| It hosted a then-world-record rugby league crowd of 102,569 in 1954 and has long been described by many as a potential 'Wembley of the North' for the sport. And Bradford's Odsal Stadium could become the biggest permanently covered stadium in the country - with a capacity of 25,000 - if a funding bid to transform the site is approved by the Government. The £50m bid to refurbish the home of the Bradford Bulls, as well as creating a new Rugby league skills centre, park and ride car park, sports pitches, hotel and solar farm has been described as a "once in a generation opportunity to break the cycle of poverty" in the area. As well as once again making Bradford a rugby powerhouse, the bid says the stadium will allow the city to host huge music and cultural events, as well as hosting other sports like boxing, to capitalise on Bradford becoming UK City of Culture in 2025. The complex is subject to a successful bid in the second round of the Government's Levelling Up Fund, which has two potential awards of £50million for culture-led schemes, as Local Democracy Reporter Chris Young reports. Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council, said: "Rugby League is woven into the fabric of Bradford and the north of England. "By building a regional skills centre and the largest permanently covered stadium in the country, we can harness the power of Rugby League to level up again by creating well-paid careers and jobs for thousands of young men and women in Bradford and across Yorkshire and the North East." 
'A mayoral patch from Berwick to Barnard Castle is too big'  Durham Labour leader Carl Marshall (left) and Northumberland Labour leader Scott Dickinson
In the North East, local leaders are still scarred by the acrimonious collapse of the devolution package that fell apart at the eleventh hour in 2016 amid political disagreements between the region's warring Labour administrations. Things are looking more promising in 2022 as a long-awaited £3bn deal offering new powers and funding for the region is close to completion, but now top Labour figures in two North East counties have aired major worries. As Local Democracy Reporter Dan Holland writes, opposition councillors in both County Durham and Northumberland have spoken out over the proposal to unite up to seven council areas under a new North East mayor from 2024. The plan had been to create a new mayoral combined authority covering Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, Gateshead, Sunderland, and South Tyneside – but the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed earlier this month that County Durham had been offered the chance to join and given a deadline of mid-October to decide. But Durham Labour chief Carl Marshall has called on the county's Lib Dem, Tory, and independent coalition leadership to reject that offer to join their northern neighbours in the pact and instead go it alone, claiming that an authority stretching from the Scottish Borders to Barnard Castle would simply be too big to manage. Meanwhile in Northumberland, Labour's opposition leader Scott Dickinson has warned he too is unconvinced by the deal, accusing the Government of an "infuriating" lack of detail over what funding and powers are on offer.
 Child poverty levels in the North East are on the rise (Image: Kate Stanworth / Save The Children)
It comes as a new hard-hitting report reveals that the child poverty gap between North East and the rest of the country has reached a 20-year high. Research by the North East Child Poverty Commission highlights a "growing chasm" between the Government's declarations on levelling up and the reality of rising child poverty in the North East, writes Graeme Whitfield for ChronicleLive. The study comes just a few months after a national report found that child poverty had risen steadily in the North East over the last seven years and last year went against a national trend to become the highest in the country. Report author and North East Child Poverty Commission director Amanda Bailey, said: "Given the mountain of evidence on the immediate and lifelong impacts that experiencing poverty in childhood can have – particularly during the earliest years – it's deeply concerning that the child poverty gap between the North East and the UK is now at a 20-year high. "It's also clear that Government policy decisions are not only resulting in significant and avoidable levels of hardship for families across our region, they are also exacerbating many of the inequalities the levelling up agenda seeks to tackle, with local charities and community groups increasingly left to pick up the pieces."
MP targeted in neo-Nazi terror plot to stand down  West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper is to take a new job in the NHS
She has represented West Lancashire for 17 years, but Labour MP Rosie Cooper is set to stand down and trigger a by-election in her constituency. Ms Cooper - who was the target of a neo-Nazi assassination plot in 2017 - announced that she had accepted a new job as Chair of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. Her statement did not confirm when she would step down but it is understood that Labour is bracing for a by-election in her seat this autumn, as Lizzy Buchan reports for the Mirror. Labour held the seat with an 8,000-strong majority in 2019 but the contest will provide a test for both Keir Starmer and new PM Liz Truss. Ms Cooper said the decision had come after "a considerable period of soul searching and reflection" and admitted it would be a surprise to some in the party after she was recently reselected to fight the next election. But she alluded to the strain of being the target of the failed murder plot, saying: "The events I have faced over the last few years are well documented and undoubtedly have taken their toll."
