10 ways councils are making budgets go further
Discover 10 ways councils are stretching budgets further, from digital transformation and energy efficiency to community partnerships and data-driven decision-making.
CIL funds are not reaching communities due to 'systemic problems'
17/10/2025 A new report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has identified ‘a number of problems' with Community Infrastructure Levies (CIL) and other developer contribution systems, which means cash has failed to reach local communities. |
Ministers seek 'holding direction' powers
14/10/2025 The Government is seeking to gain more powers to prevent councils refusing planning permission. |
Council adopts AI platform to support local funding scheme
09/10/2025 An AI-powered tool is being used by the Royal Borough of Greenwich to help allocate the region’s Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funds. |
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. |
Leeds businesses could pay thousands in parking levy fees
06/10/2025 A workplace parking levy is being discussed by Leeds City Council to produce funds for a planned tram network. |
Councils face 10 house building hurdles, report says
06/10/2025 Rising costs, skills shortages, and complex regulation are among the key challenges faced by local authorities when it comes to delivering new houses. |
Council proposes £100m framework to enhance public spaces
01/10/2025 Herefordshire Council has unveiled plans for a £100m Highways and Public Realm Schemes Framework aimed at upgrading infrastructure and public spaces. |
Local plan to boost affordable homes in Manchester
11/09/2025 Manchester City Council unveils 15-year plan to deliver homes, jobs, and green spaces. |
'Quiet majority' favour local development
21/08/2025 Councils have been urged to consult more widely on planning applications after research found a majority of the population was in favour of local development. |
Rayner faces legal challenge over AI data centre on green belt
21/08/2025 Legal action has been launched challenging Angela Rayner’s decision to approve a major data centre on green belt land. |
Call for one hundred thousand high-quality council homes
14/08/2025 Council housing stock in the UK must be ‘replenished’ and improved in design, a think tank has argued. |
Editor’s Comment: Are councils selling off allotments?
06/08/2025 Jeremy Corbyn warns of a government-backed threat to UK allotments—but are fears justified? |
Council hit with concerns about AI data centre proposals
29/07/2025 A council has received objections to development plans for an AI data centre due to concerns about water supply. |
Survey on £5m Anfield stadium regen scheme published
28/07/2025 Liverpool residents are being invited to have their say about a £5m scheme to transform the area around Liverpool Football Club’s Anfield stadium. |
Theme park could benefit from £500m boost
26/06/2025 The Government has reportedly secured a £500m infrastructure investment to support a new Universal theme park in Bedford. |
Waverley BC demands ‘fairer’ local infrastructure rules
24/06/2025 Waverley Borough Council has called for ‘clearer’ and ‘fairer’ legislation around the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). |
School buildings to get £3bn maintenance boost
20/06/2025 Investment in the maintenance of school buildings is set to rise to almost £3bn per year as part of the Government’s 10-year infrastructure strategy. |
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. |
Black hole spending review
11/06/2025 Jonathan Werran, chief executive of Localis, reflects on what the Spending Review means for local government. |
Council criticises Oxford congestion charge proposals
11/06/2025 Proposals to introduce a temporary £5 congestion charge in Oxford city centre have divided council leaders. |
Mapping successful 15-minute cities
11/06/2025 Is GIS the difference between success and failure for 15-minute neighbourhoods? Alex Zirpolo, principal GIS consultant at Lanpro, argues it is. |
Call for strengthening oversight of developer contributions system
06/06/2025 Weaknesses in developer contributions system intended to fund affordable housing are undermining the councils' ability to negotiate with developers, NAO says. |
Visitor levies could generate millions for local economies, say mayors
03/06/2025 English mayors have urged the Government to allow councils to introduce visitor levies to boost regional economies, tourism and infrastructure. |
Ministers accused of 'centralising zeal'
20/05/2025 Ministers have been accused of ‘taking away decision-making powers from local people' in a new amendment to its Planning and Infrastructure Bill. |
Climate change due to wreak havoc on properties
30/04/2025 More than six million properties in England are in areas that are at risk of flooding, the Climate Change Committee has warned. |
Council to roll out 6,000 chargers across Suffolk
11/04/2025 Suffolk CC is set to deliver around 6,000 new public electric vehicle (EV) chargers across the county to support residents make the transition to EVs. |
Government backs £30m Doncaster airport investment
10/04/2025 The Government has backed the decision by the South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard to invest £30m to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA). |
Godstone sinkhole residents able to return home
27/03/2025 Most of the residents of a Surrey village affected by a huge sinkhole are now able to return to their homes, the council has confirmed. |
Believ to install 22 charge points across Redcar and Cleveland
12/03/2025 Charge point operator, Believ, is rolling out electric vehicle (EV) charge points across Redcar and Cleveland. |
PAC: Inequalities risk being ‘baked into’ charge point roll-out
12/03/2025 Regional divides and inequalities risk being ‘baked into’ the roll-out of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, MPs have warned. |
CCN: Planning legislation would ‘dilute’ local oversight
11/03/2025 Legislation aimed at speeding up planning decisions would ‘dilute’ the role of councillors on planning committees, warns the County Council Network (CCN). |
Lancashire councillors agree £28m for pothole repairs
10/03/2025 Lancashire councillors have earmarked nearly £28m to repair potholes as part of a larger investment in the county’s highways infrastructure over the next year. |
Is enough being done to meet the 1.5m housing target?
