Councils click into the future of planning
In town halls across the country, planning officers are racing to update their Local Plans — but this time, the process looks very different.
Grenfell council admits leadership was 'unable to cope'
12/04/2022 Kensington & Chelsea LBC has admitted to the Grenfell Tower inquiry its ‘leadership was unable to cope’ in the days after the tragedy. |
Council to appeal 'town hall Pravdas' ruling
14/06/2019 Waltham Forest LBC will appeal after a judge backed Government attempts to stop it publishing a council newspaper every two weeks. |
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Eric Pickles to quit as MP
24/04/2017 Sir Eric Pickles - who was the secretary for communities and local government between 2010 and 2015 - has announced he is standing down as MP for Brentwood and Ongar at the General Election. |
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Pickles outlines plan to tackle election fraud and corruption
12/08/2016 The electoral system in Britain needs widespread reforms to crack down on corruption and fraud, a report from Sir Eric Pickles has warned. |
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Pickles warns councils have ‘turned a blind eye’ to electoral fraud due to political correctness
13/08/2015 Councils are ignoring allegations of electoral fraud for fear of offending ethnic minorities, Sir Eric Pickles has argued. |
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Pickles to be given knighthood
22/05/2015 The communities secretary for the duration of the last parliament, Eric Pickles, is to be given a knighthood, Downing Street has announced. |
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Pickles: Still ‘awful lot’ of money to be saved in councils
11/05/2015 Eric Pickles has said there is still an ‘awful lot’ of money to be saved in local government that would not impact on frontline services. |
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Pickles reveals Tories blocked Lib Dem push for new council tax powers
01/05/2015 Eric Pickles has claimed he blocked the Lib Dems from handing councils new powers to impose fresh taxes. |
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Pickles vows to end 'rotten practices' at Tower Hamlets with intervention
30/04/2015 Eric Pickles has revealed plans for a wave of new interventions at beleaguered Tower Hamlets, as the council commits itself to combating electoral fraud. |
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Tower Hamlets mayor found guilty of corrupt practices
23/04/2015 Mayor’s Lutfur Rahman’s election victory at Tower Hamlets has been declared void after the controversial figure was found guilty of corrupt and illegal practices. |
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Pickles exposed as Formula 1 racing legend?
23/04/2015 Eric Pickles’ past as a successful international motor racing champion has been revealed on Wikipedia, or has it? |
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April Fools: Pickles in push for bin pick-ups every eight hours
01/04/2015 Eric Pickles is thinking of throwing his weight behind thrice daily collections of household bins, LocalGov can reveal. |
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Pickles attacks councils over £30bn cash reserves and uncollected revenues
30/03/2015 Councils have been urged to use the £30bn available in cash reserves and uncollected debts to protect frontline services, by local government secretary Eric Pickles. |
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Councils urged to save £70m a year through 'better bin buying'
30/03/2015 Councils have been urged to club together when buying refuse trucks and wheelie bins in a bid to save £70m a year. |
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Figures show majority of councils freezing council tax bills
27/03/2015 Nearly two-thirds of councils in England have accepted the Government grant to freeze council tax this year, according to new figures. |
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Council to challenge newspaper ban
19/03/2015 Greenwich RBC is to take legal action over the government’s decision to ban it from publishing its weekly newspaper. |
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Pickles backs service transformation plans
16/03/2015 Ministers have backed plans to roll-out the troubled families-style reforms into other local services. |
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Pickles' parking reforms are 'nonsense', says councillor
13/03/2015 Eric Pickles' parking reforms are 'nonsense' and could set costs soaring for all council tax payers, according to a Lib Dem councillor. |
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Pickles gives Enterprising Libraries a cash boost
12/03/2015 Libraries that help local people set up their own business have been given a £650,000 funding boost. |
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Pickles brands troubled families efforts a ‘triumph’
11/03/2015 Over 90% of England’s 117,910 most problematic families have now been turned around by the Government’s troubled families programme. |
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Pickles presses ahead with Right to Move plans
10/03/2015 Councils will have to provide at least 1% of their social housing stock for tenants who move for work or training, under new plans announced yesterday. |
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New parking freedoms prompt ‘serious’ safety fears
06/03/2015 Councils have voiced ‘serious concerns’ over a swathe of new parking laws set for introduction in coming months, fearing public safety could be compromised. |
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Monthly bin collection pilot revealed
04/03/2015 Bin collections for thousands of households in a Scottish region could soon take place once every four weeks, under a new town hall trial. |
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First time house buyers offered 20% discount
02/03/2015 First time house buyers will from today be able to register for a 20% discount on certain properties in England. |
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Pickles names leaders to take over Rotherham Council
27/02/2015 The five commissioners appointed to take over scandal-hit Rotherham Council have been announced by local government secretary, Eric Pickles. |
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Squeeze councils for more cash, says Pickles
25/02/2015 Councils can be squeezed for more cash despite already enduring years of cuts, communities secretary Eric Pickles has warned. |
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Pickles attacks ‘corrosive’ lobbying by local enterprise partnerships
23/02/2015 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) will soon be banned from hiring lobbyists to win government grants, after communities secretary Eric Pickles claimed the practice ‘undermines transparency’. |
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Pickles hails success of enterprise zones
