Fears are mounting that children could drown in a ‘crater’ left by a developer. Residents of The Pastures estate, in East Ardsley, were shocked to find two steep-sided dry detention beds had been dug from a meadow on the development last year. Bloor Homes, who are responsible for the landscaping, responded to complaints of rubble and fly tipping on the field last year by digging the drainage beds [...]

COFFEE giant Costa has been hit with a £3,000 bill for ignoring repeated warnings to clear rubbish from outside one of its Leeds branches. The Albion Street shop repeatedly allowed bags of rubbish to pile up despite being told by Leeds City Council to clean up. Whitbread Group, which owns Costa, pleaded guilty at Leeds Magistrates’ Court to failing to store and dispose of their waste correctly. [...]

JAPANESE industrial giant Sharp Electronics has bought Wakefield-based firm IOT (Holdings) plc. It will operate as a subsidiary of Sharp. IOT has 173 employees. It will continue to trade under its current name and keep the same management team, says Sharp. Paul Molyneux, Sharp UK managing director, said: “IOT’s position as a very stable, profit-focused business with a strong service-based culture [...]