Sharpening the commercial edge
The case for well-managed council commercial activity is one that needs to be defended if we want a mature and sustainable local state, argues Jonathan Werran.
Councils can issue traffic fines from December
15/06/2021 Powers to enforce moving traffic offences will not be extended to local authorities in England outside London until the end of the year, a Department for Transport (DfT) minister has said. |
Virtual insanity: Councils hit out at refusal to extend meeting rules
26/03/2021 Councils will not be able to hold virtual council meetings after 6 May after the Government refused to budge on changes to legislation. |
Councils to be given five years to spend Right to Buy receipts
22/03/2021 Councils will be given five years to spend receipts from Right to Buy sales as part of an overhaul of the key housing policy, local government secretary Robert Jenrick has announced. |
Unison call for election safety measures
01/03/2021 The Government needs to implement strict measures in May’s local elections to keep staff safe, trade union Unison urged today. |
Councils call for extra cash for expanded shielding list
17/02/2021 Councils have called for more access to data and extra cash to deal with sharp spike in the number of people shielding from coronavirus. |
Commission proposes third option on integrated care
11/01/2021 The Health Devolution Commission (HDC) has called for a third 'health and prosperity' model of Integrated Care Systems. |
Leisure centre collapse warning
20/11/2020 Under-pressure leisure centres will go under without further rescue funding on top of the £100m already pledged by the Government, district councils have warned. |
Councils bid for vaccine role
16/11/2020 Councils have made a bid to play a key role in distributing the new coronavirus vaccine. |
Coronavirus leads to scrapping of three-year Spending Review
21/10/2020 Plans to create a three-year settlement for public spending have been abandoned as latest figures show the havoc coronavirus is wreaking on the public finances. |
Fragmented council funding risks to value for money, report warns
05/10/2020 The increasing fragmentation in council funding ‘undermines central government’s understanding of service delivery’ and ‘risks impeding value for money,’ a report has warned. |
Sector surprise at COVID marshal scheme
09/09/2020 Local government has been blindsided by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement that an army of COVID marshals will enforce tough new rules. |
Hancock scraps Public Health England
17/08/2020 Ministers have been accused of making Public Health England (PHE) a scapegoat by scrapping the body for alleged failures in the testing and tracing of coronavirus. |
Councils urge extension for grants support scheme
03/08/2020 Fresh calls have been made for councils to be allowed to dole out to businesses the £1.6bn unspent from the Government’s small firms grant funds. |
Better response to pandemic from European councils, says think-tank
16/07/2020 Local government across Europe has been able to react to the coronavirus crisis with greater power and autonomy than in the UK, a report published today has found. |
Immigration plans branded an 'embarrassing shambles'
14/07/2020 The Government’s latest plans for post-Brexit immigration rules have been branded an ‘embarrassing shambles’ after they failed to include care workers. |
Councils in local virus data call
03/07/2020 Councils have called for the Government to go further after it finally started to publish more coronavirus testing data. |
COVID funding gap hits £7.4bn, LGA estimates
01/07/2020 The funding gap created by COVID-19 now stands at £7.4bn, the Local Government Association has said. |
Councils back evictions ban in face of landlord criticism
15/06/2020 Councils have insisted police powers can still be used to evict perpetrators of domestic violence amid the evictions ban. |
Seven out of 10 happy with council support
09/06/2020 Seven out of 10 people are very or fairly satisfied with the way their council is supporting them and their household during the coronavirus pandemic, Local Government Association research has found. |
LGA split over worker bonus
26/05/2020 A cross-party agreement that the Local Government Association (LGA) would lobby for a coronavirus payment to staff was ditched after senior councillors blocked the move, The MJ can reveal. |
Councils call for single supply system for PPE
22/05/2020 Councils have called for a single system for the distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) to avoid local government employees being treated as ‘second class workers’. |
Councils given £300m and key tracking role
22/05/2020 Councils in England will be handed £300m by the Government as they are given a key role in driving forward testing and tracing. |
Rejection of coronavirus bonus a 'slap in the face'
19/05/2020 A top union official has branded English councils’ refusal to rally behind a campaign for a workers’ coronavirus bonus as a ‘slap in the face’. |
Unite expected to urge council pay offer rejection
11/05/2020 Trade union Unite is expected to recommend that its members reject the employers ‘final’ 2.75% pay offer at a national committee meeting later this week. |
Councils warn leisure providers at 'crisis point'
05/05/2020 Leisure providers are at a ‘crisis point’ as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, English and Welsh councils have warned. |
Councils need another £12.8bn to cope with coronavirus - LGA
27/04/2020 Councils may need up to another £12.8bn from the Government to get through the coronavirus crisis, the chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA) has suggested. |