23/02/2015 Enterprise zones have created 15,500 jobs and generated more than £2.1bn in private investment, according to new figures. |
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Pickles urged to stop councils 'deregulating allotments'
19/02/2015 A petition has been launched calling on the Government to protect allotments, following accusations councils are selling off allotment land to developers. |
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City leader resigns after High Court defeat
18/02/2015 A council leader embroiled in a controversial £165m development has stepped down, just hours after Eric Pickles waded in to put plans on hold. |
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Pickles rejects Coventry Gateway plans
13/02/2015 Coventry City Council is ‘amazed’ and ‘bitterly disappointed’ that plans to develop Coventry and Warwickshire Gateway have been rejected by Eric Pickles. |
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One in four councils to freeze or lower council tax
10/02/2015 Only a quarter of local authorities are to take up the government’s grant to freeze or lower council tax this year, according to new figures. |
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Survey reveals extent of ‘bin blight’
09/02/2015 More than 200 councils require households to have four or more bins, according to new research into ‘bin blight’. |
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Antisemitic attacks in UK rise to highest ever levels
06/02/2015 The number of antisemitic incidents in the UK has reached its highest ever recorded level, as communities are urged to stamp out prejudice. |
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Mass resignation at Rotherham after damning report into child sexual exploitation
05/02/2015 Rotherham Council’s leader has resigned and entire cabinet pledged to quit after an investigation into local child sexual exploitation found the council ‘not fit for purpose’. |
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Pickles slams 'elf and safety' attitude over church bell silencing
03/02/2015 Eric Pickles has blasted 'over-zealous' councils who silence church bells after noise complaints, claiming many local authorities 'need some common sense'. |
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Pickles issues notice over council newspaper
30/01/2015 Communities secretary Eric Pickles has warned the Royal Borough of Greenwich to limit the publication of its weekly council newspaper. |
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Pickles compared to 'far right' after letter to Islamic leaders
19/01/2015 Muslim leaders have criticised communities secretary Eric Pickles after he called on religious leaders to show the faith 'can be part of British identity'. |
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Government doubles troubled families specialists
19/01/2015 The number of specialists helping council’s troubled families teams are set to double this year, under £10m extra investment. |
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Mayor blasts Pickles for ‘perverse’ planning decision
16/01/2015 The mayor of Liverpool has called the decision of Eric Pickles to turn down the proposed regeneration of the Welsh Streets as ‘unacceptable, dishonourable and completely perverse’. |
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New funding for councils to tackle planning breaches
12/01/2015 Councils have been given access to £1m funding to cover the cost of seeking a court injunction against though who flout planning laws. |
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Local government staff named in New Year’s Honours list
05/01/2015 Council leaders and chief executives have been awarded in the New Year’s Honours list in recognition of the ‘huge impact’ they have on society. |
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Pickles launches pilots to bring statutory notices into 21st Century
23/12/2014 Communities secretary, Eric Pickles has launched a pilot to find new ways of getting essential information to the public. |
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BREAKING: Pickles sends in commissioners to Tower Hamlets
17/12/2014 Communities secretary Eric Pickles risked reigniting a row with Tower Hamlets LBC mayor Lutfur Rahman today as he sent commissioners into the town hall. |
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Pickles is Scrooged
17/12/2014 Communities secretary Eric Pickles would choose to play Scrooge, the protagonist of Charles Dickens’ legendary short story ‘A Christmas Carol’ in pantomime, it has emerged. |
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Top 100 local government stories of 2014
16/12/2014 See our countdown of the 100 most popular stories on LocalGov during 2014, with strike action and pay discontent dominating the headlines. |
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Pickles under pressure on 1% council tax threshold push
16/12/2014 Eric Pickles is facing pressure from high level Liberal Democrats and Conservative colleagues to ditch a potential 1% referendum cap on council tax rises. |
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Pickles tells councils to ‘prove’ value of top earning staff
15/12/2014 Eric Pickles has called on councils to prove the value of top earning staff, warning ‘the gravy train is over’. |
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Birmingham warned to 'radically' improve or face intervention
09/12/2014 Birmingham Council has been warned to ‘radically improve’ the way it is run and delivers services in an independent review published today. |
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Pickles targets 275k new affordable homes by 2020
02/12/2014 Eric Pickles has revealed plans to deliver 275,000 new affordable homes across the country by 2020, among a wave of new residential targets. |
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The return of #AskPickles
02/12/2014 MPs have called on the public to send in questions for communities secretary Eric Pickles on subjects including devolution, housing and council budgets. |
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Pickles urged to intervene further in Tower Hamlets
01/12/2014 Communities secretary Eric Pickles has been urged to intervene in Tower Hamlets LBC’s arrangements for next year’s General Election. |
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Pickles bin vow branded ‘hot air’, with collections made once every 12 days
01/12/2014 Bins are being collected on average once every 12 days, with just 6% of council’s meeting Conservative commitments for weekly pick-ups – research suggests. |
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In praise of Pickles
27/11/2014 Council leaders should think carefully before popping the champagne corks once the current communities secretary, genuine localist Eric Pickles, is no longer there, writes Simon Parker. |
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Panel calls for £5bn transformation fund