28/02/2025 Jonathan Pearson, director of Residentially, asks if the Government is doing enough to meet its 1.5 million new homes target. |
AI and the Pothole Crisis: Learning from 'Down Under’
04/02/2025 Leo Hanna, executive vice president UK at TechnologyOne, looks at what the UK can learn from Australia when it comes to using AI to identify potholes. |
UK reaches 70,000 public EV charge points
08/01/2025 There are more than 70,000 public charging devices for electric vehicles (EVs) in the UK, according to mapping service Zapmap. |
'Carbon bomb' warning adds to relief road woes
24/12/2024 Shropshire has shrugged off an estimate of the carbon impact of a road scheme by increasing the budget and timescale for its pledge to offset emissions. |
Summer riots linked to ‘torn social fabric’
03/12/2024 The majority of towns that saw rioting over the summer after the stabbing attack in Southport have a ‘torn social fabric’, a charitable trust has said. |
Reeves to call for consolidation of £354bn council pension funds
11/11/2024 Rachel Reeves is set to announce plans to encourage consolidation among local government pension funds to reduce costs and boost infrastructure investment. |
Solace: Underfunding councils ‘ultimate false economy’
14/10/2024 Failing to properly fund councils is ‘the ultimate false economy’ because it forces them to make ‘repugnant’ cuts which lead to greater problems in the future. |
Housing targets ‘weaken local decision making’, LGA warns
03/10/2024 The Local Government Association (LGA) has raised concerns that mandatory housebuilding targets for councils centralise policy and weaken local decision making. |
Building costs may exceed house prices in 60 council areas
01/10/2024 The cost of building a home may be higher than house prices in up to 60 UK local authority areas, according to new research. |
Councils warn over ‘excessive’ housing targets
27/09/2024 Councils in county and rural areas have raised fears that ‘excessive’ new housing targets could leave them at the mercy of speculative development. |
PSM Level Transmitters - helping to safeguard vehicle safety in regional gateway tunnel
13/09/2024 The River Medway and its estuary is a major asset for Kent and over the past 28 years, a key driver in the successful regeneration of the Rochester and Chatham riverfronts. |
John Lewis submits plans for £80m Reading housing scheme
04/09/2024 The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) has submitted plans to Reading Borough Council to build new rental housing on the site of a disused town centre depot. |
Half of councils still without EV charging plan
29/08/2024 More than half of UK councils do not have an on-street residential charging strategy for electric vehicles (EVs), new research has found. |
Devon County Council helps electrify one million miles of road
29/08/2024 Devon County Council’s network of public electric vehicle chargers have electrified over one million miles of road travel two years since installation. |
Huge variation in on-street EV charger provision
27/08/2024 A new report has revealed significant disparities between council areas in electric vehicle (EV) charging provision for EV owners without off-street parking. |
Row over collapse of legal action
22/08/2024 Proposed legal action over the Government granting planning permission for a large-scale solar farm has collapsed, provoking an angry reaction from two councils. |
Lucy Electric and Lucy Zodion Collaborate on InstaVolt's Latest Rapid EV Charging Site
21/08/2024 Lucy Electric and Lucy Zodion announce their collaboration with InstaVolt on a rapid EV charging site at Camphill Village Trust's Taurus Crafts location. |
UK Infrastructure Bank agrees £17m loan for council’s net zero projects
14/08/2024 The UK Infrastructure Bank has announced a £17m loan facility to West Suffolk Council to deliver a programme of net zero projects. |
DCN calls for more powers to hit housing targets
08/08/2024 Councils need more powers and funding to address empty and stalled sites if ministers are to achieve their housing aims, the District Councils' Network (DCN) has said. |
South East leaders vent fury over mandatory housing targets
06/08/2024 Leaders of five shire councils in the South East have criticised the Government's move to reintroduce mandatory housing targets. |
Cost of refurbishment scheme doubles to £40m
25/07/2024 Plans to refurbish and retrofit five council-owned housing blocks in Kent have more than doubled in price since they were agreed last year. |
LGPS reform could unlock £40bn of infrastructure investment
