Cornwall Council announces ‘ground-breaking’ joint leadership role
Next London mayor must ‘forge’ new template for devolution
Tees Valley mayor strikes ‘landmark deal’ on former steelwork land
Mayor calls for English Barnett Formula
The accessibility challenge
How Bracknell Forest Council's ‘digital-first' approach propels them to high web accessibility ranking.
Five cities rated 'A' in fight against climate change
20/02/2020 Five UK cities have been named as leaders in climate change and transparency by CDP. |
Time for planning appeals 'halved' since Rosewell Review
19/02/2020 The time taken to make decisions on planning appeals has halved since the publication of the Rosewel Review a year ago. |
Council gets ‘green light’ to set up trading company
18/02/2020 Plans to set up a new council-run trading company to manage 79 new homes in Kingston have been given the go ahead. |
Councils set out joint vision for £100m transport transformation
18/02/2020 Derby City Council and Nottingham City Council have submitted a bid for over £100m funding to enhance transport links between the two cities. |
Grants offered to improve road safety
14/02/2020 A road safety organisation is offering grants to explore how technology can reduce road offending and improve road safety. |
Report identifies 16 policy levers for promoting inclusive growth
11/02/2020 Inclusive growth requires a ‘sustained campaign for change across multiple fronts,’ according to a new report that identifies 16 policy levers councils can pull. |
Lewisham named London Borough of Culture 2021
11/02/2020 Lewisham is to get the opportunity to showcase its cultural voice after being named London Borough of Culture 2021. |
Freeports ‘will need to justify special status’
10/02/2020 Government plans to open up to 10 'Freeports' in the UK have been met with scepticism, despite claims that they would ‘unlock a new era of jobs and prosperity’. |
Council leadership needs to have oversight of the entire AI system
10/02/2020 Council leaders need to provide ‘proper accountability’ for AI technology and staff cannot take a ‘computer says no’ approach, according to the chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. |
Councillors look abroad to learn how to ‘deliver a high street renaissance’
07/02/2020 District councils are looking to Belgium for ideas about how to revitalize town centres. |
Council saves £1m by using AI to repair roads
04/02/2020 Blackpool Council has managed to save £1m and filled in more than 5,000 potholes by using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to detect road damage. |
Borough seeking unitary status sparks spending row
03/02/2020 A row over council spending has broken out between a county council and a borough authority that is seeking unitary status. |
West Midlands towns set up board to unlock £3.6bn of funding
31/01/2020 Newcastle-under-Lyme and Kidsgrove are pushing ahead with ambitious plans to unlock millions of pounds of Government investment designed to give towns a boost. |
Environment Bill to give councils ‘clear framework’ to tackle pollution
30/01/2020 Local authorities will have a clear framework for tackling air pollution with the introduction of the Environment Bill, according to the Government. |
Councils to fast track 'beautiful buildings'
30/01/2020 Councils will be encouraged to speed up the planning process for ‘beautiful buildings’ through a new ‘Fast Track for Beauty’ rule. |
Edinburgh council announces aim to be a ‘million tree city’
29/01/2020 Edinburgh City Council has announced that it is working on an ‘action plan’ aimed at increasing the number of trees in the city to one million. |
Ministers in Leeds to thrash out devo deal
28/01/2020 The West Yorkshire Combined Authority is meeting with ministers today to start thrashing out a devolution deal for the Leeds City Region. |
Brighton considers becoming a ‘car-free’ city
28/01/2020 Brighton & Hove City councillors have agreed to look into the possibility of the city becoming ‘car-free’ by 2023. |
Welsh government announces £90m package to revive ‘struggling’ town centres
27/01/2020 The Welsh government has announced a £90m investment package to revive struggling town centres across the country. |
Government announces £2.4m ‘boost’ to improve sports teaching
27/01/2020 Schools are set to receive a £1.6m funding boost that will help them provide more sports activities to pupils after school and during the holidays. |
Think tank calls for levy to fund digital inclusion
24/01/2020 A think tank has called for reform of the Banking Levy on banks and financial service providers to fund the delivery of digital inclusion schemes. |
Leeds council launches electric vehicle trial
24/01/2020 Leeds City Council has launched a new scheme giving businesses, organisations and charities in West Yorkshire the opportunity to drive electric vans free of charge for up to two months. |
Glasgow set for 20mph speed limit
23/01/2020 Glasgow City Council has approved plans to introduce a 20mph speed limit across most of its roads. |
Approval given for council's landlord licensing scheme
22/01/2020 A large-scale selective licensing scheme in Waltham Forest has been approved by the Government. |
New housing developments slammed for 'mediocre and poor' design
21/01/2020 Three-quarters of new housing developments should not have been approved due to their ‘poor’ or ‘mediocre’ design, a new report from campaigners has found. |
Kettering to create town council
20/01/2020 A new town council is to be created as part of local government reorganisation in Northamptonshire. |
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. |
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
Lessons for digital change from the new unitaries
Some nine months on from the creation of two new unitary councils in Dorset, what have been the lessons learned from establishing a new organisation and implementing change programmes, especially digital change? Chief executives from councils in the South West discussed the issue at a recent round table debate in the New Forest hosted by The MJ and BT.
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.
