Think tank calls for levy to fund digital inclusion
Glasgow set for 20mph speed limit
Approval given for council's landlord licensing scheme
New housing developments slammed for 'mediocre and poor' design
Simple steps to improve cybersecurity
Sameer Dixit argues security is a weak point in councils' armour and outlines ways local authorities can anticipate and plan for cyberattacks.
Manchester becomes 'early adopter' of Hackitt Review
20/01/2020 Manchester City Council has joined three other councils to become an ‘early adopter’ of the recommendations made in the Hackitt Review. |
Council prepares to approve £306m investment strategy
20/01/2020 A multi-million pound investment strategy that will see the delivery of 2,000 new homes is set to be approved by Oldham Council. |
Number of build-to-rent homes rises over 50% mark
17/01/2020 New figures reveal that the total number of newly completed build-to-rent homes across the UK, excluding London, increased by over 50% last year. |
Whitehall announces £3.4m investment in wireless charging tech
17/01/2020 The Government has announced that it is investing £3.4m in wireless charging technology trials at taxi ranks in Nottingham. |
Islington Council launches electric vehicle charging partnership
16/01/2020 An electric vehicle charging partnership with Islington Council was launched yesterday as part of the London borough’s push to reduce harmful air pollution. |
Scottish councils sign £700m contract to ‘transform waste’
16/01/2020 Five Scottish councils have signed a contract that will see up to 190,000 tonnes of black bag waste diverted from landfill and converted to low carbon energy. |
Council to launch ‘town-wide’ creative skills project
16/01/2020 Luton Council has decided not to bid to be the City of Culture in 2025 but instead will launch a town-wide creative skills project. |
Boost for Yorkshire leaders committee talks
15/01/2020 Local government secretary Robert Jenrick has agreed to talks on the role and functions of a new committee of leaders from across Yorkshire. |
Charity drops legal action against Glasgow Council
15/01/2020 Shelter has dropped legal action against Glasgow City Council after the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) announced it was intervening. |
NI council chiefs call for investment to ‘unlock potential of local government'
13/01/2020 Local authority leaders in Northern Ireland have welcomed the draft deal which is set to restore the executive at Stormont and have called for more devolution to the local level. |
Councils call for new powers to verify mobile phone coverage
10/01/2020 Council leaders have argued Ofcom should be given the power to independently verify mobile phone coverage. |
Plans for ‘universal’ school inspections launched
10/01/2020 Ofsted will visit all schools judged to be outstanding within the next five academic years, the Government has announced. |
Northamptonshire unitaries to save £86m
09/01/2020 Local government reorganisation in Northamptonshire will cost just over £40m, according to the early official estimates. |
Reorganisation in Somerset would 'cut waste and save money'
08/01/2020 A single, unitary authority for Somerset would deliver a predicted saving of £35-£47m, according to new research. |
Oxford councils propose UK’s first Zero Emission Zone
08/01/2020 The final draft proposals for the UK’s first city centre Zero Emission Zone (ZEZ) have been published as part of a drive to reduce Oxford’s ‘toxic air pollution levels’. |
Eight councils to receive £20,000 to develop ‘behavioural insights’
08/01/2020 Eight local authorities are to receive £20,000 each in order to help them develop new ways to change the behaviour of residents as part of an effort to reduce demand on overstretched councils. |
New hubs to support struggling schools
07/01/2020 Struggling schools are set to receive extra support from some of the country’s top schools. |
‘Toughen up’ fly-tipping sentences, council chiefs say
06/01/2020 Local authority leaders have called for tougher sentences for fly-tippers as the latest figures reveal that offences have increased by 50% in six years |
Agency calls for more families to consider adoption
03/01/2020 A regional adoption agency has urged more people to consider adoption as a route to building or extending their family. |
Pilot areas announced as part of effort to ‘rejuvenate’ high streets
02/01/2020 The Government has announced 14 new pilot areas that will receive tailored expert support to assist in rejuvenating their town centres. |
Road run-off 'is pollution risk to London rivers'
02/01/2020 Sadiq Khan has called for more Government cash to tackle road run-off after a ‘pioneering’ study found that it is a pollution risk to the capital’s rivers. |
Charity calls for devolution to end ‘nightmare rail journeys’
02/01/2020 A charity has called for a radical overhaul of the UK’s rail services including giving city authorities more control over the management of regional networks. |
Over 12,000 Blue Badges granted to people with ‘hidden disabilities’
02/01/2020 Thousands of people with hidden disabilities have benefitted from the Government’s extended Blue Badge scheme, new figures reveal. |
Council invests in 50 robots to aid distance learning
23/12/2019 Children in Somerset who miss school due to illness will soon be able to continue their lessons thanks to the use of robots. |
Seven councils bid to be next London Borough of Culture
23/12/2019 Seven boroughs from across the capital have been invited to City Hall to present their bid to be the next London Borough of Culture. |
West Midlands bus passenger numbers ‘rocket’ by eight million
19/12/2019 The number of people catching the bus in the West Midlands has increased by almost eight million over the last year thanks to major investment in the network. |
Council ditches plastic parking tickets
19/12/2019 Brent Council has announced it is stopping the use of plastic parking tickets and replacing them with an environmentally friendly replacement. |
