Planning and Housing

Twelve councils given first share of £400m fund to remove unsafe tower block cladding

18.10.18: The government has released the first £248m share of funding for councils to start removing unsafe cladding from their high-rise tower blocks. Twelve local authorities and 31 housing associations have been told that they will receive...

Grenfell council spent £30m on hotels with survivors still waiting to be rehoused

08.10.18: The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) has spent nearly £30m on hotels for the survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire. Sixteen months after the fatal fire, more than 150 households are still waiting to move into a permanent...

Council faces £21m bill to replace 17,000 doors after fire safety test failures

05.10.18: Hackney Council will fit 17,000 new fireproof doors as the local authority faces a £21m bill to bring homes up to building safety regulations. Fire resistance testing has revealed that thousands of the council’s door stock don&r...

Councils given greater housing powers as May abolishes strict cap

03.10.18: Councils will soon receive long-awaited greater powers in building new homes following Theresa May’s announcement of the removal of a strict housing cap. In the prime minister’s Conservative party conference speech today, May sa...

Westminster City Council to bring ALMO housing scheme back in-house after performance concerns

21.09.18: Westminster City Council is bringing its arms-length housing body back under the authority’s control as a key Cabinet member claimed there was “no option” other than the move. CityWest Homes— the housing organisation...

Theresa May announces £2bn funding for affordable housing

19.09.18: Theresa May has announced £2bn in new funding for housing associations. Speaking at the National Housing Federation (NHF) summit in London today, the prime minister promised the extra money, intended to help long-term construction dec...

Increases in land value is ‘fundamentally about fairness’ and should benefit local communities, say MPs

14.09.18: Significant increases in the value of land resulting from public policy decisions should be shared with local communities say MPs. The report from the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has looked at how this land value inc...

Pioneering the future of housing

10.09.18: In an ideal world, housing should follow infrastructure rather than the other way around, says County Councils Network (CCN) Conservative vice-chairman and leader of Staffordshire County Council, Philip Atkins. In June, CCN held its first-e...

Grenfell Tower: Kensington council worker charged with fraud offences

30.08.18: A woman who worked for the Royal Borough Kensington and Chelsea Council has been charged with fraud offences relating to the Grenfell Tower fire. Jenny McDonagh, 39, from Abbey Wood, was charged today with two counts of fraud by abuse of po...

Yorkshire council chiefs threaten pull out of asylum seeker housing project

20.08.18: Council bosses in Yorkshire are considering pulling out of an asylum seeker programme that gives homes to over 5,000 people unless the current project is changed.    In a letter to home secretary Sajid Javid, leaders from the 14 l...

Government funding up for grabs as Brokenshire opens up garden communities project

15.08.18: The communities secretary has called for a boost to garden towns across England in a new announcement for a garden communities project. Under the plans released today, James Brokenshire claims the programme will lead to more high-quality ho...

Up to 2,500 homes on the way as part of York Central development proposals submitted

14.08.18: Around 6,500 jobs and a 20% surge in the local economy are expected after landmark new plans were submitted for planning permission in York. Making use of one of the largest city-centre brownfield sites in the UK, the York Central Partnersh...

Social housing green paper only small step compared to ‘huge need’ for affordable homes, LGA says

14.08.18: The government’s social housing green paper is “only a small step” in delivering more social homes says the UK’s largest local government body. Government proposals to give social housing residents greater support in...

Manchester approves £1bn plans for 15,000 new homes as part of Northern Gateway

26.07.18: Manchester City Council has approved 15,000 new homes over the next 15-20 years as part of the city’s ambitious ‘Northern Gateway’ project. Following a Cabinet meeting yesterday, the proposals, which include 3,000 affordab...

Haringey Council ditches £2bn housing partnership with private developer

19.07.18: Haringey Council has ditched plans for a £2bn collaboration with a property developer that could have brought over 6,000 homes to the area over the next 20 years. The council, who were labelled “negligent and in denial” ov...