Leader bullied two senior officers, report finds
15/03/2024 A council leader’s behaviour towards two senior officers amounted to bullying, a report into a code of conduct complaint has found. |
Four-day week council decision 'disappointing and arrogant'
14/03/2024 South Cambridgeshire DC’s decision to continue with its four-day week is ‘disappointing and arrogant,’ local government minister Simon Hoare has said. |
Limited exemptions for empty homes powers
11/03/2024 Councils will face only a limited number of exemptions from new powers allowing them to levy higher taxes on empty homes, ministers have confirmed. |
Right to Buy lobbying fails as temporary boost ended
08/03/2024 The Treasury has confirmed councils will no longer keep 100% of Right to Buy (RTB) receipts after the current financial year despite lobbying by the sector. |
Two-year Sandwell intervention to end
07/03/2024 Local government minister Simon Hoare has today confirmed that Whitehall’s two-year intervention at Sandwell Council will end. |
Budget: Trailblazer devo deal for North East
06/03/2024 The North East has secured a trailblazer devolution deal that could provide a package of new funding potentially worth more than £100m, chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced in his Budget. |
Lending rates could spike after audit reset, LGA warns
01/03/2024 Proposals to reset the local audit system and clear the backlog of accounts could drive up the lending rates offered to the sector, councils have warned. |
Home Office 'chaos' leaves thousands of illegal arrivals in 'perma-backlog'
27/02/2024 The Government’s struggling asylum policy has heaped significant demand on cities’ housing services, experts have warned. |
Further planning reforms on way, says Gove
12/02/2024 Empty shops could be quickly converted into homes and developers given fresh incentives to build on brownfield sites under ministers’ latest plans to expedite housebuilding. |
Wales could drive agenda on council tax, report argues
12/02/2024 Wales could have a chance to deal with unfairness in the council tax system and drive the agenda for other nations and regions to follow, says think-tank. |
Local government figures made peers
12/02/2024 Local government has been recognised in the latest round of peerages, with two senior figures heading to the House of Lords. |
Core Cities in Household Support Fund warning
01/02/2024 Failing to extend the Household Support Fund will be ‘catastrophic for many people in our poorest communities,’ Core Cities has warned Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. |
DLUHC claims four-day week council saw spike in agency staff
30/01/2024 South Cambridgeshire DC’s controversial four-day week trial is under fresh scrutiny after data revealed a spike in agency work and opponents challenged costs. |
MPs criticise ‘glacial’ progress of levelling up projects
16/01/2024 Mandarins from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities faced the Public Accounts Committee. |
Welsh minister backs tax reforms
03/01/2024 One of the candidates to become first minister of Wales has backed reform of council tax. |
LGA poised to shift position on Right to Buy
06/12/2023 Smith Square is poised to amend its position on Right to Buy, The MJ has learned. |
Norfolk devolution schedule delayed
04/12/2023 Norfolk’s level 3 devolution deal is set to be pushed back to 2025. |
Councils welcome PWLB rate extension
27/11/2023 Councils have welcomed Jeremy Hunt’s decision to extend preferential Public Works Loan Board borrowing rates for Housing Revenue Account (HRA) expenditure. |
EXCLUSIVE: Oflog pushes ahead with early warning system
16/11/2023 Senior Oflog officials are pressing ahead with their plans to create an early warning system for councils in trouble despite continuing LGA resistance. |
Councils brace as Supreme Court outlaws Rwanda asylum plan
15/11/2023 The Supreme Court has ruled the UK’s controversial proposal to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful – a decision likely to impact local government. |
Housing minister among casualties of Sunak reshuffle
13/11/2023 The UK will have its 16th housing minister in 12 years after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s sweeping reshuffle affected the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. |
Local government plays a vital role in the work of House of Lords committees
08/11/2023 Baroness Kate Parminter, chair of the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee, argues that the local government voice is crucial for committees to understand how government policy is impacting communities. |
DLUHC blasted over levelling up failure
08/11/2023 The levelling up department has been blasted for failing to deliver its remit by a senior sector figure. |
Emergency summit held amid temporary accommodation warnings
31/10/2023 More than 150 councils this week attended an emergency summit as the cost of temporary accommodation to local authorities increases rapidly. |
Labour regeneration plans will fail 'without radical action'
