Building Healthier Communities: The Case for Investing in Public Health
Explore how targeted, community-based public health strategies can improve lives, reduce NHS pressure, and deliver cost savings for local authorities.
Councils could approve driverless taxi pilots from next spring
22/07/2025 The Department for Transport (DoT) has launched a consultation around plans to allow local authorities and mayors to approve self-driving taxi service pilots in their area from next spring. |
What approach should councils take towards improving UK roads?
18/07/2025 Phil Sabin, Technical Director at sustainable building solutions company Holcim UK, explores how long-term thinking is vital to improving UK roads. |
Farage: Council’s home to school transport spend ‘beyond belief’
08/07/2025 Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has described Kent County Council's spending on home to school transport as ‘beyond belief’. |
Call for councils to make transport more accessible
07/07/2025 Forty-eight per cent of disabled people think that Government and local authorities are not prioritising accessibility enough, research reveals. |
Give councils new powers over street works, MPs say
04/07/2025 Local authorities should be given new powers to limit the disruption caused by street works, overseen by a national 'street works commissioner', MPs say. |
LGA: SEND transport costs likely to hit £2bn
02/07/2025 Council spending on home to school transport for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is predicted to hit nearly £2bn this year. |
NAO: Council capacity issues undermining bus services
27/06/2025 Financial pressures on councils have meant that local bus services have continued to decline despite Government intervention, new report by the NAO has found. |
Councils welcome £1bn roads investment
17/06/2025 Local place directors have welcomed the Government’s announcement of £1bn to ‘repair and renew’ Britain's ageing roads. |
Funding unlocked for 100,000 new local EV chargepoints
13/06/2025 Government has confirmed a funding boost to support the installation of 100,000 new local electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints. |
Council criticises Oxford congestion charge proposals
11/06/2025 Proposals to introduce a temporary £5 congestion charge in Oxford city centre have divided council leaders. |
Vital bus services plummet in rural areas
09/06/2025 Rural bus services have decreased by 18% since 2019 due to insufficient transport funding in county and rural areas, new research reveals. |
Council told to apologise for mishandling of school transport
05/06/2025 Derby City Council has been told to apologise to three families for mishandling their school transport applications. |
Chancellor unveils £15bn regional transport investment
04/06/2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has unveiled plans to invest £15.6bn in buses, trams and trains outside of London. |
North of Scotland awards £300m infrastructure contract
04/06/2025 North of Scotland Councils have secured a £300m contract for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. |
Councils to be empowered to protect ‘socially necessary’ bus routes
03/06/2025 Councils are set to be empowered to put in place strict requirements for bus operators looking to change or cancel vital routes, the DfT has announced. |
Bristol council considers scrapping Knowledge Test
02/06/2025 Bristol City Council is considering scrapping the city’s Knowledge Test because it presents a ‘significant barrier’ to new taxi drivers. |
London drivers face 20% congestion charge increase
28/05/2025 Transport for London (TfL) has proposed increasing London’s congestion charge by 20% from January 2026. |
Blackpool’s famous heritage trams to return to service
16/05/2025 Blackpool’s heritage trams are to return to service along the promenade, the council has confirmed. |
Wandsworth welcomes e-scooter transport trial
13/05/2025 Wandsworth Borough Council has started an e-scooter rental trial to encourage safer and greener travel on public roads. |
High Court rules Lambeth LTN ‘unlawful’
12/05/2025 Lambeth Council's controversial low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme has been ruled ‘unlawful’ by the High Court. |
Cambridgeshire fined £6m after busway fatalities
17/04/2025 Cambridgeshire County Council has been fined £6m for health and safety breaches which resulted in three fatalities on its guided busway. |
Local transport in Wales gets £110m boost
11/04/2025 The Welsh Government has announced an investment of £110m to boost local transport. |
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). |
6,000 EV chargers to be rolled out in Brighton
07/04/2025 More than 6,000 electric vehicle chargers are set to be rolled out across Brighton and Hove in what is said to be the largest project of its kind in the UK. |
One-year £28m 'capacity and capability' grant allocated
