Curtis Lancaster
BBC South

"My number one focus and my relentless focus is on lowering people’s bills,” Zack Polanski tells Steve Harris on BBC Radio Solent.

“People in this country are tired and exhausted” by the cost of living, he says.

He proposes a 1% tax on the assets of multi-millionaires and billionaires.

Ewan Murrie
Politics reporter, Westminster

For Zack Polanski, this radio round is all about trying to project confidence ahead of the Green Party Conference.

He told me that he's keen to stress that, since his landslide victory in the leadership election last month, party membership is up by a third to 80,000.

Speaking on BBC Solent, he boasted that these numbers show his party already has "clout", while promising to use his platform to hold ministers to account on issues like the cost of living.

But despite the bravado, the stakes tomorrow are high indeed - his speech will help to determine how effectively he can pitch his party as a viable alternative to disaffected Labour voters.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council is considering discount cards for residents.

The council by-election saw the Reform candidate finish second in a seat they had hoped to win.

Researchers from the University of Warwick and Welsh Ambulance Service took part in the experiments.

Will Pope, who has a farm in Dorset, has told us about the “pain and aggravation” of finding a spider-shaped crop circle on his land.

“It’s a lot of damage, a lot of cost and a lot of stress,” he says.

He was alerted to the crop circle on his land last year when images of the farm in Sturminster Marshall started circulating on social media.

Will says he found a “family in the middle having a picnic” when he went to cut the crops.

He suggests the culprits approach the farmer with their ideas before causing “criminal damage” - that way they might be able to come to some arrangement and still be able to enjoy the crop circle.

Dorset Council is told a total of 330 young people in its area are now classified as Neets.

Poole Museum is preparing to welcome visitors as part of a phased reopening after a £10m revamp.

A council receives additional funding of £27,500 to remove chewing gun from more streets.

Bournemouth MP Tom Hayes says that if a playground is built on it should be replaced nearby.

The Government has said the measures would reduce the welfare budget by £4.8bn.

Safety in Bournemouth's town centre is a "huge concern" for women, MP Jessica Toale says.

Mr Kelloggs regularly visits care homes and hospitals across Dorset and the New Forest.

Parents in Bournemouth back calls for better playgrounds as authority says it can not afford maintenance.

Others to receive honours include a bus company managing director and a retired senior nurse.

Holly, from Poole, Dorset, has been sleeping on a friend's sofa after experiencing problems at home.

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service sacked eight staff since the start of 2022, figures show.

The ponies, found to be in need of care and treatment, were removed from a field, police say.

Sir Christopher Chope suggested Badenoch would be less able to commit to the demands of being party leader.

Artwey Gallery will serve as an art exhibition venue for the community until February.