most scariest thing that I've ever heard of.

I think if anybody's going to push the button, he's going to be the one

He may have his sceptics, but President Trump gave this message:

Together, we will make America great again.

The date has been announced for the Stoke-on-Trent

The vacancy has been created by Tristram Hunt's

resignation to become Director of London's Victoria

Voters will go to the polls on the 23rd of February.

So called Shared Spaces, where roads have their markings

and kerbs removed, are now a common sight

They're designed to make drivers more cautious,

but can also make life difficult for blind people.

Here's our transport correspondent Peter Plisner.

Charlotte Nickson and guide dog Layla navigating their way

But for them, shared space doesn't make things very easy.

This is where she's stops for this crossing.

Here Layla gets confused because there's no kerbs and waits

for instruction from Charlotte.

And it's not just Layla who doesn't understand the layout.

When we filmed, there were cars and other vehicles everywhere,

even on what was supposed to be the pavement.

They make it harder for me to get to work, and that's just not fair.

They make it impossible for a lot of my blind friends to come

and visit me and if they do, we have to make sure

there is a sighted person there to help us at all times.

As you get to this side, Peter, it doesn't lead to anywhere.

Sarah Gayton from Staffordshrie campaigns on behalf of the blind

and partially sighted and she maintains that shared

Today, Sarah and others had the chance to speak directly

to MPs on the Women and Equalities Select Committee

as it held an outreach meeting in Birmingham.

The committee is currently investigating the build environment

You can read all the papers you like, but until you have the people

sat in front of you telling you exactly how it feels to not be

able to move around their city centre or that they can't get

a house that's suitable for them to live in,

you don't really get the human feeling of it.

Coventry City Council maintains that its shared space is safe

and that schemes developed in consultation with

But despite concerns of some, the use of shared space is growing

Football and one big transfer completed this evening -

Stoke City have signed Sido Berahino from West Bromwich

The fee for the 23-year-old striker could eventually rise to 15 million.

And one result tonight in League One - Port Vale have

I'll leave you with the weather from Rebecca Wood.

It has been a pleasant day today, right the way across the board

we had gorgeous sunshine and clear blue skies.

As we head through this weekend, more of the same to come.

There will be sunny spells, variable amounts of cloud,

but it is also feeling very chilly out there and that's because we're

It is going to be a cold night tonight

Temperatures plummeting, we're looking at them dipping down

widely right the way across the board into minus figures.

We cuold see them getting a touch lower than -5 in some

We could also get a little bit of freezing fog.

As we start the day tomorrow with high pressure and very little

We could see that fog lingering through the day.

It'll be a chilly start with a widespread frost,

and there's going to be some sunshine through the day.

We start to get cloud filtering in for a time,

but it should be largely dry and bright with temperatures ranging

More information on all of that in the national forecast next.

I'll leave you with an outlook for the next few days.

there isn't that much around it will feel cooler. Can we keep it going

until the start of the new week? I suspect we can. Unconfirmed about --

concerned about the fog around. Here is Helen with the national picture.

Good evening. The weather is upon us. The cloud has made all the

difference this week in particular. We have had some wonderful weather

watcher pictures, this is Marlowe in Buckinghamshire, this was Conwy

earlier in the day. Some areas still have the cloud. What