Turnaround initiated by Andy Burnham and led by Steve Coogan could provide blueprint for other neglected areas

• Save high street by taxing online sales at higher rate, Burnham urged

• What makes a good town? Here are five key ingredients

The former England footballer Paul Scholes and the actor Steve Coogan stare out from beside a fish and chip shop in Middleton, near Manchester. Looming over a mural of the pair – and the whole town – is an enormous former cotton mill that powered its economy a century ago.

The deafening looms and spindles of Warwick Mill fell silent decades ago, replaced in recent years by TikTok “urban explorers” who share videos of themselves crawling through its abandoned shell.

Exclusive: Adrian Ramsay calls conference motion a distraction and says councillors should maintain coalitions where possible

• UK politics live – latest updates

Adrian Ramsay, the former co-leader of the Greens, has urged his party’s councillors to reject the newly adopted “Zionism is racism” motion if it will help them stay in power in local government, in a fresh sign of internal dissent over the policy.

Ramsay, one of the Greens’ five MPs, said he was pleased that a number of Green council groups had already condemned the policy, which was adopted at the party’s conference and also calls for a single Palestinian state in place of Israel.

Female colleague says she was forced out shortly after incident with Luke Campbell, Hull and East Yorkshire mayor

A Reform UK mayor is under police investigation for allegedly showing “naked and sexualised” images of himself to a female member of staff.

Luke Campbell, a former Olympic boxing champion and the mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, is understood to have been questioned under caution by Humberside police earlier this month.