On the day Ms Cooper made her announcement, it emerged that the true story behind a neo-Nazi plot to kill her was being turned into a television drama starring Stephen Graham. The Walk In, which launches on ITV on October 3, chronicles the murderous plan and how it was foiled by antifascism campaign group Hope not hate (Hnh). Jack Renshaw, now aged 27, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, is currently serving a life sentence for preparing acts of terrorism.
'Terrified' woman forced to go to Turkey for dental operation  Sally Murphy and Birkenhead dentist David Andrew Griffiths
In the latest example of the extreme lengths some are having to go to as a result of the dental crisis, a woman has flown to Turkey for an operation as she claimed she was unable to see a UK dentist unless she took out a second mortgage. Sally Murphy, 58, from Wallasey in Wirral, said she was removed as an NHS patient from her old dentist during the pandemic. Wirral has seen one of the biggest drops in the country in NHS dentists, losing 10% of its NHS dentists in the last five years. After struggling to find another practice, Mrs Murphy looked into going private but found this would cost more than £19,000, writes Local Democracy Reporter Ed Barnes. She decided to book an operation in Turkey with the operation, hotel in Antalya, and flights only costing her about £5,000, but admitted she was 'terrified'. Dental operations in Turkey have gained popularity in the UK, nicknamed "turkey teeth" but some people have suffered serious complications as a result according to a BBC investigation. Meanwhile David Andrew Griffiths, who works for Allport Dental Surgery in nearby Birkenhead, which offers NHS and privately funded services, claims some of his "patients in extreme cases are choosing between paying for dental care to get out of pain or putting food on the table". 
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Northern Stories  The image of Jack Charlton upon which his new statue will be based (Image: Northumberland County Council)
- A statue of football legend Jack Charlton will be unveiled in his home town of Ashington in Northumberland next month. Two years on from his death at the age of 85, a statue of the 1966 World Cup winner and former Newcastle United manager will be unveiled in Hirst Park on October 29. His wife Pat Charlton and her close family will attend the unveiling ceremony, organised by Ashington Town Council, as guests of honour.
- Plans to open a McDonald's in the Headingley area of Leeds will pour "fuel on the fire" of rowdy behaviour linked to the area's famous Otley Run pub crawl, a local MP has claimed. Alex Sobel, the Labour MP for Leeds North West, said "drunk congregations" and an atmosphere of "intimidation" could form around the fast food restaurant, if it's allowed to open. McDonald's has applied for permission to open up a new branch in Headingley's old HSBC bank on Otley Road, which has been empty for over five years.
- An empty Victorian factory can now be turned into a thriving canalside university campus. The multi-million pound transformation of Burnley's Newtown Mill into a major expansion of the University of Central Lancashire's campus in the town has been approved by planners, The renovation of the former industrial building in Queen's Lancashire Way will be delivered by using part of the £19.9m Levelling Up Fund cash obtained from government.
- Harrogate is set to host the Green Party's autumn conference next weekend when more than 1,000 party members are expected to attend. The three-day event will be held at Harrogate Convention Centre from Friday, September 30 to Sunday, October 2 with speeches being led by the party's co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay. Topics will include the cost of living and energy crises which Ms Denyer pledged to tackle "head on".
- Residents have hit out at plans for a new huge industrial unit which they claim will block the "last view in Wallsend of the River Tyne". Smulders, a steel construction company, has applied for permission to construct the workshop in Hadrian Yard to provide space for welding and industrial fabrication. According to planning documents, the 50-metre high building forms part of a wider investment plan for Hadrian Yard following £160m of Government investment.
- An underground bunker cinema, world class dining experience, astronomy displays and the transformation of a derelict zoo are all planned in a huge overhaul of Wigan's historic Haigh Hall. The £37.5 million project is set to restore and expand the historic site 'to its former glory'. A derelict zoo on School Lane, just off the main complex, is set to be transformed into a new visitors attraction and learning centre.
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