01/04/2025 The Department for Transport has announced allocations from a one-year grant of around £28m to enable local transport authorities to build 'capacity'. |
Bus franchising no ‘panacea’, warn Welsh council chiefs
31/03/2025 Council chiefs in Wales have welcomed plans to transform the way local bus services are planned and delivered but cautioned that its rollout will take time. |
TfL bans non-folded e-bikes on network
26/03/2025 Transport for London (TfL) has announced a ban on all non-folded e-bikes on parts of London’s transport network due to the fire risk. |
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. |
DfT throws Norfolk – and Shropshire – a lifeline
05/03/2025 The Department for Transport (DfT) has said it will not ask Norfolk County Council to return £33m funding towards its shelved £274m link road. |
Council chiefs call for £452m for free bus passes
05/03/2025 Local authority leaders have called on the Government to plug the nearly half a billion pound shortfall caused by the funding of free bus passes. |
Brighton ditches electric buses for diesel
20/02/2025 Brighton and Hove City Council, which has pledged that the region will be carbon neutral by 20230, has ditched electric buses in favour of diesel power. |
‘Britain’s wonkiest road’ set to reopen
18/02/2025 A Wiltshire road that was labelled Britain’s wonkiest after it was broken up in a landslip should reopen this spring, the local authority has said. |
Bike space rules could undermine development, Khan told
18/02/2025 The Mayor of London has been warned that current cycle storage requirements for offices could undermine the viability of new developments. |
£300m active travel funding allocated
14/02/2025 The Government has confirmed £291m for active travel over the next two years as well as reforms to Active Travel England's (ATE) local funding model. |
Questions emerge over frequency of flyover inspections
03/02/2025 A flyover which has been closed due to concerns about the safety of a concrete pillar had not been inspected weekly, despite claims to the contrary. |
London drivers receiving invalid fines, AA finds
22/01/2025 Research by the AA has revealed that authorities in London have been issuing drivers with invalid penalty charge notices (PCNs). |
Electric buggy pilot launched in London borough
21/01/2025 A pilot scheme allowing residents to hire electric buggies has been launched in the Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in an effort to combat traffic congestion. |
PAC brands local roads a ‘national embarrassment’
16/01/2025 MPs have called England’s local roads a ‘national embarrassment’ and slammed the Department for Transport (DfT) for not taking its responsibility for the issue seriously enough. |
Campaign groups band together to call for ‘strict’ new rules on LTNs
15/01/2025 Fifteen campaign groups have joined forces for the first time to call for ‘strict’ new rules for councils seeking to introduce low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs). |
Bus cuts led to a billion more miles by car in 2023
07/01/2025 Cuts to bus provision in England led to an estimated 1.1 billion extra miles driven by cars and taxis in 2023 alone, according to new research. |
Manchester makes history with bus franchising
06/01/2025 All of Greater Manchester's bus services have come under local public control following the completion of the combined authority’s phased implementation of a new franchising system. |
Legal action launched against controversial Cambridgeshire bus road
06/01/2025 Campaigners have launched a legal challenge against a proposed Cambridgeshire bus route arguing it threatens environmentally significant areas. |
‘Negative narrative’ on cycling harming health, travel boss warns
02/01/2025 Anti-cycling coverage in parts of the media is damaging public health, according to Chris Boardman, who leads government efforts to boost active travel in England. |
Council launches on-demand bus service
24/12/2024 Leicestershire County Council is set to launch a new on-demand bus service in Melton Mowbray during the first week of 2025. |
Christmas Day bus services set to hit record high
23/12/2024 The number of bus and coach services operating on Christmas Day this year is expected to hit a record high of 100,000. |
Quarter of extra pothole cash to be held back
20/12/2024 Ministers have confirmed an extra £500m for local road maintenance in England next year, but a quarter of the cash will be held back on the basis of an incentive process that has yet to be worked out. |
EV chargepoints ‘on track’ for 2030 goal but challenges remain
13/12/2024 The UK is on track to reach 300,000 public electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints by 2030, the national public spending watchdog has found. |
UK’s second ‘Dutch-style’ roundabout opens
10/12/2024 A roundabout that gives priority to cyclists and pedestrians has opened in Sheffield. |
Birmingham seeks approval for default 20mph limit
