The Brownfield Land Release Fund
To what extent does this early initiative of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities deliver on the ‘levelling up’ agenda? Lawrence Turner reports.
Slough approves asset fire sale
21/09/2021 Crisis-hit Slough Council has approved plans to flog around £600m worth of assets as it battles to get its finances under control. |
£3bn gap looms for councils
24/08/2021 Councils in England, Wales and Scotland are grappling with huge budget deficits totalling more than £3bn for the next financial year, according to research published by trade union Unison today. |
Councils left seriously underfunded, NAO finds
08/03/2021 Coronavirus has left local authorities seriously underfunded and facing budget cuts unless the Government can create a long-term financial plan for the sector, a study from the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned. |
Employers branded a 'disgrace' over council pay delay
26/02/2021 Council employers have been branded a ‘disgrace’ after they said they would not respond to a union pay claim until after the May 6 elections. |
Scottish Budget 'falls short'
29/01/2021 The Scottish Government’s £11.6bn budget ‘falls short of the fair funding local government requires,’ councils have said. |
More councils will be forced to issue Section 114 notices, MPs warn
22/01/2021 More councils will ‘soon be unable to balance their books and be forced to issue Section 114 notices,’ the influential Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has warned. |
Croydon would have issued s114 'in normal circumstances'
17/09/2020 Croydon LBC’s £49m total net forecast general fund overspend means it would have had to have issued a Section 114 notice in ‘normal circumstances,’ senior councillors have heard. |
£260m funding boost for Welsh councils
14/08/2020 Welsh ministers have announced a £260m funding boost for councils, bringing the total amount of government COVID-19 support to almost half a billion pounds. |
IfG: Extend outsourcing reforms to councils
04/03/2020 Government reforms of outsourcing to avoid another Carillion collapse must be extended to local government where commercial skills lag behind Whitehall, a report from the Institute for Government (IfG) think-tank has said. |
Seven out of 10 councils overspend on homelessness
28/01/2020 Seven out of 10 English councils overspent their homelessness budgets in 2018/19 by a combined total of nearly £115m, Local Government Association (LGA) analysis has found. |
Reorganisation in Somerset would 'cut waste and save money'
08/01/2020 A single, unitary authority for Somerset would deliver a predicted saving of £35-£47m, according to new research. |
Whitehall silence as Gwynne calls for provisional settlement
17/12/2019 Shadow local government secretary Andrew Gwynne has called on ministers to publish the provisional finance settlement immediately amid silence on its timing from Whitehall. |
Only 5% of council leaders optimistic about Brexit
29/10/2019 Councils are increasingly downbeat about the impact of Brexit, with nearly three quarters (71%) of chiefs expecting it to have a ‘negative’ or ‘very negative’ impact on their local economy. |
Universal Credit draining council resources
15/07/2019 Universal Credit (UC) is draining resources from councils, a new survey has found. |
Hopes for legislative backing behind new code
24/04/2019 An overhaul of financial management in councils could be enshrined in law, according to a consultation that stakeholders must respond to within days to influence. |
Council buys office to generate income
15/04/2019 South Cambridgeshire DC has made a £13m investment in a high-quality office building to generate an initial net return of around 5.6%. |
Exclusive: Government must 'step up' on adult social care
28/02/2019 The council ranked the best at delivering most for the money it spends on adult social care has called on the Government to ‘step up’. |
Call for tourism tax review
05/02/2019 An inquiry into cultural investment in cities has called for a UK-wide review of the benefits of a tourism tax. |
LGA faces financial headache
25/01/2019 Smith Square has acknowledged the financial challenges it faces as it freezes subscriptions while grappling with declining Government grants and a pension scheme deficit. |
Watchdog highlights councils' weak financial plans
10/01/2019 The number of public bodies in England with weak financial plans is ‘unacceptably high,’ the National Audit Office (NAO) has found. |
Welsh Government gives £24m boost to councils
20/12/2018 Welsh councils will be handed an extra £23.6m in 2019/20 on the condition that they commit to regional working. |
Council hits back at 'illegitimate' loan claim
31/10/2018 Newham LBC has denied claims that decisions to enter into controversial high-interest loans were illegitimate. |
Finance settlement has 'gravest implications'
09/10/2018 Councils have dismissed today’s Welsh Government’s finance settlement as a ‘bread and butter budget’ in which town halls ‘get the crumbs again’. |
Welfare support has 'collapsed' for many in England
19/09/2018 One in six top-tier councils are not providing vital welfare services devolved to them just as the sector’s budget cuts hit hard. |
Cash-strapped county faces £94m funding gap
18/09/2018 Surrey CC faces a funding gap of £94m by March 2021 unless it takes drastic action to change its finances, a report by accountancy experts has warned. |
LEPs told to improve ahead of EU funding changes
06/09/2018 Fresh concerns have emerged about local enterprise partnerships (LEP) as the Government considers whether to use them to funnel UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) cash. |
Budget gap doubles at Lewisham
17/07/2018 Lewisham LBC’s budget gap has more than doubled following an ‘unprecedented’ overspend. |
Somerset warns of possible Section 114
13/07/2018 Somerset CC has admitted it may have to impose ‘severe spending restrictions’ and an ‘emergency budget’ by issuing a Section 114 notice. |
Funding call to end 'postcode lottery' for children's services
11/07/2018 MPs today called for more funds to help end a so-called postcode lottery for children’s services. |
Rise in children's services spending
28/06/2018 The amount expected to be spent on children’s social care in 2018/19 is up 6.8% or £542m compared to the figure in 2017/18 budgets, latest figures have shown. |
Councils plan largest council tax rise in 13 years
28/03/2018 Council Tax levels will increase by an average of 5.1% across England in 2018/19, the largest rise for 13 years, ministers have confirmed. |
EXCLUSIVE: Funding red flags raised
06/02/2018 One in 10 council bosses fear their local authority will not have enough funding to fulfil their statutory duties in 2018/19, an exclusive survey has found today. |
County council imposes an emergency spending ban
03/02/2018 Northamptonshire CC’s director of finance has issued a section 114 order, calling a halt to spending at the cash-strapped authority. |
Labour accuses Government of 'holding back' local government
29/01/2018 Labour MPs have urged ministers to provide ‘strategic vision’ for local government. |
Scottish government under pressure over council pay
22/01/2018 Scotland’s Government is under pressure to reverse planned council budget cuts after MSPs warned ministers created an ‘expectation’ town hall staff would receive pay hikes. |
EXCLUSIVE: Finance settlement 'shambles' after provisional data wrong
18/01/2018 The local government finance settlement has descended into a shambles after it emerged allocations in the provisional document were wrong, The MJ can exclusively reveal. |
Council tax increase limit raised by Javid
19/12/2017 Councils will be allowed to increase their core council tax by up to 3% in 2018/19 without a referendum, potentially raising an additional £250m. |
Budget 2017: London to retain all local business rate growth
22/11/2017 London local government will be able to keep all its business rates growth as part of a 100% retention pilot. |
Participatory budgeting given go ahead in Scotland
30/10/2017 Residents in Scotland will be given a say in how £100m of council funds are to be used after a ‘landmark’ agreement was reached between the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. |
This issue of Public Property examines how how flexible workspaces can lead the way in regeneration for local authorities, Why local authority intervention is key to successful urban regeneration schemes and if the Government’s challenge of embracing beauty is an opportunity for communities.
The March issue also takes a closer look at Blackburn with Darwen Council's first digital health hub to help people gain control over health and care services.
