Delivering Regeneration: How collaborative contracts are transforming place-making
Discover how collaborative contracting is helping councils deliver regeneration more effectively with this free special report from LocalGov and NEC Contracts.
Bracknell Forest apologises for land search delays after software switch
4/17/2026 Bracknell Forest Council has apologised for disruption to local property purchases caused by a significant data issue. |
Call for caution over land value capture reform
4/24/2025 Experts have urged against wholesale reform of developer contributions, despite the flaws within the current system. |
Council to explore ‘more aggressive’ strategy on empty property
7/9/2024 Hartlepool Borough Council will consider taking a ‘more aggressive’ approach to tackling derelict buildings and land in the area. |
Council buys two sites for £19.5m regen scheme
6/17/2024 Dorset Council has bought two parcels of brownfield land as part of its plans to regenerate Weymouth’s waterfront economy. |
Council loses £600k buying back land it sold ‘wrongly’
5/2/2024 Shrewsbury Town Council has spent £1.34m buying back land it had ‘wrongly’ deemed ‘surplus to requirements’. |
The separation of planning and landowning powers
1/2/2024 Gemma Duncan and William Murrin, Sharpe Pritchard, discuss planning and landowning powers and the implications of a recent High Court judgement. |
Councils fear parks services will be ‘seriously affected’ by cuts
4/19/2023 Many councils are expecting cuts in their budgets for parks despite growing numbers of people using them, according to a new survey. |
Grant councils power to fight ‘exploitative lets’, think tank says
2/23/2023 Councils should be given more powers to set the rules about who can buy properties as one measure to tackle ‘exploitative lets’, think tank says. |
Warrington tops list of areas with most contaminated land
2/7/2023 Warrington has topped a list of the 10 council areas with the most contaminated land, new research reveals. |
Councils reducing allotment sizes as demand rises
9/26/2022 Two-thirds of local authorities have reduced the size of their allotments as more people apply for a plot of land. |
Council adopts land transfer policy to ‘kick-start a grassroots revolution’
6/24/2022 Liverpool council is set to launch a radical new scheme that will make council land available to voluntary groups in order to encourage local regeneration. |
First Welsh council joins digital Local Land Charges register
5/19/2022 Swansea has become the first Welsh local authority to move its local land charges to a digital register. |
Budget 2021: £24bn multi-year housing settlement
10/27/2021 The chancellor has today announced £11.5bn to build up to 180,000 new affordable homes, calling it the largest cash injection in more than a decade. |
The Brownfield Land Release Fund
10/21/2021 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. |
Shortage of land holding back new homes, small builders warn
10/20/2021 A lack of land is the main barrier preventing more homes from being built, small builders have warned in a new survey. |
Homes England launches £20bn dynamic purchasing system
9/7/2021 Councils and housing associations will find it easier to build houses thanks to reforms in the way Homes England procures housebuilders and disposes of land. |
Councils to set priorities for First Homes scheme
6/4/2021 Councils will be able to set a ‘local connection test’ to give priority to people such as key workers. |
Funding boost to unlock surplus land for housing
9/10/2020 The Government has announced a £30m fund to help release surplus public sector land for new housing. |
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Reforms to fast-track local plans
8/6/2020 Councils will face sanctions unless they draw-up local plans within 30 months under government proposals to overhaul the planning system. |
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MPs call for 90,000 new social homes every year
7/27/2020 An extra £10bn in grant funding is required to deliver the number of social homes needed to meet demand, MPs have said today. |
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Selling off government car parks could deliver 110,000 new homes, study finds
7/15/2020 Public sector owned car parks have the potential to deliver more than 110,000 new homes while maintaining parking services, a new study has revealed. |
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Selling public land has created ‘minuscule’ amount of affordable housing, think tank says
2/18/2020 The Government has sold enough public land for developers to build 131,000 homes, but only 2.6% of those homes will be for social rent, think tank reveals. |
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Whitehall ‘failing’ to meet target for land sales
7/24/2019 MPs have accused the Government of failing to meet its target for selling land to make way for new homes. |
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Councils build ‘highest number’ of houses since 1990
6/25/2019 Over 13,000 new houses were delivered by local authorities last year, town planners have calculated – the highest number since 1990. |
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Labour considers abolishing council tax for renters
6/4/2019 Labour Party is considering proposals to replace council tax with a ‘progressive property tax’, which would be payable by property owners rather than tenants. |
