News from the Choppington area is now covered by a revamped Bedlington community website from The Journal.

Visit www.journallive.co.uk/bedlington to take a look at the improved pages, including a new layout, more useful local information, an events calendar, news from the wider county and an interactive map.

These pages are no longer being updated.

Hundreds more council jobs are set to be axed in Northumberland as town hall bosses seek a further £40m in budget savings over the next year.

Up to 1,000 posts in the county council's 7,000-strong workforce are potentially at risk - on top of around 1,300 which have been shed over the last two years.

A two-week trawl for further voluntary redundancy applications was launched yesterday, after employees were briefed by their department heads about the latest budget cuts facing the unitary authority.

Community Wildlife is for projects that help people discover, enjoy and protect wildlife in their local area.

Now open to organisations including voluntary and community organisations, schools, town and parish councils, and statutory health authorities. Grants of between £300 and £10,000 are available.

There is up to £2 million available across the UK and organisations can submit applications before the three deadlines of 21July, 22 September and the 24 November 2010.

For further details and to get an application form visit our website www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/communitywildlife, or call our helpline on:
0845 367 0610.
For more ideas for projects visit www.bbc.co.uk/wild

A forum which works to improve life for Northumberland children with special needs is looking to recruit new members.

An appeal has gone out for more parents and carers to join the organisation and come up with ideas and suggestions to move its work forward.

The Northumberland Parent, Carer and Professional Forum aims to help families across the county which have youngsters with special needs.

Local residents and parish councillors in Northumberland are being invited to a meeting next week to give their feedback on some key public services.

The restructuring of post offices, the work of local community forums and the accessibility of the county council are the three areas up for discussion at the meeting in Morpeth Town Hall at 6.30pm on Monday.

The council's Communities and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee will hear from the Post Office network manager for the North of England about the progress made in reorganising counter services since January.

Hundreds of elderly and disabled people who are too frail to use buses are set to be helped by a new cut-price travel scheme in Northumberland.

Anger erupted earlier this year when county council budget cuts threatened to bring the axe down on concessionary taxi travel for people physically unable to use other forms of public transport.

The council said it was planning to scrap four taxi schemes - which operated in Blyth Valley, Tynedale, Castle Morpeth and Wansbeck - to save £70,000 a year. Now it has had a change of heart and plans to launch a new, county-wide scheme on July 1 which involves people paying £10 for £50 worth of taxi tokens.

Further council budget cuts of up to £10m could be required in Northumberland this year under plans by the coalition Government to get public expenditure down, it was revealed last night.

Senior officers at County Hall in Morpeth have come up with the figure after making fresh budget calculations based on comments made by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat administration at Westminster.

The estimated additional efficiency savings for 2010/11 would come on top of budget reductions of £21m agreed in February, and are likely to be followed by another £20m worth of savings in 2011/12.

Parents across Northumberland are being asked to give their views on childcare available in the county.

County council officials are carrying out a survey to build up a picture of the provision of childcare in different areas.

The results will be used to help shape the future of the service and meet the needs of working parents and carers. Childcare providers are also being asked to take part in the survey.

A scheme to help up to 2,000 Northumberland people set up in business has been launched with a £4m investment.

Northumberland County Council has landed the European funding to begin a push to create more of a culture of enterprise in the county.

The Putting Enterprise into Place project will work to encourage people to develop enterprising skills and attitudes. It will focus particularly on people in what the council calls 'disadvantaged areas,' including Berwick, Amble and the south east of the county.

A major green drive to tackle the traffic congestion and air pollution caused by the daily school run in Northumberland has resulted in every school in the county getting on board.

Thousands more youngsters are now improving their health and fitness by walking or cycling to and from lessons each day, instead of being driven to the school gates in their parents' cars.

All 201 local education authority schools in Northumberland now have their own individual green travel plans - which means the county council has achieved its Government-set target of having them in place by March this year.