LGA

• Councils welcome possible reform of Right to Buy

  Town hall chiefs have welcomed a new consultation into how they are allowed to spend the money raised from Right to Buy sales.

  

• 'New deal' for social housing branded as 'pitiful'

  The Government's social housing green paper has been criticised for failing to provide any new funding for social housing.

  

• Councils warn about jobs 'black hole' in tourism sector

  The UK's tourism industry - which is worth £126bn to the economy- is at risk of grinding to a halt due to a growing skills gap and record number of visitors, council leaders have warned.

  

• Third of household plastics ‘unrecyclable’, councils say

  Local authorities are calling on manufacturers to stop using unrecyclable packaging as research suggests that it is only possible to recycle a third of the plastic used by households.

  

• Whitehall spends 95% of youth services budget on 'unpopular' programme

  The Government’s National Citizen Service (NCS) is only attracting a small number of young people despite hundreds of millions of pounds of investment, local government leaders find.

  

• Councils warn of congestion crisis after vehicle numbers jump by 2.5 million

  The number of vehicles on England’s roads have risen by 2.5 million in the last five years, while road space has only increased by 0.6%, council leaders have warned.

  

• Councils call for tax increases on empty homes

  Council leaders have called for the power to double the amount of council tax on homes that have been left empty between two and five years.

  

• Council chiefs call for consultation on EU regional funding post-Brexit

  Local government leaders have welcomed the Brexit White Paper’s acknowledgement of how important EU regional funding is to local areas, but they urge Whitehall to provide more detail.

  

• Don’t delay betting machine reform, councils warn

  Council chiefs have called on the Government to resist pressure from the betting industry to delay reform of the laws governing gambling machines.

  

• Councils more likely to improve failing schools than academies

  Failing schools are more likely to be improved by councils than academy chains, new analysis has revealed.