Latest news with #Witham
BBC News
16-07-2025
- BBC News
Motorcyclist dies near Chelmsford after collision on A414
A motorcyclist was killed when his vehicle collided with a car, police accident happened on the A414 by Radley Green Road, near Chelmsford, at about 07:10 BST on road was shut after the man in his 40s, from Witham in Essex, died at the who witnessed the incident have been urged to contact police. Essex Police said a road closure following the incident was lifted later on Wednesday. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
10-07-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Witham road closures cause traffic 'chaos', residents say
Work to replace gas pipes, which has led to multiple road closures in a town, has unleashed "chaos" on the high street according to local Monday, Cadent Gas closed two adjacent routes into Witham town centre in Essex, causing congestion to build up on the nearby A12 towards Witham resident Andy Newhall, 61, described the scene as "organised chaos" and others said their journeys though the town had taken six times as said it was "very conscious" of the disruption and hoped people understood it was "necessary and essential work". 'Nightmare' Matthew Hooper, 52, is the director of Glovers Motors, which sits between the two closed junctions. His commute went up by 25 minutes on the first said there were "two no-shows" one morning, due to the traffic."Trying to get in and out of our junction is a little bit of a nightmare, especially road testing customers' cars," he said."Yesterday afternoon, it was just tooting and screaming and shouting outside, there was a lot of frustration from the motorists." Julia Sherlock, 60, is a three-minute drive from her place of work, but it took her 20 minutes on Sherlock, from Prime Appointments on the high street, says people are completely avoiding coming to Witham as a result of the traffic."No one's going to bother coming into town to do any shopping because it's impossible," she described the build-up of traffic as causing "mayhem" on the A12 earlier in the of Arnie's of Essex dog groomers, Hannah James, 35, said she got in earlier than the queues, but her customers had missed out on appointments."Some of them... when they've got a 10-minute journey, it's taken them 45 minutes," she said."It is affecting our business."Conservative Essex County Councillor for the Witham Northern division, Ross Playle, said he was concerned that two more adjacent roads, Guilthavon Valley and Mill Lane, were also due for closure in a week's time."That road closure cannot go ahead... there cannot be any overlap," he told the BBC. Essex Highways said companies seeking permits [for road closures] have to meet certain criteria, but traffic management is up to inspectors regularly visit to ensure the works are "compliant and safe with as little disruption as possible", the authority Gas said it was replacing a number of gas pipes in the area, that were "perfectly safe", but "coming to the end of their working life."It added that the pipes were installed "around 100 years ago" when there was less traffic, and it needed to ensure engineers had a safe working area."We are very conscious of the disruption roadworks cause and hope people understand this is necessary and essential work, to ensure everyone's safety and maintain a reliable gas supply for your central heating systems," a spokesperson said. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
02-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Witham man jailed for raping child under 13
A teenager has been jailed for what police described as a "series of extremely horrific sexual offences against a vulnerable young victim".Chace Wiseman, 18, of Colne Chase in Witham, pleaded guilty to 12 offences including two counts of rape of a child under was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison at Chelmsford Crown Court on Con Red Leeson said: "The level of his offending has made this investigation extremely distressing and traumatic for all those involved, and our thoughts are with the victim and their family." Wiseman was arrested by Essex Police on 3 January at his the same day, officers searched the property and found "a large quantity of distressing videos and images".The defendant refused to answer questions during his police interview, officers Police said he was placed on the sex offenders register and was subject to a restraining order. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Guardian
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
UK not rejoining the EU with new deal, says minister
Update: Date: 2025-05-20T07:43:04.000Z Title: Priti Patel: UK-EU is a betrayal of Brexit by 'smug' Keir Starmer Content: The shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, has said that the government's deal with the EU is a betrayal of Brexit, and accused the prime minister of making 'smug' comments when announcing it. Speaking on the GB News channel, the Conservative MP for Witham said: Keir Starmer never believed in Brexit. He spent all of his time campaigning to unpick Brexit. He was being dishonest with the British public. He basically did not go into the general election last year and say that his reset would mean that we'd become a rule taker all over again. He deceived the British public. Asked about Starmer's comment that the deal put the country back on the world stage, Patel said: Quite frankly, that is utter rubbish from Keir Starmer. Not for the first time. It was Britain that led the international efforts when it came to Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. So I think he needs to go away and do some homework. And of course, it was Conservatives in government that led the way when it came to Britain post-Brexit, our place in the world, securing those trade deals, over 70 trade agreements during our tenure in government. So, we're not going to listen to that nonsense from Keir Starmer. He just constantly wants to betray Britain and the democratic vote of the British people. And I think he needs to really go back and recalibrate his very smug comments. Update: Date: 2025-05-20T07:41:05.000Z Title: Industry minister: UK-EU deal does not mean the country is rejoining the EU Content: Any cost to taxpayers from the government's deal with the EU will be outweighed by the economic benefits, industry minister Sarah Jones has said, insisting that the UK was not rejoining the EU. Speaking on Sky News, she said: We are not paying, through any of this, for access to markets. That is not what we are doing. We are not rejoining the EU. Where we will pay, and these things will be negotiated, where we will pay is where there are joint costs that need to be paid. Update: Date: 2025-05-20T07:40:18.000Z Title: Welcome and opening summary … Content: Good morning, welcome to our live coverage of UK politics for Tuesday. Here are your headlines … Industry minister Sarah Jones has said the UK-EU deal announced yesterday by prime minister Keir Starmer and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen does not mean that Britain is rejoining the EU. She claimed any cost to taxpayers would be outweighed by the economic benefits Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel has said that 'when Labour negotiates, Britain always seems to lose', and accused the government of being misleading over the deal. She said the deal was a betrayal of Brexit Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said the government is nearing a trade pact with six Gulf nations, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia It is Martin Belam with you today. Cabinet meets this morning. We might get a Commons statement from the prime minister later on, and the chancellor is expected to make a media appearance. You can reach me at
