Councils click into the future of planning
In town halls across the country, planning officers are racing to update their Local Plans — but this time, the process looks very different.
LGA urges Whitehall to show faith in local areas as GM marks ‘landmark’ devo day
01/04/2016 Council leaders have hailed the devolution of health and social care budgets to Greater Manchester as a defining moment and urged other Whitehall departments to ‘follow suit’. |
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Government hails living wage as a breakthrough for pay equality
01/04/2016 Government analysis predicts the National Living Wage will eradicate the pay gap between the lowest paid men and women by 2020. |
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Government urged to intervene over local plan delays
01/04/2016 MPs have called on the Government to clarify how it will tackle ‘dawdling’ local authorities that do not have a local plan in place by 2017. |
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Report: Public sector must intervene to solve housing crisis
31/03/2016 The Government should abandon its over-reliance on the private sector to solve the housing crisis and commit to substantial public investment and a bigger role for local authorities, a new report has warned. |
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Workless households at a 10-year low
31/03/2016 Latest official figures show the number of workless households has fallen by 20% since 2010. |
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Polling shake-up planned after inquiry into general election debacle unearths flaws
31/03/2016 ‘Unrepresentative samples’ were to blame for pollsters’ failure to predict last year’s general election result, an inquiry has found. |
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Enterprise allowance kick-starts 80,000 new firms
30/03/2016 A Government scheme that encourages jobseekers to launch businesses has created more than 80,000 new firms in the last five years with Liverpool generating the most start-ups. |
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Report: Teenagers criminalised due to children’s homes failures
30/03/2016 Children’s homes too often resort to involving police rather than offering teenagers in their care the support they need, according to a new report. |
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Enterprise zones continue to drive jobs growth
30/03/2016 More than 1,900 jobs were created across England’s 24 enterprise zones between July and September last year, latest figures have revealed. |
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Councils told to ‘take the fight to the fraudsters’
23/03/2016 Councils have been issued with new guidance that is designed to combat the estimated £2bn lost through fraud every year. |
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Report reveals £12bn road repair backlog
23/03/2016 It will take 14 years to clear the current backlog of road repairs across England thanks to ‘decades of underfunding’, a new report has warned. |
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Threat of legal action forces Chesterfield into devo rethink
23/03/2016 Chesterfield Borough Council is to review its move to become part of the Sheffield City-Region in a bid to avoid ‘money being wasted on an unnecessary legal challenge’. |
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Government provides £86m guarantee to kick-start Aberdeen scheme
23/03/2016 The Government has backed major development plans in Aberdeen with an £86m guarantee. |
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Councils attacked over ‘scandal’ of care workers’ unpaid travel time
23/03/2016 Councils have come under fire for their role in more than 200,000 care workers being paid less than the minimum wage. |
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Study underlines important role for supported lodgings
23/03/2016 Supported lodgings offer young people a nurturing environment and should be promoted in order to cut the number of care leavers living in ‘unsuitable bed and breakfasts’, a report has found. |
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Transition fund carve up leaves Wolverhampton feeling ‘robbed’
04/03/2016 Analysis by the BBC has found stark differences in the levels of transition funds being provided to councils across the country. |
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Scotland’s council tax reforms ‘an offence against local democracy’
04/03/2016 Local government leaders in Scotland have described Government council tax reforms as ‘bizarre’ and warned they will merely add more red tape. |
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Welsh councils launch autism awareness campaign
04/03/2016 A new programme has been launched to raise awareness of autism among primary school children in Wales. |
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Review of school places ordered after council alters admissions process
04/03/2016 Bolton Council is to check whether any children missed out on their preferred school after an investigation found the authority had changed admissions criteria without informing parents. |
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Deptford bids to ‘get back its mojo’ with new parish council
02/03/2016 A campaign has been launched to establish London’s second parish council under the Localism Act. |
