New leader appointed for WLGA
Council chiefs warn of ‘fake toys’ danger
Future Forum North: Rotherham flood response hampered by scandal
Leeds council set to launch inquiry into the use of fireworks
Providing sanctuary for refugees
Neil Merrick finds out what councils across the country are doing to welcome and resettle Syrian refugees.
Prosecutions for Blue Badge fraud up by 18% in past year
05/12/2019 A third of councils in England do not have a policy in place to prosecute people for Blue Badge fraud, new figures have revealed today. |
Students urge Whitehall to lower voting age to 16
05/12/2019 Student representatives have called on the next UK Government to follow Wales and Scotland in lowering the voting age to 16. |
Khan urged to make transport ‘fairer’ for Londoners on low incomes
04/12/2019 A think tank has called on Mayor Khan to make public transport more affordable for lower-income residents in London. |
Sky announces plans for ‘state-of-the-art’ studio in Elstree
04/12/2019 Sky’s plans to build a 32-acre TV and film studio at Elstree could lead to 2000 new jobs for the local economy, the telecommunications company says. |
TPA hits out at council art collections
04/12/2019 The Tax Payers’ Alliance has also hit out at councils across the UK for owning art collections worth nearly £1.9bn and only displaying less than a third of the pieces. |
Party commitments on council funding ‘starkly’ different, think tank says
03/12/2019 Money allocated to local government in the Conservative manifesto would not be enough to meet rising costs over the next parliament, think tank says. |
Fire chiefs call for sprinklers in four-storey high buildings
03/12/2019 Fire chiefs have called for the lowering of the threshold for the use of sprinklers in high rise blocks of flats in the wake of the recent Bolton fire. |
A child loses their home ‘every eight minutes’, charity says
03/12/2019 The number of children without a home in Britain is at the highest it has been in 12 years, a homelessness charity has revealed. |
Bristol backpedals on diesel vehicle acquisition
03/12/2019 Bristol City Council has suspended its roll-out of a new vehicle fleet after purchasing dozens of diesel vehicles despite a planned city centre diesel ban. |
‘Greta Effect’ puts climate change on local agenda
02/12/2019 Urban council leaders and elected mayors now rank the climate emergency among the most important issues British cities face, a new study has revealed. |
Councils voice concerns at smoke alarm failure rate
02/12/2019 Council leaders have warned that almost 40% of battery-powered smoke alarms failed to activate in residential fires last year. |
Nearly 14 million people live in areas with ‘shoe-in seats’ say campaigners
02/12/2019 Nearly 200 seats have not changed party hands since World War II, campaigners have warned today. |
Planning system is ‘failing’ children’s rights, says report
29/11/2019 The planning system is neglecting the rights and needs of children, a new report has warned today. |
Lib Dems unveil plans to tackle homelessness
28/11/2019 The Liberal Democrats have set out a raft of plans to end rough sleeping if they won the General Election. |
Manchester calls in Uber for urgent meeting
28/11/2019 Uber's troubles have continued with Manchester City Council revealing it has requested an urgent meeting with the company over concerns regarding licensing rules. |
Glasgow considering default 20mph limit
27/11/2019 Councillors in Glasgow have recommended the adoption of 20mph speed limit for most roads in the city, but with limited, if any, traffic calming measures. |
'Huge' increase in voter registration
27/11/2019 The number of people registering to vote as increased by 31% compared to the 2017 general election, new figures reveal. |
Council wins battle to ban anti LGBT protests
26/11/2019 Birmingham City Council has won a court battle to permanently ban anti-LGBT protests outside a local primary school. |
No parties would reduce child poverty, warns think tank
26/11/2019 None of the party manifestos would reduce levels of child poverty, new research from the Resolution Foundation has found. |
Landscape to deliver growth 'needs simplified'
26/11/2019 The head of the Institute of Economic Development has hit out at England’s ‘dazzling array of bodies and schemes’ to deliver growth that are ‘confusing even to seasoned commentators’. |
Private renters overspending £11bn a year on rent
26/11/2019 Private renters in England are spending £11bn more a year on rent than they can afford, new research has shown. |
Tories promise cash boost for infrastructure and skills
25/11/2019 A Conservative Government would deliver record investments in infrastructure, childcare and skills, according to the party’s manifesto. |
Uber loses licence to operate in London
25/11/2019 Transport for London (TfL) has ruled against granting Uber a new private hire operator’s licence, deeming it to 'not be fit and proper' to hold one. |
Welsh council tops Recycling Carbon Index
25/11/2019 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council has been named as the best recycler in the UK in terms of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions it has saved. |
Councils taking ‘zero tolerance’ approach to community posters
25/11/2019 Nearly half of councils remove all posters put up by community groups, a new investigation has revealed. |
Tories pledge to create ‘more homeowners’