PPE supplies to 'run out within days'
24/04/2020 Dwindling supplies of vital life-saving personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline care workers will run out within days, the Local Government Association (LGA) warned today. |
Call for lifting of immigration rules
20/04/2020 Council leaders in England, Scotland and Wales have called for a temporary lifting of the immigration rules that stop some migrants accessing public funds. |
Government league table plan causes fury
17/04/2020 Plans to publish a league table of how quickly councils are doling out grants to help businesses have been met with anger from local government. |
More PPE promised for social care
15/04/2020 Health secretary Matt Hancock has promised to increase supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) to social care. |
Thousands of firms receive financial help from councils
14/04/2020 Almost 100,000 small businesses across the country have already been paid a share of more than £1bn to help support them through the coronavirus crisis, the Local Government Association (LGA) has said. |
End of week rough sleeping deadline
27/03/2020 Councils have been asked to support rough sleepers into accommodation by the end of the week amid the coronavirus pandemic. |
£3bn bed blocking coronavirus cash injection
19/03/2020 Almost £3bn of the Government’s £5bn Covid-19 funding will go towards freeing up at least 15,000 English hospital beds by the end of next week, the Department of Health and Social Care has announced. |
Government urged to 'think big' to tackle regional inequalities
02/03/2020 A comprehensive review of economic decline and social division has called for a ‘large-scale, comprehensive, long-term and devolved’ plan of action to deliver change. |
Councils overspent £3bn on children's social care in five years
21/02/2020 Demand and funding pressures have forced councils to overspend on children’s social care budgets by more than £3bn in the past five years, new analysis has revealed. |
Councils demand extra planning powers
19/02/2020 Councils have called on the Government to use its White Paper to give them powers to take action on unbuilt land that has planning permission. |
Councils sent back to drawing board on SEND
28/01/2020 Councils have been sent back to the drawing board after a quango ripped apart their plans to recover massive special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) deficits. |
Seven out of 10 councils overspend on homelessness
28/01/2020 Seven out of 10 English councils overspent their homelessness budgets in 2018/19 by a combined total of nearly £115m, Local Government Association (LGA) analysis has found. |
Core Cities' £28bn Shared Prosperity Fund warning
26/09/2019 The proposed UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) must be worth at least £28bn over seven years if the UK is to deliver its devolved policy objectives, a leading sector body has warned. |
New rules to increase housing deal transparency
02/09/2019 Councils will be legally required to publish deals with housing developers after new rules were introduced. |
Councils face more funding uncertainty
14/08/2019 ‘Indicative numbers’ for the amount councils will receive in 2020/21 will not be published before next month’s Spending Review, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has admitted after it missed a self-imposed deadline. |
EXCLUSIVE: Victory on variation
26/06/2019 The Treasury’s view of children’s services has been dealt a further blow after research linked 70% of spend variation to factors outside councils’ control. |
Brokenshire moves to boost local government accountability
09/05/2019 Brokenshire moves to impose fresh conditions on ‘top slice’ cash |
Concern over councils' ability to cope with polls
17/04/2019 Council chiefs have raised concerns with Government about the sector’s capacity to run EU elections so close on the heels of local polls. |
Call for inspection pause in case of Brexit hit
10/04/2019 Council chiefs have urged Whitehall to be ready to ease pressures on the sector for up to six months if Brexit threatens to stretch capacity. |
LGA urges chiefs to challenge children's services directors
03/04/2019 Chief executives should confront directors to ensure children’s services are well delivered, fresh guidance published by the Local Government Association (LGA) has suggested. |
Council makes 'significant progress' after standards issues
01/03/2019 Sandwell MBC has made ‘significant progress’ following an independent review last year. |
Sector fumes over lack of pre-Brexit briefing
21/02/2019 Councils have threatened to walk away from Government attempts to engage with them on Brexit amid growing frustrations about the response to their concerns. |
MPs pile pressure on Government over business rates reform
21/02/2019 MPs have urged ministers to assess specific proposals for reforming business rates by the autumn. |
Labour would create local government commission
11/02/2019 Labour would create a new commission that would allow councillors to influence every decision that affects local authorities if they won a General Election. |
Councils accused of not doing enough to prepare for Brexit
04/02/2019 Councils are not doing enough to prepare for Brexit and need to step up their game, the concerned Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has told sector figures. |
Brokenshire gets Brexit breakdown from chiefs
31/01/2019 Chief executives have told communities secretary James Brokenshire Whitehall needs to be more joined up between departments and in its communications with councils over Brexit. |
LGA faces financial headache