31/10/2023 An incoming Labour government’s regeneration plans will fail without radical action to devolve financial decision-making, researchers have warned. |
Levelling up Bill to become law
26/10/2023 Royal Assent is scheduled to take place later today, when the Bill will officially become an Act of Parliament. |
EXCLUSIVE: Home Office accused of misleading council over asylum plans
24/10/2023 The Home Office faces accusations in the High Court it misled a council over controversial plans for an asylum centre at a former military base. |
Child abuse inquiry chair criticises Government response
23/10/2023 The chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has warned ministers’ response to her recommendations has been ‘weak’. |
Chiefs' new professional development framework launched
17/10/2023 The first version of a new professional development framework to keep local government chief executives ‘ahead of the game’ has been launched. |
Guildford leader survives confidence vote
11/10/2023 Guildford BC’s leader has survived a vote of no confidence over the authority’s finances. |
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. |
Gove attacks four-day week 'nonsense' in conference speech
03/10/2023 Local government secretary Michael Gove delivered a speech to the Conservative Party Conference light on new policies and laden with election slogans. |
Screeching U-turn on waste proposals
21/09/2023 The Government has claimed it is scrapping its ‘top-down approach’ on recycling while still ensuring ‘all homes in England recycle the same materials’. |
Bentley insists level two devolution 'best option' for county
21/09/2023 Essex CC’s Conservative leader Kevin Bentley has insisted that a level two devolution deal is the ‘best option’ for the county. |
Government fails to block levelling up Bill amendments
19/09/2023 The Government suffered a flurry of last-minute defeats as the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill completed its journey through the House of Lords. |
Government defeated over planning fees
15/09/2023 Councils would be able to vary fees for planning applications under amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. |
Lords block plans to scrap nutrient neutrality rules
14/09/2023 The Government’s attempt to scrap nutrient neutrality rules has been defeated in the House of Lords. |
Mandatory housing targets rejected
07/09/2023 An amendment to the levelling up Bill for mandatory housebuilding targets has been rejected by the House of Lords. |
Lords inflict defeats on levelling up Bill
05/09/2023 The Government faces a race against time to get its flagship levelling up Bill into law after peers inflicted a string of defeats. |
EXCLUSIVE: Housing pressures may push councils into effective bankruptcy
04/09/2023 Rising housing pressures will force some councils to effectively declare bankruptcy, a local authority chief executive with more than 40 years of experience in the sector has warned. |
Rayner takes levelling up role as Starmer shuffles his pack
04/09/2023 Labour leader Keir Starmer has appointed his deputy Angela Rayner as the party’s new shadow levelling up secretary. |
South East Councils to consider devolution of vehicle excise duty
01/09/2023 The devolution of vehicle excise duty (VED) will be among the options expected to be considered by a London Finance Commission-style investigation. |
Gove to ease nutrient neutrality requirements
29/08/2023 Ministers have announced they will ease divisive development rules on water pollution blamed for low housebuilding rates in rural areas. |
Fresh calls to raise local housing allowance
23/08/2023 Calls have been made for ministers to increase local housing allowance (LHA) after research revealed 85% of English councils are facing a rise in homelessness. |
Tories call for tax cuts to boost housing
23/08/2023 A group of Conservative MPs has called for tax cuts for areas where new housing is built. |
Boycott Bill faces Scottish opposition
16/08/2023 The UK Government’s planned ban on council boycotts is facing opposition from Holyrood. |
‘Mass exodus’ claims at North Lincolnshire
14/08/2023 North Lincolnshire Council is facing a ‘mass exodus’ of senior staff, opposition members have claimed. |
Rowley insists Oflog will not take over audit
14/08/2023 A minister has been forced to clarify that Oflog is not attempting to replace the council audit system. |
Fresh LGA drive to influence MPs over skills
07/08/2023 The Local Government Association has proposed to establish a skills and employment working group as it seeks to influence MPs ahead of the election. |
Nutrient neutrality row goes to No10
24/07/2023 Council leaders have used a Downing Street summit to urge No10 to break the deadlock in a dispute over nutrient neutrality. |
Exploitation warning after Illegal Migration Bill becomes law
20/07/2023 Unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) could be in danger of being exploited after the Illegal Migration Act created an incentive for them to run away. |