24/07/2024 Reform of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) could unlock £40bn of investment for infrastructure, an insurance company has estimated. |
What councils need to boost EV charge point roll-out
02/07/2024 Shaun Quirk, the chief operating officer at charge point operator Believ, explains why the UK’s electric vehicle (EV) charge point roll-out has stalled and how he hopes the next government can support local authorities to scale up delivery. |
NextGov: Resolving the housing crisis
28/06/2024 The Home Builders Federation’s (HBF) policy and external affairs manager, Laura Markus, discusses what the next government should do to tackle the housing crisis. |
Planning officer boost needed to meet parties' housing goals
21/06/2024 A major boost to planning department resources would be needed to meet the housebuilding aims of any of the main parties, experts have said this week. |
NextGov: What the next government should do for public EV charging
20/06/2024 Asif Ghafoor, CEO of Be.EV, looks at what the next government should do to boost the roll-out of EV charge points. |
LGTAG guidance on home EV charging
19/06/2024 The Local Government Technical Advisers Group (LGTAG) has published new guidance on charging private electric vehicles (EV) on the public highway. |
Questions raised over funding for housebuilding pledges
19/06/2024 A think-tank has warned that a lack of cash for affordable housing will make political parties’ ambitious housebuilding targets difficult to achieve. |
Norfolk opposes 184km pylon scheme
14/06/2024 Councillors in Norfolk have objected to a National Grid proposal to construct an electricity transmission line across three counties. |
260,000 social homes lost in a decade
10/06/2024 More than a quarter of a million social housing homes have been lost in England in the last ten years, analysis of government statistics has found. |
Government advisers urge overhaul of infrastructure funding
16/05/2024 Councils should be given more funding to play a greater role in developing infrastructure projects, according to Government advisers. |
Council faces court over busway deaths
10/05/2024 Cambridgeshire County Council has been served a court summons over three fatalities in separate incidents on its troubled guided busway. |
‘Bleak’ future for social housing without investment
07/05/2024 Without extra funding, the future of England's social housing looks ‘bleak’, council bosses have warned. |
Think-tank calls for regeneration funding overhaul
07/05/2024 Councils should be able to hold a regeneration account to more efficiently allocate capital for regeneration projects, a think-tank has argued. |
Councils cut back housebuilding plans
03/05/2024 New research has found that 15 local authorities have recently cut the number of homes they intend to build over the next decade by at least 10%. |
A40 park and ride site built – with no road to access it
23/04/2024 Oxfordshire County Council has almost finished work on an 850-space park and ride site, but delays mean it will not be in use for years. |
Officers recommend refusal of Birmingham skyscraper plans
18/04/2024 Plans for a 42-storey skyscraper in Birmingham city centre have been recommended for refusal over heritage concerns. |
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. |
Council charges for ‘fast-track’ planning service
03/04/2024 Residents in Epsom and Ewell can pay to have planning applications decided faster as part of a new council service. |
Oxfordshire signs first scheme under new 'brownfield fund'
28/03/2024 Oxfordshire County Council is the first local authority to secure project funding through Homes England's Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land (BIL) Fund. |
Norfolk caught in bitter battle over bats
27/03/2024 A council leader has launched an attack on Natural England after the environment watchdog effectively blocked a £274m road scheme due to its impact on bats. |
VolkerFitzpatrick wins £38m Kent viaduct project
26/03/2024 Kent County Council has appointed VolkerFitzpatrick to design and build a highway crossing over a rail line and river near Canterbury. |
'Grave concerns' over phone switchover
22/03/2024 UK mayors have expressed ‘grave concerns’ about the impact on vulnerable people of the planned phase out of the analogue phone system. |
EV charge point rollout gets £185m boost
21/03/2024 Forty-four local authorities are set to receive a share of £185m to help accelerate the rollout of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. |
ALARM: Pothole-riddled roads need £16bn investment
19/03/2024 The condition of roads in England and Wales has continued to decline despite councils spending £143.5m filling in two million potholes this financial year. |
