POLITICS was the talk of the town in 2025 as the two best-read Bromsgrove Standard stories of the year focused on elections.
In September, it was announced there was to be a by-election in the Bromsgrove South division on Worcestershire County Council after the councillor for the area resigned.
Coun Gaynor Jean Louis, who represented Reform UK, quit her role due to ill health, meaning another vote will need to take place to fill the space.
Liberal Democrat Sam Ammar eventually won the Bromsgrove South seat.
May was the peak of election season as Worcestershire County Council voters went to the polls.
Reform UK came out on top in the district, taking four of the nine seats. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats were joint second on two each, and there was one independent.
A very sad story broke back in October after it was revealed Bromsgrove School student Namsong Rai had passed away aged just 15 after a battle with cancer.
Fast food giant McDonald’s resubmitted its application for a drive-thru restaurant in Bromsgrove back in October.
The outlet would be on the Stourbridge Road car park and is similar to the proposal submitted back in 2018.
Four people- a woman, a man and two children- were admitted to hospital after sustaining injuries in a large house fire in Bromsgrove on February 21.
Emergency services rushed to King Edward Road, Bromsgrove, around 10.30am to find a semi-detached house up in flames.
In March, a woman in her 70s was violently attacked at the Lickey Hills Country Park.
The victim was approached by a man dressed in ‘scrub-like’ pyjamas who ran over to her, screaming on the bridal path near the visitor’s centre.
The 77-year-old victim told the Standard she was headbutted twice, causing a nosebleed, a black eye and a large bump to her head.
In July, a fire broke out on land off Staple Flat in Marlbrook, Bromsgrove. It raged out of control, sending smoke billowing across the surrounding area.
Back at the beginning of the year, the green light was given for 688 new homes in Longbridge, on a section of the former MG Rover works.
Parents of children applying to Bromsgrove’s oversubscribed high schools spoke out about their frustration back in August at both having to send them to Rubery and the transport arrangements to get them there.
The Standard was contacted following the offers and subsequent unsuccessful appeals by mums who live close to the schools.
And in August, a Bromsgrove man was convicted for his part in a series of gang raids on cash machines at banks and shops across the country.
Noel Reilly, aged 46, of Appletrees Crescent, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle, handle stolen goods and possess criminal property.
