VE Day: Council duties under the Armed Forces Covenant
As we mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Geoff Wild, Legal & Governance Consultant, looks at the duties of councils under the Armed Forces Covenant.
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. |
County areas behind on EV charging
28/09/2023 The number of publicly available electric vehicle (EV) charge points in England’s county and rural areas lags ‘far behind’ major towns and cities, according to a report. |
Cornwall exceeds EV charger installation target
26/09/2023 Cornwall has installed 184 electric vehicle charge points as part of a plan aimed to improve coverage in rural parts of the county. |
Unions call for £4bn investment in school estate
26/09/2023 In response to the RAAC crisis, trade unions have written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urging him to invest £4.4bn per year to improve the school estate. |
Increasing number of high-rises causing ‘longstanding harm’
12/09/2023 A heritage charity has called for a rethink on the proliferation of high-rise buildings across Manchester. |
Ministers fear public building disruption after school closures
07/09/2023 Some ministers fear disruption and huge costs if public buildings with RAAC are held to the standards the Department for Education set by closing schools. |
Manchester charges forward with 200 EV connectors
05/09/2023 Plans to install 200 electric vehicle charging connectors in Manchester are gathering pace as the city council looks to help residents switch to cleaner cars. |
Gloucestershire to roll out 1,000 EV chargers
24/08/2023 Gloucestershire County Council is set to begin the rollout of 1,000 electric vehicle charging points at the end of this month. |
Majority of councils do not have on-street EV charging strategy
15/08/2023 More than 70% of local authorities do not have a published strategy in place for residential on-street charging for electric vehicles (EV). |
MPs launch electric vehicle (EV) inquiry
09/08/2023 An inquiry into electric vehicles (EVs) has today been launched to help the Government better understand how the UK will reach net zero. |
Pace of EV charger installation by councils a ‘real concern’
31/07/2023 Poor investment at a local level means private investment will be required to meet a target to install 300,000 public EV chargers by 2030, law firm says. |
Harlow Council seeks injunction over missing community facilities
27/07/2023 Harlow Council said it has applied for an injunction against the three housebuilders of a new development who have failed to provide community facilities. |
The River Thames Scheme: infrastructure to deliver a greener future
26/07/2023 Carolyn McKenzie, director of Environment at Surrey County Council, discusses how the River Thames Scheme will respond to the challenges of climate change. |
Government concessions over infrastructure levy
19/07/2023 The Government has offered concessions on its planned infrastructure levy in the face of opposition from the House of Lords. |
Thames Water fined millions over roadwork problems
03/07/2023 London councils fined Thames Water more than £12m for late or badly managed roadworks over a five-year period, according to data obtained by the Green Party. |
Car park design in the 21st century
16/06/2023 Chris Whapples, Institution of Structural Engineers, looks at what local authorities need to consider when thinking about parking standards. |
Scrap proposed infrastructure levy, council chiefs say
16/06/2023 Council leaders, developers, and others have written to levelling up secretary Michael Gove criticising the Government’s proposed infrastructure levy. |
London boroughs agree first infrastructure framework
17/05/2023 All 33 local authorities across London have agreed an infrastructure framework on a cross-party, pan-London basis for the first time. |
Number of public EV charge points up 3,000
05/05/2023 The number of public electric vehicle (EV) charge points increased by over 3,000 in the first quarter of this year, up 8% compared to the start of January. |
Energy Efficient High Mast Lighting for UK City of Culture
25/04/2023 CU Phosco work with Balfour Beatty to replace Coventry’s high mast lighting, saving 30% energy with a payback period of less than four years. |
Planning system 'holding back' major infrastructure projects
19/04/2023 The planning system is holding back the building of major infrastructure projects, according to a new Government-commissioned report. |
Hackney Council to roll-out 2,500 chargers
30/03/2023 Hackney Council has signed a contract with charging specialists Zest to provide and operate its charge point roll-out of 2,500 fast and slow chargers. |
DfT shaves local funding from £400m charge point announcement
30/03/2023 Ministers appear to have cut Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) funding to local authorities by tens of millions over the next two years. |
Austerity made country poorer, think tank says
30/03/2023 The UK’s long-term failure to invest in transport, housing, healthcare and local services has made Britain poorer, according to the Resolution Foundation. |
