Fighting the Fakes: The battle against AI disinformation
The Electoral Commission has launched a deepfake detection pilot ahead of May's elections. LocalGov's editor William Eichler finds out how it works.
Government opens £1bn fund to repair bridges, flyovers and tunnels
15/04/2026 The Government has launched a new £1bn Structures Fund to help councils repair ageing bridges, flyovers and tunnels across England. |
Council announces ‘precautionary’ closure of listed bridge
11/02/2026 A historic bridge in London has been closed by the council to allow for investigations. |
Nottingham’s new sustainable transport bridge set to open
06/10/2025 Nottingham’s new walking and cycling bridge has seen its first opening for tours ahead of its lifting in November. |
Councils welcome £1bn roads investment
17/06/2025 Local place directors have welcomed the Government’s announcement of £1bn to ‘repair and renew’ Britain's ageing roads. |
Council plans major repairs to Victorian-era bridge
14/04/2025 Leicester City Council has submitted a planning application for major repairs to the Victorian-era Rialto Bridge. |
Nine tonnes of bird poo removed from Tyne Bridge
27/06/2024 A multi-million pound revamp of the Tyne Bridge has seen nine tonnes of pigeon poo removed from the Grade II-listed structure. |
Nottingham members back new Trent bridge
18/04/2024 Nottingham councillors have given the green light to what will be the first new crossing built over the River Trent in the city in more than 60 years. |
Number of ‘substandard’ bridges falls to 3,090
17/03/2023 The proportion of council-managed road bridges classified as ‘substandard’ has fallen slightly over the past year despite local authority budget limitations. |
Suffolk CC to invest nearly £11m in new bridges
14/03/2023 Suffolk County Council is investing almost £11m into delivering two new bridges and a raft of regeneration projects. |
Four transport schemes receive £160m funding boost
06/06/2022 Ministers have announced or confirmed a total of £160.8m for four major road and bridge schemes on the local road network in England. |
Council agrees to pay extra costs for bridge restoration project
05/05/2022 Newport City Council has agreed to pay the extra costs for the Transporter Bridge transformation project after the original contractors went into administration. |
Local bridge collapses up 70%
25/03/2022 The number of local road bridges that fully collapsed in Great Britain last year increased by 70%, according to a major survey. |
Council approves £6m plan to stabilise Hammersmith Bridge
19/08/2021 Hammersmith & Fulham Council has approved an innovative new £6m plan to stabilise Hammersmith Bridge at below the expected cost. |
Hammersmith Bridge could reopen as ‘double-decker crossing’
23/03/2021 Hammersmith Bridge could potentially reopen for pedestrians and cyclists next summer as a temporary double-decker crossing, the London borough has announced. |
Council bridges decline as scour checks fall
29/01/2021 The number of substandard road bridges managed by councils across Great Britain is increasing, new research shows. |
Hammersmith Bridge 'won't open until 2027' after decades of unchecked corrosion
04/11/2020 Transport minister Baroness Vere has revealed that Hammersmith Bridge will not be 'fully open' to motorised vehicles until 2027, after decades of corrosion went unchecked. |
|
Local roads get £1.7bn funding boost
15/05/2020 The Government has pledged £1.7bn to repair local roads and tackle 11 million potholes. |
|
Public Lighting Runner-up: Newport Bridge Architectural Lighting, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
24/06/2019 The runner-up of the Public Lighting category is Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council for Newport Bridge Architectural Lighting scheme. |
|
Hammersmith Bridge could take three years to repair
14/06/2019 The latest estimate is that Hammersmith Bridge could be closed to motor traffic for as long as three years. |
|
It’s ‘business as usual’ at Mersey bridge, council defiantly insists
14/03/2019 Halton BC has said it is ‘business as usual’ at the Mersey Gateway despite a tribunal decision that the bridge’s crossing charge is 'not a tolling scheme’. |
|
Council in funding bid to support £7.3m historical bridge restoration
05/03/2019 Northumberland County Council is preparing to make its second funding bid as part of its effort to restore one of the county’s historic bridges. |
|
Johnson’s bridge proposals ‘vanity project’, public says
07/02/2019 The majority of British adults think Boris Johnson’s bridge proposals are ‘vanity projects’ and prefer investment into underground systems in major cities. |
|
£8.3m down the drain as Suffolk pulls plug on bridges project
24/01/2019 Suffolk County Council is set to shelve plans to build three bridges on the River Orwell in Ipswich, despite having already spent £8.3m in development costs. |
|
Councils need nearly £7bn to fix substandard bridges
07/01/2019 The one-off cost of clearing the total maintenance backlog for all council-managed road bridges in Britain has increased by a third. |
|
Council refuses to repay controversial bridge tolls
16/07/2018 A council has refused to repay controversial bridge tolls despite a tribunal ruling they had made a number of ‘procedural errors’. |
|
Thousands of council bridges are ‘substandard’
19/01/2018 Nearly 3,500 council-maintained road bridges have a greater risk of collapse, new figures have revealed today. |
|
Garden Bridge plans ‘terminated’ due to lack of mayoral support
15/08/2017 Plans to build a Garden Bridge over the Thames have been officially terminated due to what the charity behind the scheme describe as a lack of mayoral support. |
|
Over 3,000 local road bridges ‘substandard’, survey reveals
10/03/2017 Councils warn of a ‘chronic’ need for more investment in local roads as survey reveals over 3,000 road bridges are ‘substandard’. |