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Court orders new age travellers to leave ski park
3/6/2019 New age travellers living near an abandoned ski park in Sheffield have been ordered to leave to make way for a multi-million pound extreme sports site. |
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Council spent £4m clearing illegal traveller site
10/16/2018 The local authority responsible for removing the illegal Dale Farm traveller encampment is seeking to recover the over £4m of costs incurred by the action. |
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Brokenshire unveils £1.9bn to overcome building barriers
9/17/2018 The Government has announced nearly £2bn investment to help unlock development and overcome barriers to building new homes. |
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Councils should benefit from land value ‘uplift’, MPs say
9/13/2018 Increases in land value that result from policy decisions should be shared with councils and should not just go into the pockets of developers, MPs say. |
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Liverpool transfers land charges data to ‘national register’
9/3/2018 Liverpool City Council has become the second local authority to migrate its local land charges data to a new national register. |
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Freeze price of land to deliver affordable housing, think tank says
8/28/2018 The Government should limit the ‘windfall gains’ of landowners by freezing the price of land newly designated for housing, a progressive think tank says. |
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Land compensation rules ‘barrier’ to development, think tank says
4/16/2018 A change in the UK’s land compensation rules could lead to local authorities having an extra £9.3bn to invest in infrastructure, think tank says. |
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Cheshire East refers land purchase to police
3/7/2018 Cheshire East Council have referred two new matters of concern to the local police after an assessment flagged concerns over the purchase of a plot of land. |
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First councils submit land charges data to new register
3/2/2018 The first group of local authorities have started providing records for the launch of a new national Local Land Charges (LLC) register. |
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Doctor Who costs Cardiff taxpayers £1m
2/23/2018 Cardiff taxpayers are over £1m out of pocket as a Doctor Who exhibition fails to attract visitors. |
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Finding land for development
12/20/2017 Stefan Webb explains how data platforms can improve the speed, quality and cost of planning. |
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Government’s ‘pre-occupation’ with housing costs business
12/4/2017 The Government’s focus on new homes is leading to increased pressure on the availability of employment land and premises, businesses say. |
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Whitehall’s failure to prioritise local housing needs perpetuates crisis, report warns
9/20/2017 Government’s ‘failure’ to prioritise local housing needs over market demand will perpetuate housing crisis and use up space in the countryside, report claims. |
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Council installs security measures to stop ‘unauthorised incursions’ on land
8/15/2017 Reading Council has announced it will be undertaking work to install security measures to prevent ‘unauthorised incursions’ on public land. |
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Council announces ‘stopping sites’ for Gypsy and Traveller families
7/27/2017 Leeds Council has introduced a scheme designed to help Gypsy and Traveller families set up camp on ‘appropriate sites’. |
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The cost of glyphosate-based weed killers
7/26/2017 While some councils may be banning the use of glyphosate-based herbicides, others still advocate their use to control weeds. William Eichler investigates. |
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Land banking punishes working families, campaigners say
7/7/2017 Nearly one in three houses that have been given the go ahead never get built, according to homelessness campaigners. |
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Council allocates £30,000 to evict squatter
6/9/2017 A district council has decided to take ‘tough action’ to remove a man living on an unauthorised residential plot of land. |
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Holyrood records decrease in derelict and urban vacant land
4/26/2017 The total amount of derelict and urban vacant land in Scotland has decreased by 2%, according to the Scottish government. |
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Everton FC agrees new stadium deal with Liverpool council
3/24/2017 Liverpool City Council is set to agree the principles of an ‘innovative finance model’ with a Premier League football club in order to build a new stadium. |
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Campaigners propose new Government department to co-ordinate land use
3/6/2017 The Government should create a ‘Department of Land Use’ in order to allow for a nationally co-ordinated approach to land use, campaigners argue. |