22/11/2019 The Conservative Party has pledged to help renters buy their home and to give first time buyers discounts. |
Nearly £11bn of London property ‘sitting empty’
22/11/2019 Over 22,000 properties are sitting empty across Greater London, new research has revealed. |
Labour promises biggest council house building programme for decades
21/11/2019 Labour has pledged to create a 'housing revolution' with the biggest council house building programme since the Second World War. |
Nearly 700 children a day at risk of domestic violence
21/11/2019 Many children facing domestic abuse are failing to get the support they need because of a 'postcode lottery, a new report has warned today. |
Change law to enable volunteers to respond to disasters, Red Cross says
20/11/2019 The British Red Cross is calling for the law to be changed so that voluntary groups are included in planning responses to emergencies and disasters. |
Families forced into homelessness by ‘unaffordable’ housing
20/11/2019 A charity has warned families are being pushed into homelessness as figures reveal nine in 10 homes are unaffordable to families relying on housing benefit. |
Council accidentally cuts down 800 young trees
20/11/2019 Reading Borough Council has apologised to community volunteers after accidentally digging up hundreds of newly planted saplings. |
Lincolnshire health visitors to strike amid pay dispute with council
19/11/2019 A number of health visitors in Lincolnshire started a month-long strike yesterday over what they describe as the council’s ‘divide and rule’ policy. |
Manchester embraces recycled eco Christmas lights
19/11/2019 Manchester is claiming to be the first city in the UK to use recycled 'eco' lights for its Christmas display this year. |
Benefits payments at lowest level since 1948, says think tank
19/11/2019 Social security payments are at their lowest level since the 1948, a new report from a think tank has found. |
Third of young people not registered to vote, commission warns
19/11/2019 Young people risk missing their chance to vote unless they register quickly, the Electoral Commission has warned. |
Welsh teenagers set to get the vote in local government ‘overhaul’
18/11/2019 A new law to give 16- and 17-year-olds in Wales the vote in local council elections has been unveiled by the Welsh government. |
Child poverty in working households up by 800,000, TUC finds
18/11/2019 The number of children growing up in poverty in working households has shot up by 38% since 2010, according to the TUC. |
Planners call for stronger direction to tackle climate change
18/11/2019 Stronger direction from the Government and more resources are needed to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, according to town planners. |
‘Horrifying’ lack of support for vulnerable men
18/11/2019 Only three councils are providing accommodation for male victims of domestic violence, a new investigation has revealed. |
Calls for councils to be given more power over empty properties
15/11/2019 A major union has called for councils to be allowed to take over empty properties to house people on waiting lists. |
Temporary accommodation costing councils £1bn a year
15/11/2019 A dramatic increase in the amount of money councils spend on temporary accommodation for the homeless is 'shocking yet entirely preventable', according to leading campaigners. |
Food bank use ‘shoots up’ by a quarter in one year
14/11/2019 The number of people using food banks has shot up by nearly a quarter in the last year, according to one of the main providers. |
Children’s personal data ‘secretly’ passed to Home Office
13/11/2019 A data watchdog has criticised the Department for Education (DfE) for secretly passing children’s personal data to the Home Office for immigration enforcement. |
Charity blasts ‘broken’ debt collection system
13/11/2019 Local authorities have been criticised for using bailiffs to collect unpaid council tax from struggling households. |
London councils ‘fail’ to challenge inequality, campaigners say
13/11/2019 Many London councils are failing to challenge poverty and inequality, according to campaigners. |
Oakervee report 'backs full HS2 network'
12/11/2019 The Oakervee review into HS2, commissioned by the government, has recommended the full high speed rail network go ahead including the eastern leg, according to reports. |
Council sets out plan to build 1,000 social homes
12/11/2019 Nottingham City Council has committed to building or buying 1,000 council houses and creating thousands of new jobs over the next decade. |
Index shows large variation in England's incusive schools
12/11/2019 Schools in London are the most inclusive in England, new analysis has revealed today. |
Oxford and Reading top city performance list
11/11/2019 Cities have largely recovered economically from the 2007/08 financial crisis but must now focus on housing affordability and health-related issues, according to PwC and Demos. |
This issue of Local Government News explores how councils can tackle modern slavery and trafficking in their supply chains, finds out more about Cambridge's first cohousing scheme and the launch of a new project to build a shared service pattern library for local government.
This issue also contains a special focus on children's services and how councils are protecting children following local safeguarding children boards being abolished.