First asylum barge arrives
18/07/2023 A controversial barge for 500 asylum seekers today arrived at its mooring off the Dorset coast. |
Overton rejects breakaway Green group idea
10/07/2023 The re-elected leader of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) independents has rejected the idea of a breakaway Green group. |
Tory MPs oppose boycotts ban
04/07/2023 Government moves to ban councils from imposing their own boycotts has faced opposition from Conservative benches. |
Hancock: Whitehall oversight of care was terrible
27/06/2023 Whitehall oversight of adult social care before Covid-19 was ‘terrible’ and officials had no understanding of whether councils could cope, Matt Hancock admits. |
'No progress' on devolution to London
21/06/2023 The capital appears to have ‘taken a step backwards’ on devolution, a former chair of London Councils has said. |
Sheffield apologises 'unreservedly' for trees dispute
21/06/2023 Sheffield City Council has apologised ‘unreservedly’ after a report found the authority mishandled a dispute over the felling of thousands of healthy trees. |
Councils call for more radical thinking on short-term lets
20/06/2023 Whitehall proposals to regulate short-term holiday lets fail to deliver what is needed to tackle housing shortages and ministers should think ‘more radically,’ councils have said. |
Progress on devolution 'too slow' - LGA vice-president
16/06/2023 A Local Government Association vice-president has expressed ‘serious concerns about the Government’s increasing desire to centralise local service delivery across England out of Whitehall’. |
Poor pandemic planning criticised
13/06/2023 Public health directors have criticised the Government’s Covid-19 preparedness – warning Whitehall must utilise council expertise to avoid repeat. |
Questions over council land purchase proposals
30/05/2023 Labour's proposed legislation would allow councils to buy land at agricultural values using compulsory purchase orders. |
Gove approves Teesworks probe
25/05/2023 Local government secretary Michael Gove has given the green light for a probe into Teesworks corruption claims. |
Ministers promise CSA compensation scheme
23/05/2023 Ministers have promised a compensation scheme for survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) including those abused in council care. |
New leader for Brum after Labour ousts Ward
22/05/2023 The national Labour Party has selected Cllr John Cotton as the new leader of Birmingham City Council Labour group after its intervention last week. |
Court case looms after election blunder
16/05/2023 A councillor who gained the most votes at a recent election faces a court case for her seat after a blunder led officials to announce the wrong winner. |
'Widespread industrial action' warning
10/05/2023 Unite has warned the Scottish Government and employers there ‘could be widespread industrial action’ without a ‘significant increase’ to the current pay offer. |
Compulsory purchase changes a 'slippery slope'
04/05/2023 A row has broken out in the House of Lords over proposed changes to compulsory purchase orders (CPOs). |
Council staff respond to Sudan evacuation
02/05/2023 Councils have been urged to ‘apply maximum flexibility’ when UK nationals returning from Sudan present as homeless. |
Betts questions Treasury trust of DLUHC
28/04/2023 An MP has criticised a ministerial response, warning it fails to ‘dispute the notion the Treasury no longer appears to trust’ the levelling up department. |
Peers' warning over supported housing reforms
24/04/2023 Ministers must avoid forcing high-quality supported housing providers from the market in their rush to tackle rogue landlords, peers have warned. |
Tories expect to lose 1,000 seats
17/04/2023 The Conservatives are braced to lose 1,000 council seats in next month’s local elections. |
EXCLUSIVE: ‘It’s time for a new Audit Commission’
12/04/2023 An ex-senior mandarin has today called for a new Audit Commission as The MJ reveals the draft metrics the Government is considering for its new watchdog. |
Councils concerned over Afghan removal plan
12/04/2023 Councils have expressed deep concerns about Government plans to remove Afghan refugees from hotel accommodation amid ‘chronic’ shortage of affordable housing. |
Labour pledges to revitalise high streets
12/04/2023 Labour will today promote its plan to revitalise ailing high streets through a £700m fund to help small businesses with soaring energy bills. |
Councils warning over Prevent reforms
28/03/2023 Councils have raised serious concerns about the Government’s proposed Prevent counter-extremism strategy reforms. |
Pension changes could ease recruitment pressure
21/03/2023 Changes to the pension rules could ease the pressure on senior recruitment in local government, sector figures have suggested. |
Budget 2023: Hunt to boost mayors' financial autonomy
15/03/2023 Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced the Government will ‘boost mayors’ financial autonomy’ in his Budget. |