02/12/2024 Birmingham City Council has asked the Government to allow it to introduce a default 20mph speed limit. |
Major Road Network identified as 'road safety priority'
26/11/2024 The crash rate on major local authority roads in England is four times that on National Highways’ strategic road network (SRN), a new report has found. |
CCTV trial launches at London bus stops
25/11/2024 Transport for London (TfL) has launched a trial of CCTV at 20 bus shelters across the capital in a bid to improve safety, particularly for women and girls. |
Home-to-school transport costs hit £2.3bn
21/11/2024 County council chiefs have called for a ‘system-wide approach’ to tackling escalating home-to-school transport costs. |
Councillors demand action over ship with explosive material
19/11/2024 The decision to allow the MV Ruby, a ship carrying 20,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, to return to Great Yarmouth was ‘unacceptable’, councillors warn. |
ShuttleID launches 90-day free trial for local authorities
18/11/2024 ShuttleID, the digital school bus pass platform, has launched a new package designed specifically for use with local authorities. |
Haigh: Bus services to get £1bn boost
18/11/2024 Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has announced nearly £1bn in funding for bus services across the UK. |
Rural transport schemes win £1.2m
06/11/2024 Eight small businesses from across the UK have won a share of £1.2m to improve transport in rural areas. |
Planning policy fails to cut car reliance
06/11/2024 A national planning objective to promote sustainable transport has failed to reduce car reliance in new housing developments, research has revealed. |
Edinburgh urged to consider drug testing amid HGV safety concerns
31/10/2024 ‘Strong concerns around the potential use of alcohol or drugs while driving’ have emerged in a report into the safety of City of Edinburgh Council’s heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). |
Council to phase out petrol taxis
31/10/2024 Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has set out proposals to phase out the licensing of petrol and diesel taxis. |
Budget: Chancellor targets local growth with transport spend
30/10/2024 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced extra transport cash for regional mayors, but departmental spending remains tight. |
Budget: Reeves announces £500m for potholes
30/10/2024 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced an extra £500m a year for local roads maintenance from next year and an ‘interim’ settlement for the national network to keep strategic projects moving. |
Bus fare cap stays for 2025 – at £3 per journey
29/10/2024 Bus fares across the country will rise in the new year as part of a ‘managed exit’ from the £2 fare cap. |
Just one in five pothole damage claims successful
17/10/2024 Just one in five claims for pothole-related damage to a vehicle were successful in the past year, research has revealed. |
Rutland rolls out £100k charge point pilot
11/10/2024 Rutland County Council has secured over £100,000 to fund a pilot project that will see a minimum of 23 charge points installed across the county. |
Bus operator announces £500m electric bus deal
08/10/2024 Bus operator Go Ahead has announced a major £500m investment to deliver more than 1,000 UK-made electric buses. |
Pothole-related breakdowns jump by 10,000
07/10/2024 The number of pothole-related breakdowns has increased by 10,000 compared to last year, according to the AA Pothole Index. |
Council apologises for flawed approach to travel support
04/10/2024 Sandwell Council has apologised after the local government Ombudsman found flaws in the way it considered a family’s application for travel support. |
Brighton cuts parking fees to attract drivers
30/09/2024 Brighton and Hove City Council is set to slash parking fees in bid to attract more drivers and boost income. |
Manchester parking fees highest in UK
26/09/2024 Drivers entering Manchester could face an annual fee of up to £538 for parking permits in 2024, the highest in the UK, according to new research. |
Mayors back Jamie Oliver’s call to ban junk-food advertising
25/09/2024 Nine UK mayors have signed up to celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s campaign to ban junk-food advertising. |
Welsh council cuts free transport to English-language schools
20/09/2024 A Welsh council has made broad cuts to its school transport provision – with some only affecting children taught in English. |
No plans for Manchester CAZ despite illegal pollution
19/09/2024 Greater Manchester has created a new clean air strategy with no plans to charge drivers of polluting vehicles, despite a legal direction to reduce air pollution as quickly as possible. |
Ministers back Khan to pedestrianise Oxford Street
17/09/2024 The mayor of London has unveiled government-backed plans to pedestrianise the capital's most famous shopping street. |