25/01/2019 Smith Square has acknowledged the financial challenges it faces as it freezes subscriptions while grappling with declining Government grants and a pension scheme deficit. |
Auditors bid to explain real cause of difference in councils' spend on kids
23/01/2019 A nine-fold variation in spending on children’s social care could largely be down to ‘differences in characteristics’ between councils, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) study. |
Brokenshire in shared prosperity fund threat
15/11/2018 Communities secretary James Brokenshire has threatened to withhold the shared prosperity fund (SPF) from areas that fail to remove local enterprise partnership (LEP) overlaps. |
Councillors silenced on secret fiscal devolution report
31/10/2018 Senior councillors have been warned not to talk about a secret Local Government Association (LGA) report that models what fiscal devolution might look like, The MJ has been told. |
No-deal Brexit disruption warning
31/10/2018 Local authorities have been warned to prepare for up to three months of disruption in the event of a no-deal Brexit. |
Ministry moves on Brexit
24/10/2018 Senior Marsham Street officials have stepped up their preparations for Brexit after complaints from frustrated councils that they were being shut out of the process. |
Whitehall demands in-year cuts to improvement programme
19/09/2018 The sector’s ability to respond to crises such as a care provider failure could be hit after Whitehall demanded cuts to a key improvement programme, senior councillors have been warned. |
LGA defends bonds agency support
07/09/2018 The Local Government Association (LGA) has defended its support of the struggling UK Municipal Bonds Agency. |
LEPs told to improve ahead of EU funding changes
06/09/2018 Fresh concerns have emerged about local enterprise partnerships (LEP) as the Government considers whether to use them to funnel UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) cash. |
Crunch time for municipal bonds
23/08/2018 The struggling Municipal Bonds Agency has pleaded for councils to ‘pull behind us’ amid warnings it could run out of money before issuing a bond. |
Hawthorne: Local industrial strategies could go same way as devolution
04/07/2018 Parts of the country could be left behind when Whitehall rolls out its local industrial strategies, a senior Local Government Association (LGA) figure has warned. |
Brokenshire announces Northamptonshire commissioners
09/05/2018 New local government secretary James Brokenshire has today announced the two commissioners appointed to help rescue troubled Northamptonshire CC. |
Labour outlines housing policy
19/04/2018 Labour would scrap right to buy, and give councils new borrowing freedoms and central funding in a bid to kick-start house building, the party said today. |
IFS implores action over growing social care funding chasm
20/03/2018 The Government will need to scrap its funding reforms, significantly boost top-ups or centralise care if it is to plug the social care funding gap, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned today. |
Javid orders review after second council payment error
20/03/2018 The Government has ordered a review after being forced to admit a second mistake in as many months in the way it calculates council payments. |
Mandatory reporting calls rejected by Government
05/03/2018 Ministers today rejected calls for the mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse – claiming an effective case for a new law has not been made. |
Whitehall's local government finance cover-up is exposed
20/02/2018 Key Whitehall departments involved in attempt to bury changes to provisional finance settlement data. |
EXCLUSIVE: Finance settlement 'shambles' after provisional data wrong
18/01/2018 The local government finance settlement has descended into a shambles after it emerged allocations in the provisional document were wrong, The MJ can exclusively reveal. |
Inspectors sent in to probe Northamptonshire Council's finances
09/01/2018 Local government secretary Sajid Javid has ordered a best value inspection of Conservative-led Northamptonshire CC amid continuing concerns over its financial management and corporate governance. |
Social care funding plea amid NHS crisis
04/01/2018 Social care directors have warned delays to operations and hospital admissions will continue without a long-term sustainable funding solution for their sector. |
LGA attacks 'counter-productive' cut
21/12/2017 A cut to councils’ public health grants has been criticised by the Local Government Association (LGA) for being ‘short-sighted and extremely counter-productive’. |
Chief executive suspended after elections review
27/11/2017 Newcastle-under-Lyme BC has suspended its chief executive and monitoring officer after an independent review into problems faced by voters at the General Election. |
Budget 2017: Housing Revenue Account cap lifted for some
22/11/2017 The Housing Revenue Account cap will be lifted for councils in ‘high-demand areas’ and stamp duty will be scrapped for most first-time buyers, chancellor Philip Hammond announced in his Budget speech today. |
Council work highlighted ahead of Budget
21/11/2017 Local authorities have used this year’s 24-hour tweet-a-thon as an opportunity to showcase the huge range of services they provide ahead of a crunch Budget. |
This issue of Public Property examines how how flexible workspaces can lead the way in regeneration for local authorities, Why local authority intervention is key to successful urban regeneration schemes and if the Government’s challenge of embracing beauty is an opportunity for communities.
The March issue also takes a closer look at Blackburn with Darwen Council's first digital health hub to help people gain control over health and care services.
