Planning and Housing

‘Fundamental rethink’ on social housing needed as Javid brings forward green paper

20.09.17: A wide-ranging, top-to-bottom green paper on social housing is to be brought forward by the government, Sajid Javid has this week announced. Speaking at the National Housing Federation conference yesterday, the communities secretary vowed t...

Councils sceptical of major DCLG reform to assess housing need

15.09.17: The DCLG has this week launched a consultation on a new way of assessing housing need to ensure local areas are given the appropriate funding to drive housebuilding. The measures will mean that more homes are built in areas where it is unaf...

Just eight council housing buildings pass key fire safety tests

11.09.17: Just eight social housing buildings in England that are over 18 metres tall have passed a key safety cladding systems test – in contrast with the stark 165 towers that were deemed not to comply with proper fire regulations. In a state...

Birmingham to build 100 social homes on former pubs and garages

11.09.17: Birmingham City Council will tap into an innovative contractor system to deliver 107 new homes for social rent on small sites such as redundant garages and former pubs in what the authority promises to be “a win for the economy”. ...

Councils call for DCLG to lift planning fees freeze

01.09.17: Local government leaders have ramped up the pressure on the government to urgently bring forward its Housing White Paper commitment to allow councils to increase planning fees. The LGA has also called for a fair and transparent scheme of lo...

Islington closes loophole that left thousands with accidental tax break

31.08.17: A London local authority has finally taken action to close a significant loophole which meant thousands of landlords were dodging paying any council tax despite renting their flats out to tourists and visitors. Islington Council noticed tha...

Time to revisit community engagement and rebuild trust

30.08.17: The Grenfell Tower disaster revealed a number of sizeable flaws in building health and safety regulations in the UK. PSE’s Josh Mines talks to Dr Karen McDonnell, occupational health and safety policy adviser at the Royal Society for the P...

Council cracks down on rogue landlords with harsh housing penalties

24.08.17: Nottingham City Council has announced it will use a new set of legal powers aimed at stamping out rogue landlords and agents in the area. Changes made to the Housing and Planning Act 2016 have allowed the council to issue Civil Penalty noti...

London council wins first of its kind legal battle against letting agent

22.08.17: Islington Council in London has successfully prosecuted a letting agent for falsely issuing renters “sham licenses” that suggested residents had no right to challenge eviction, in the first trial of its kind in England. The &lsq...

Broken housing market means cost of repairs as steep as new builds

21.08.17: Councils have once again sent warnings about the sluggish rate of housebuilding in England as it was revealed that the average new home will have to last 2,000 years if the current rate of housebuilding and replacement continues. In new ana...

Khan reveals new rules to ‘fast track’ affordable housing developments

16.08.17: New planning rules have today been set out by the mayor of London that will allow for a major increase to the number of affordable developments in the capital. Plans in Sadiq Khan’s Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) will aim to ra...

Two in three renters never expect to own a property

14.08.17: Nearly two in three people renting in England never expect to buy their own property as they fear they will not be able to afford it. The shocking figures in the latest English Housing Survey also saw a rise in renters saying that affordabi...

Central meets local in One Public Estate

14.08.17: The LGA’s One Public Estate (OPE) programme director, Brian Reynolds, tells PSE’s Luana Salles about the scheme’s unique partnership between Whitehall and local government just as its sixth round of funding kicks off. When...

Wembley Park rental development gets £65m DCLG boost

04.08.17: The biggest development of homes for the private rental sector being built in Wembley is to receive a £65m cash injection from DCLG. The extra funds are expected to unlock 7,600 additional new, high-quality homes at the Wembley Park d...

Cabinet Office opens sixth funding round of One Public Estate

01.08.17: A £54m package to enable councils to release unused or surplus land for housing has today been launched by the DCLG in partnership with the One Public Estate (OPE). The government will provide £45m of the cash through its new La...