27/11/2014 The best performing councils should be allowed to strike a ‘deal’ with government for greater flexibility, according to a panel tasked with looking at the future of public services. |
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Pickles to scrutinise Notts energy centre proposal
20/11/2014 Communities minister, Eric Pickles, has told Nottinghamshire County Council not to approve a new Energy Centre in Bilsthorpe while he considers calling in the application. |
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Tower Hamlets mayor hits out at ‘excessive’ Government intervention
19/11/2014 The Government’s decision to intervene over governance failures at Tower Hamlets are ‘disproportionate and excessive’, according to the London borough’s mayor. |
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Pickles told to respect Tower Hamlets democracy
13/11/2014 Supporters of embattled Tower Hamlets LBC mayor Lutfur Rahman have held a rally as the Government threatens to intervene in the running of the council. |
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Council calls for clarity over funding for Somerset floods authority
13/11/2014 Plans to set up a new authority designed to protect Somerset from future flooding have been backed by the county council. |
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Whitehall control of Doncaster ends
12/11/2014 Communities secretary Eric Pickles has ended government control of Doncaster MBC as expected. |
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Right to Move or Wrong?
12/11/2014 Mike Brogan examines some of the challenges facing the Right to Move programme |
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Remove racist daubings quickly, councils told
11/11/2014 Racist and anti-semitic graffiti must be removed quickly and reported to the police, council leaders have been reminded. |
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Pickles demands councils 'come clean' on union spending
06/11/2014 Councils are being forced to publish the cost of staff working on trade union duties, as part of an ongoing government transparency drive. |
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Pickles praises Troubled Families success
29/10/2014 The government’s Troubled families programme has helped to turn around the lives of 69,000 families, according to new figures published today. |
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Pickles blocks new taxes on supermarkets
27/10/2014 Local government secretary Eric Pickles has warned he will block council plans to impose new taxes on large supermarkets, accusing them of waging 'class war against business'. |
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Public meeting to debate future of Birmingham City Council
22/10/2014 Birmingham residents are being urged to have their say at a public meeting being held next month as part of an independent review into the city council’s performance. |
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Pickles urges councils not to pour cold water on Bonfire Night celebrations
20/10/2014 Communities secretary Eric Pickles has launched a guide designed to prevent ‘municipal killjoys’ and ‘health and safety zealots’ from spoiling Bonfire Night. |
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Pickles warns councils against encroaching on ‘precious green belt’
07/10/2014 The Government has warned that once green belt boundaries have been established they should ‘only be altered in exceptional circumstances’. |
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Pickles launches Right to Move consultation
11/09/2014 Proposals to make it easier for social housing tenants to move to new areas for employment have been put to consultation by communities secretary, Eric Pickles. |
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Pickles punishes councils that ignore rubbish recommendation
29/08/2014 Councils that fail to offer weekly bin collections have been barred from receiving extra funding to boost recycling. |
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Pickles raises pressure on councils over parking
27/08/2014 Eric Pickles has revealed plans that could force councils to provide more parking spaces alongside newly built homes. |
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Pickles blames early morning for figures confusion
19/08/2014 Eric Pickles has confessed he struggled to find figures on the costs of the ‘troubled families’ programme because of his early start. |
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Salford to live stream council meetings
19/08/2014 Salford City Council is to live stream and record public meetings following a new law to improve transparency in local government. |
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Troubled Families scheme expanded to include vulnerable youngsters
19/08/2014 The Troubled Families programme has been extended to help vulnerable children under the age of five. |
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Flo's Law to limit council charges
12/08/2014 A new law that will limit the amount councils can charge leaseholders for repairs to their homes comes into force this week. |
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Pickles launches corporation to drive Ebbsfleet Garden City
12/08/2014 Communities secretary Eric Pickles has announced a new development corporation has been launched to help co-ordinate and kick-start work on Ebbsfleet Garden City. |
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Technology made simple: The right to record
08/08/2014 Why local authorities should review their audio visual facilities in light of new legislation. |
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Pickles handed faith role after Warsi resigns
06/08/2014 Communities secretary Eric Pickles will take on the duties of former faith minister Baroness Warsi, following the Tory peer's dramatic resignation yesterday. |
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Pickles opens public meetings to filming
06/08/2014 A new law allowing the public to film, record and tweet from council meetings will support 'healthy local democracy', according to communities secretary Eric Pickles. |
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Pickles relocates DCLG to share Home Office site
05/08/2014 Eric Pickles has moved the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to join Theresa May at the Home Office. |
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Pickles: Filming meetings will stop local government echoing ‘Putin’s Russia’
28/07/2014 New rules allowing council meetings to be filmed will put an end to local government mirroring ‘Putin’s Russia’, according to Eric Pickles. |
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Intervention at Doncaster to end early, confirms Pickles
22/07/2014 Government control of Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council is due to end early, following improvements at the council. |
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Just how many councils can Pickles run?