Cornwall Council launches tree planting drive
18/12/2019 Cornwall Council’s flagship climate emergency project the Forest for Cornwall will be officially launched next week at a community planting day in Saltash. |
Rough sleeping in Greater Manchester down by nearly 40%
18/12/2019 Mayor of Greater Manchester urges the Government to do more to help the homeless as figures reveal rough sleeping has fallen by 37% in one year. |
Siemens launches 'great model' for EV charging network
17/12/2019 Siemens Mobility has announced a partnership to deliver a series of charging hubs and more than 120 electric vehicle connections across the West of England. |
City of London Corporation launches UK’s first 24/7 zero emission street
17/12/2019 A busy thoroughfare in the City of London is set to become the UK’s first street where polluting vehicles are banned all year round. |
Warrington council opens £20.5m railway station
17/12/2019 Warrington Borough Council has announced the official opening of the town’s new multi-million pound railway station. |
Community ownership in Scotland on the rise
11/12/2019 New figures have revealed that community ownership is on the increase in Scotland. |
London borough rejects insourcing children’s services
11/12/2019 Kingston LBC had considered returning services from a wholly-owned company when their contract ends in 2021. |
Top 100: Our most popular local government stories of 2019
10/12/2019 From calls to a 10% pay rise for council staff to declaring a climate change emergency, here is our countdown of the 100 most popular stories on LocalGov during 2019. |
Scotland’s bottle deposit scheme should cover other materials, MSPs say
10/12/2019 Scotland’s bottle deposit scheme should include cartons and other plastics, a report has urged today. |
Garden Communities set to deliver over 400,000 homes
09/12/2019 Garden city developments are set to deliver over 400,000 new homes, the equivalent to a city the size of Birmingham, new research has revealed. |
£131m sea defences given the go-ahead
05/12/2019 Permission for sea defences in Portsmouth has been granted in what has been described as an ‘important milestone’ for the city's flood protection measures. |
Colourful bins have ‘significant impact’ on recycling
04/12/2019 A pilot scheme aimed at boosting recycling in Leeds city centre has seen 1.2 million coffee cups recycled in one year. |
Councils welcome education improvements in Wales
04/12/2019 Council leaders in Wales have welcomed improvements to all areas of the country’s education system. |
Scottish residents ‘excited’ about digitisation
03/12/2019 Eight in 10 Scottish citizens believe their local councils should embrace a wider range of digital technologies, a poll has revealed. |
Council adopts new grass cutting approach to save bees
02/12/2019 Hertfordshire County Council is set to try out a new approach to grass cutting in an attempt to preserve wildflowers and the bees who rely on them. |
Report highlights nine inspirational towns
29/11/2019 A collection of case studies to show how towns can prevent decline and create new opportunities for change has been published. |
Regional inequality in UK is worst than comparable countries, says think tank
27/11/2019 Regional inequalities in the UK are ‘far worse than in any comparable country’, a think tank has warned today. |
Halving regional productivity gap would boost economy by £83bn
26/11/2019 The UK economy could be boosted by £83bn per year if regions with below average productivity could close just half of their shortfall, according to a new report. |
Poll reveals ‘high levels’ of trust in social enterprises
22/11/2019 Nine out of 10 people would prefer public services were outsourced to social enterprises over the private sector, research reveals. |
Think tank calls for ‘devolution parliament’
20/11/2019 Think tank calls for the delivery of a ‘devolution parliament’ in order to address the economic, environmental and democratic challenges facing the UK. |
Calls for 'genuine devolution' by incoming Government
18/11/2019 The chairman of the County Councils Network has called on any new government to implement 'genuine devolution'. |
Labour pledges free fast broadband
15/11/2019 A future Labour government will nationalise BT's Openreach operations to provide free full-fibre broadband to every home in the country, the party has announced. |
Cities can address climate crisis by ‘joining the dots’ between sectors
14/11/2019 Cities can help protect the environment by linking up their policies on transport, energy and the built environment, according to campaigners. |
A new whitepaper – produced by BT - looks set to dispel the myths surrounding ‘future networks’ and achieving a smarter digital future for organisations.
Download a new White Paper on dealing with the new EU General Data Protection Regulation
Retro-fitting councils around the 21st century
The MJ and BT recently conducted a survey of local authority directors to find out how they believe 5G will affect their organisations. The conclusions formed part of the discussion at a round table debate on how the new technology will impact local public services. Martin Ford reports.
Staying ahead of the curve at Cardiff Council
As well as providing services for Cardiff Council's array of offices, PSBA’s network solutions are also used by 51,000 pupils, across 127 schools in the city.
Keeping the Welsh public safe with PSBA’s network
How PSBA’s network services are helping Dyfed-Powys Police to forge cost-effective links with communities and localities.
Prepare for the 5G revolution
Local authorities are aware 5G is imminent and could have a dramatic effect on their frontline services according to a survey by The MJ and BT.
True-blue network
Find out how PSBA provides true-blue network to North Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
Changing the way teams in Gwynedd work with PSBA’s services
How PSBA has helped improve productivity at Gwynedd Council.
