In an article in today’s Guardian, David Cameron outlined a series of measures on the reform of local government. He says the Tories would hold referendums in the 12 largest cities outside London, including Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Newcastle, to allow voters to decide on directly elected mayors; give local people the power to veto
Housing associations who inherited council housing have been ‘highly successful’ in delivering improvements to tenants, new research by the Joseph Rowntree Association has found. More than one million tenants have switched from local authority to housing association tenancies during the 20 years stock transfers have taken place and the research found that housing associations typically
A group of Gypsies and Travellers living at Dale Farm near Wickford in Essex have lost their battle against eviction after law lords dismissed their appeal to overturn an earlier ruling. The law lords dismissed the Travellers’ appeal saying that Basildon council had acted lawfully, as half the people living at the farm do not
More than 85 per cent of local councils across England have seen a drop in income from planning applications, while three-quarters of councils have seen the amount of money they collect to pay for frontline services drop during the past few months. The survey was commissioned by the Local Government Association and demonstrated the effects
Welsh council house tenants are subsidising social housing in England, Welsh Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Peter Black has claimed. He launched the attack on the ‘convoluted’ arrangements which sees all but one Welsh local authority which owns council houses return rental receipts to the Treasury. He argues that changes to the housing revenue subsidy system
A council has come to the aid of people threatened with homelessness after Shelter Cymru was forced to withdraw some of its advice services because of a funding shortfall. Caerphilly council has increased its funding for frontline services saying it believed the funding boost was a wise move that would save the council money in
Communities and Local Government is conducting research to gain a better understanding of the scale and extent of unspent section 106 contributions. Housing minister Margaret Beckett said the investigation was a response to questions MPs had raised about the amount of unspent planning cash for section 106 agreements held in local authority bank accounts around
Councils across England are facing a huge drop in cash as right-to-buy sales fail. A snapshot across 10 councils has revealed that receipts from right to buy fell 89 per cent in the last year, from 380 homes in the third quarter of 07/08 to 40 for the same period in 08/09. The implication for
Councils will receive financial rewards for hitting lower targets relating to housing, job creation, and enterprise than those agreed nearly a year ago. Communities and Local Government, which has the equivalent of £2.3 million to spend for each of England’s 150 local area agreements (LAAs), has overhauled its system of rewarding councils in response to
The recession is creating a ‘lost generation’ of young people who may never escape the trap of long-term unemployment, the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned. An investigation by the LGA found that a quarter of those made redundant between October and December were young people aged 18–24. At the other end of the scale