Mayors announce Manchester-Birmingham railway line
13/09/2024 Plans for a railway line improving connections between Birmingham and Manchester ‘at a fraction of the costs’ of the northern leg of HS2 have been announced. |
Devolution key to net zero transition, think-tank says
10/09/2024 Devolving powers to cities will be critical to the Government achieving its net zero goals, a think-tank has argued. |
Haigh: Councils to be empowered in ‘bus revolution’
09/09/2024 Local transport authorities are to be given the powers to take control of bus services under legislation being laid before Parliament today. |
Brent threatens cycle hire firm with eviction
05/09/2024 Brent Council has threatened the cycle hire firm Lime with eviction due to safety concerns regarding its e-bikes. |
Northern leaders form new partnership
05/09/2024 A partnership has been launched between mayors and council leaders representing non-mayoral areas in the North of England. |
Gough: Local government under water
04/09/2024 ‘Big changes' to tackle the ‘structural problems' facing local government are needed to help councils survive but ‘priority' is devolution, Kent leader says. |
Hampshire CC’s shortfall jumps to £175m
03/09/2024 Hampshire County Council’s projected overall financial shortfall has jumped from £132m to at least £175m. |
Cambridgeshire to plead guilty after busway deaths
03/09/2024 Cambridgeshire County Council will plead guilty to two health and safety offences after three people died in collisions on its guided busway. |
Council grasps the nettle with ANPR cameras
30/08/2024 Rotherham Council is installing automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras at five ‘key sites’ under new powers to enforce moving traffic offences. |
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. |
Low emission zones generate £1bn
28/08/2024 Local authorities have generated more than £1bn from low emission, clean air and zero emission zones since April 2019, new research has revealed. |
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. |
Haigh: Councils should decide on traffic measures
22/08/2024 The transport secretary has pledged to back councils that implement low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and 20mph limits, with the new government ‘absolutely determined’ to end the Tories’ ‘culture wars’ approach to transport. |
Councils accused of ‘penny pinching’ over transport
19/08/2024 A think-tank has accused councils of ‘penny pinching at the cost of older people’s wellbeing’ over public transport. |
Suffolk announces electric car club trial
15/08/2024 A trial of electric community vehicles is set to launch in Suffolk next summer. |
Liverpool warns 40,000 drivers caught by new cameras
14/08/2024 Liverpool City Council issued 40,000 warnings to drivers caught committing moving traffic violations by new cameras in the past six months. |
Council drops defence of road closure
07/08/2024 Cambridgeshire County Council has agreed it will no longer defend a legal challenge of its decision to close a city road bridge to cars. |
ULEZ working even better than expected, Khan says
26/07/2024 City Hall has said the controversial expansion of Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) across the whole of London is ‘working better than expected’. |
Plans to boost Teesside Freeport vehicle and access approved
22/07/2024 Plans for new transport facilities to support the growing number of vehicles entering the Teesworks site on Teesside have been given the green light. |
King's Speech: Labour to boost public control of buses and trains
17/07/2024 The King has confirmed that the new Government will bring forward legislation to bring bus and rail services more closely under public control, including public ownership of train operators. |
King's Speech: Devolution takes centre stage
17/07/2024 The announcement of an English Devolution Bill took centre stage in the King's Speech. |
Wales publishes 20mph guidance
17/07/2024 The Welsh Government has published guidance on reverting speed limits in built-up areas to 30mph, less than a year after introducing a default 20mph limit. |
£1m boost to road patching in East Sussex
16/07/2024 East Sussex County Council has committed an extra £1m to road patching, but acknowledged it would cost more than £300m to bring all its roads up to scratch. |
Brabin seeks public's views on tram plans
16/07/2024 The West Yorkshire Combined Authority has launched a public consultation on options for two tram lines in the Leeds-Bradford area. |
Highway leaders warn of ‘roadwork gridlock’
15/07/2024 Nearly two thirds of local highway authority (LHA) leaders believe that we are headed for a road and street work crisis by 2030, new research has revealed. |
Councillors back £88,000 parking revamp
12/07/2024 Unreliable parking ticket machines in Rugby will be replaced as part of the council’s mission to regenerate the town centre. |
