Declaring a climate change emergency
Local authorities can play a key role in tackling climate change – and there is plenty for them to do. Never before has thinking globally and acting locally been more important, says Mark Whitehead.
£5.2bn council funding gap is 'underestimate', says LGA
22/08/2019 The Local Government Association (LGA) will argue the sector faces a £5.2bn funding gap in 2020/21 despite believing figure is an underestimate. |
Crime-fighting funds in scarce supply - survey
21/08/2019 Three out of four UK council chief executives and leaders do not have access to enough funding to tackle rising levels of violent youth crime, a survey has found. |
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14/08/2019 ‘Indicative numbers’ for the amount councils will receive in 2020/21 will not be published before next month’s Spending Review, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has admitted after it missed a self-imposed deadline. |
New management model with no chief approved
25/07/2019 Redcar and Cleveland BC hopes to save about £220,000 per year after scrapping its chief executive role as part of a new management model. |
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. |
Council to appeal 'town hall Pravdas' ruling
14/06/2019 Waltham Forest LBC will appeal after a judge backed Government attempts to stop it publishing a council newspaper every two weeks. |
Call for leader to quit after 'repeated failures'
05/06/2019 Shadow local government secretary Andrew Gwynne has called for Northamptonshire CC leader, Matt Golby, to quit after ‘repeated failures’ in the council’s children’s services. |
NAO to wade into fair funding review
05/06/2019 The National Audit Office (NAO) is gearing up to scrutinise the Government’s divisive fair funding review, The MJ can reveal. |
Government pays £15m to councils after business rate 'error'
03/06/2019 The Government may have to pay out up to £15m to councils after it made yet another error in its business rate pilot administration. |
'Slow progress' two years after inadequate judgement
24/05/2019 Gloucestershire CC is making ‘slow progress’ in improving its services for its children and young people two years after it was judged inadequate, Ofsted has found. |
Council tax system needs 'fundamental reform'
16/05/2019 The council tax system is ‘highly regressive and unsustainable,’ and needs ‘fundamental reform,’ progressive think-tank IPPR has argued. |
Delay to Northamptonshire reorganisation welcomed
14/05/2019 Council leaders have welcomed the year-long delay to plans to create two new unitaries in Northamptonshire. |
Security fears after candidate addresses published
02/05/2019 Security concerns have been raised after a loophole forced councils to publish the home addresses of candidates standing in the EU elections. |
Hopes for legislative backing behind new code
24/04/2019 An overhaul of financial management in councils could be enshrined in law, according to a consultation that stakeholders must respond to within days to influence. |
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. |
Council buys office to generate income
15/04/2019 South Cambridgeshire DC has made a £13m investment in a high-quality office building to generate an initial net return of around 5.6%. |
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. |
Review finds lack of due diligence over council's commercial workspace project
21/03/2019 King’s Lynn & West Norfolk BC should ‘build on the lessons learned’ from the construction of a state-of-the-art commercial workspace, the council’s chief executive has said. |
NAO floats auditing overhaul
13/03/2019 The way auditors examine council accounts could be overhauled, the National Audit Office (NAO) has suggested. |
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. |
The June issue of Local Government News contains the full details of all the winning schemes in the 2019 Street Design Awards. From Children's Play to Pedestrian Environment, find out who has been recognised for their innovation and use of best practice.
This issue also explores how local government pension funds can hedge currency risk, how councils can best address the shortfall in school places, and an update on the number of authorities banning the use of Roundup over safety fears.