Betts demands answers after Treasury clampdown on DLUHC spending
14/03/2023 A senior MP has written to ministers raising concerns about the Treasury’s oversight of Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities capital spending. |
Croydon approves 15% tax hike
09/03/2023 Croydon LBC has approved a 15% council tax increase as part of a 2023-24 budget that was originally rejected. |
LGA to beef up council oversight amid Oflog fears
07/03/2023 The Local Government Association (LGA) today revealed plans to beef up its oversight of councils in an effort to stave off Government interference. |
Levelling up Bill ‘insulting’ to districts
28/02/2023 Peers have called for greater recognition of district councils in combined county authorities (CCAs). |
Bed blocking down by just 3% a month on from £250m plan
22/02/2023 The Government’s £250m initiative to speed up hospital discharges reduced the number of bed blockers by less than 3% in its first month. |
LGA-backed coalition in fresh plea for Government leisure support
22/02/2023 A coalition including the Local Government Association has written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warning of the ‘final straw’ for many gyms, pools and clubs. |
Number of homeless Ukrainian refugees mounts
20/02/2023 Politicians have made a cross-party call to extend support for Ukrainian refugees to prevent them becoming homeless. |
Levelling up director appointed amid recruitment uncertainty
17/02/2023 The Government is still ‘reviewing the recruitment process for levelling up directors’ despite appointing an ex-Number 10 official to a role with same title. |
Pocklington to leave DLUHC amid Whitehall changes
07/02/2023 Permanent secretary Jeremy Pocklington will leave the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) amid a series of Whitehall changes. |
Eastleigh finance review to start
07/02/2023 The Government has commissioned a review of Eastleigh BC’s finances to start this week after concerns over its debt levels. |
Sector given role in NHS plan
31/01/2023 Local government will join an ‘expert group’ with the community sector and care providers to ‘build adult social care capacity’ as part of a new NHS plan. |
Gove scales up Thurrock intervention
24/01/2023 Michael Gove has effectively ordered a full intervention of Thurrock Council amid fresh concerns over the authority’s governance, scrutiny and operating model. |
Levelling up directors could be scrapped
24/01/2023 Plans to appoint a dozen levelling up directors may be scrapped, a minister has admitted. |
Districts' legal threat over devolution deal
17/01/2023 Four Norfolk districts have threatened to take legal action over the county’s handling of a devolution deal struck with Government. |
Starmer makes devolution bill pledge
05/01/2023 A swathe of new powers would be devolved from central Government under a Labour administration, leader Sir Kier Starmer has promised in a key speech. |
Gove demands answers after maladministration findings
03/01/2023 Michael Gove has demanded answers from Lambeth LBC and Birmingham City Council after the ombudsman found severe maladministration in their complaints handling. |
Districts push for council tax flexibility
12/12/2022 Districts are pushing the Government to allow them to increase council tax by more than 3% or £5 without a referendum. |
Minister accepts early intervention is 'critical'
09/12/2022 Early intervention is ‘critical,’ minister concedes as Government told to publish its delayed plan for implementing children’s social care recommendations. |
Onshore wind restrictions to be relaxed
07/12/2022 The Government has proposed to ease planning restrictions on onshore wind farms. |
Labour outlines huge devolution push
05/12/2022 Labour proposes removing ‘dead hand of centralisation’ by devolving to local government wide-ranging powers over employment, growth, transport and education. |
Reeves to make case for economic devolution
23/11/2022 The shadow chancellor will make the case for ‘deeper and broader’ economic devolution as Labour stresses the need for ‘more local powers’ over the economy. |
Rural services 'may be lost' without funding formula
16/11/2022 Ministers should implement the 2013-14 funding formula which promised to improve rural finances before measures were dampened or risk losing key countryside services, experts have argued. |
Devolution not enough to fix governance, say MPs
31/10/2022 Governance in England is not fit for purpose and devolution plans are not enough to fix the problems, MPs have claimed. |
Shell is helping power the journey towards a circular paving industry with Shell Bitumen LT R, a new product for roads that uses plastics destined for landfill as part of the additives to make the bitumen.
Effective Energy Group is now offering its support to the 40 Local Authorities who have received a share of the £430m to deliver their projects on the ground by surveying properties and installing measures.
Dougie Belmore explains how one of the main interfaces between you and Bacs is about to change.