Progress stalls on EV charge points
05/03/2024 Many local authorities have fallen significantly behind on their electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure plans, new research has found. |
Councils support HS2 ‘green route’
26/02/2024 A new active travel route from Birmingham to Coventry along the HS2 line is a ‘no brainer’, West Midlands mayor Andy Street has said. |
£34m council land sale set for High Court
20/02/2024 The High Court will consider whether to review Hertfordshire County Council’s sale of a former airfield to a rail freight company. |
‘Brownfield first’ reforms unveiled
14/02/2024 Councils in England will be told to prioritise brownfield development and be ‘less bureaucratic’ in their approach to building on previously developed land. |
UK risks being stuck in EV ‘slow lane’
06/02/2024 Government must do more to speed up the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) if it is to reach net zero, including extending charging infrastructure support. |
Nearly 70% of EV owners unhappy with public chargers
01/02/2024 Nearly 70% of electric (EV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicle owners who have used the UK’s public charging network have said they are unhappy with it. |
Local plan review process ‘ineffective’
18/01/2024 Reform is urgently required to improve the local plan review process and increase the number of up-to-date plans, according to new research. |
EVs only ‘part of the solution’, public health directors warn
03/01/2024 Directors of public health have welcomed the Government’s zero emission vehicle mandate but warned electric vehicles are ‘just part of the solution’. |
Review of 2023: a year in planning
20/12/2023 Karen Charles, executive director, Boyer (part of Leaders Romans Group), takes a look back at developments in planning policy over the last year. |
Skills shortage ‘putting brakes’ on net zero
12/12/2023 The skills shortage is undermining efforts to reduce carbon emissions and effectively tackle the climate crisis, local authority leaders in London have warned. |
£150k charging investment to support Hull’s EV transition
08/12/2023 Hull City Council has announced that it will invest £150,000 in new electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. |
Gov announces £70m charge point pilot
06/12/2023 The Government has launched a £70m pilot scheme to boost the rollout of ultra-rapid electric vehicle charge points in motorway service areas. |
Tidal barrage could be new Wirral-Liverpool link
30/11/2023 A tidal barrage across the Mersey could provide a new link between Wirral and Liverpool, according to a report. |
Autumn Statement: Councils to be able to recover planning costs
22/11/2023 Councils will be able to recover the costs of business planning applications in return for being required to meet faster timelines, Chancellor says. |
Levelling Up Fund allocated
20/11/2023 The third round of the Levelling Up Fund has been awarded to unsuccessful bids from round two. |
Autumn Statement 2023: Where does all the HS2 money go now?
20/11/2023 Jessica Bowles, director of strategic partnerships and impact at Bruntwood, discusses the future of Northern Powerhouse Rail. |
New Bradford station 'one step closer' with £400k award
14/11/2023 The Department for Transport (DfT) has awarded Bradford Council £400,000 ‘to kickstart master planning’ on a new railway station. |
Places must adapt for ageing population, says Whitty
13/11/2023 Places and infrastructure must be adapted to support an ageing population, particularly in rural areas, according to England's chief medical officer. |
Commission calls for £30bn public infrastructure investment
18/10/2023 Government should invest £30bn a year into public infrastructure to level up struggling areas and tackle climate change, says infrastructure commission. |
Local authority pension schemes invest £330m in renewables
13/10/2023 Six local authority pension schemes have agreed a multi-million-pound deal to invest in renewables projects in the southwest. |
Labour to tackle 'antiquated planning system'
09/10/2023 Labour has pledged to overhaul the planning system in a bid to ease the progress of infrastructure projects. |
Sinkhole swallows up bin lorry
06/10/2023 An investigation has been launched after a refuse collection vehicle in North Wales was partially swallowed up by a sinkhole. |
Place directors under ‘immense pressure’ publish strategic objectives
03/10/2023 Place directors have called for action on planning, infrastructure and the environment, including a financial regime enabling councils to build more affordable and ‘climate-ready’ homes. |