18/07/2014 Congratulations to Doncaster Council for achieving ‘normal’. It may not sound like much of an ambition, but it is a start – and there is still a long way to go on children’s services. |
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Pickles confirms position amid cabinet reshuffle
15/07/2014 Eric Pickles has confirmed he will remain communities secretary as prime minister David Cameron enacts a wide-ranging cabinet reshuffle. |
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Pickles calls for statutory notices to be brought into 21st Century
10/07/2014 Local government secretary Eric Pickles has compared municipal statutory notices to a famous scene from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and criticised the ‘sterile debate’ of the complete abolition of statutory notices. |
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Pickles welcomes new results on troubled families
10/07/2014 Communities secretary Eric Pickles has applauded council efforts to support almost 53,000 of England’s most troubled families over the past two years. |
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Pickles rejects £160m Smithfield redevelopment
10/07/2014 Communities secretary Eric Pickles has backed the decision to refuse planning permission for the ‘wholly unacceptable’ redevelopment of Smithfield Market. |
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Pickles urges councils to catch ‘fraud felons’
03/07/2014 Councils should do more to tackle fraud and improve council tax collection rates, according to communities secretary Eric Pickles. |
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Tower Hamlets seeks legal action over Pickles probe
02/07/2014 Under-fire Tower Hamlets has filed for a judicial review over communities secretary Eric Pickles’ decision to launch an investigation into local governance. |
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Pickles praises troubled families success
01/07/2014 Communities secretary Eric Pickles has insisted the Government's troubled families programme is 'performing strongly'. |
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Tower Hamlets must restore voter confidence, watchdog says
01/07/2014 A voting watchdog has branded management of mayoral, European and local elections at Tower Hamlets 'inadequate' following count delays in May. |
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Pickles announces multi-million pound investment in new homes
27/06/2014 The Government has announced a multi-million pound investment, including £53m to accelerate the construction of over 7,000 new homes in key areas of the UK. |
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Localism Act used to help council host Tour de France
24/06/2014 A local authority has used new powers to ensure the Tour de France's first stage can finish in its district. |
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Pickles outlaws CCTV parking ‘spy cars’
23/06/2014 Councils will be banned from using CCTV ‘spy cars’ alone to enforce on street parking as part of efforts to support local shops. |
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Pickles attacks ‘Stalinist’ media guidance for councils
19/06/2014 Rules that bar councillors from speaking to the press without permission have been blasted as ‘Stalinist’ by local government secretary, Eric Pickles. |
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Devon leaders call on Pickles to reverse spending cuts
16/06/2014 Party leaders in Devon have written to communities secretary Eric Pickles urging him to reverse to the latest wave of council spending cuts. |
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Pickles plans reform to London home rental laws
10/06/2014 Londoners could soon be allowed to rent out their homes for a short-term basis under plans announced by communities secretary Eric Pickles. |
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Cameron calls for ‘robust response’ to alleged Trojan Horse schools
09/06/2014 Education inspectors Ofsted will today publish the findings of ‘Trojan Horse’ investigations into alleged extremism in 21 Birmingham schools. |
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Pickles tipped to move in cabinet reshuffle
02/06/2014 Eric Pickles is being lined up for the job of party chairman, according to reports in the Sunday People yesterday about a forthcoming cabinet reshuffle. |
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Apologise to Pickles over incorrect clean-up notice, council told
29/04/2014 Nottingham City Council has been asked to apologies to Eric Pickles, after wrongly serving the communities secretary with an enforcement notice over a derelict building. |
