Jason Stockwood, ex-chair of Grimsby Town FC, has plan for keeping rival Andrea Jenkyns from implementing US-style cuts
Labour can beat Reform UK by focusing relentlessly on the cost of living, the party’s mayoral candidate for Greater Lincolnshire, who is taking on the Conservative defector Andrea Jenkyns, has said.
Jason Stockwood, the former chair of Grimsby Town football club, is standing for Labour in the most high-profile mayoral race of the local elections.
Continue reading...Stephen Timms, social security and disability minister, says government is ‘fully supporting’ people who would always be unable to work
The Reform UK press conference is about to start. There is a live feed here.
Nigel Farage is going to announce that 29 councillors have defected to his party, according to the Guido Fawkes website.
Continue reading...London council’s policy of offering people homes far from the area led to England’s highest number of refusals
A Labour-run London council left more than 100 families homeless without support last year after they refused to be relocated outside the borough, the Observer can reveal.
Freedom of information data from about 80% of English councils shows that they ended their legal duties to 615 households who refused offers of housing outside the local authority area in 2024 – but this national total is heavily skewed.
Continue reading...Uncollected food waste ‘poses public health danger’ as 400 workers take indefinite action over pay and conditions
A bin collection strike in Birmingham could lead to rats thriving on a “banquet” of food waste and pose a public health danger, pest controllers have said.
About 400 council bin workers in Birmingham began an indefinite strike on Tuesday as part of a dispute over pay and conditions.
Continue reading...Levies on tourists and cruise ships considered by some local authorities in attempt to plug funding gaps
Council tax costs in Scotland will hit record levels next month after local authorities agreed to raise rates by up to 15%, with some planning new levies on tourists and cruise ships.
All of Scotland’s 32 local authorities have announced council tax increases from April of at least 6%, with the majority raising them by about 10%, after years of successive cuts to their grant funding.
Continue reading...Survey reveals senior officials think changes will do little to address local authorities’ dire financial crisis
Ministers’ plans to shake up the structure of English local government by merging councils are “ill-thought-out”, “insane” and a “bizarre diversion” that will fail to deliver savings, according to a survey of town hall leaders.
The depth of unhappiness with the plans is revealed in an annual poll of senior councillors and executives, most of whom said the changes would be costly, time-consuming and do little to address the dire financial crisis facing councils.
Continue reading...Guardian analysis lays bare a neglected system that is ruinously expensive, and often fails children and parents
The alarming details of the special educational needs financial crisis in English local authorities are buried deep in internal council papers but the reality of the situation is crystal-clear to those close to it. “It’s a ticking timebomb,” one town hall boss told the Guardian. “It’s what keeps me awake at night.”
Budget reports, schools forum minutes and financial planning documents help tell a story of a system woefully unprepared for the explosion in numbers of children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in recent years, chronically underfunded to meet the growing demand, and now struggling to keep afloat.
Continue reading...Resolution Foundation report says failure to reform has ‘slowly recreated the issues that undid the poll tax’
Britain’s poorest households are paying an increasing share of their income on council tax, according to new analysis that likened it to the poll tax that contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher.
The poorest fifth of households paid 4.8% of their income on council tax in England, Wales and Scotland and on domestic rates in Northern Ireland in the 2020-21 financial year, up from 2.9% in 2002-3, according to research by the Resolution Foundation.
Continue reading...Legalise Loos initiative intended to halt slump in number of conveniences in town centres, parks and other locations
It will involve spending more than a penny, but it’s a call that is likely to be viewed sympathetically by anyone who has ever been caught short while out and about.
A campaign has been launched to make the provision of public toilets a legal requirement for central government and local authorities after a slump in the number of loos in town centres, parks and other locations.
Continue reading...Local authorities urged to intervene earlier and charity preparing to launch dedicated support group
“I don’t remember ever having had a home-cooked meal,” says Richard, crunching over the food wrappers and crushed cardboard boxes that cover his mother’s kitchen floor.
He glances at the broken cooker, cracked microwave and windows blocked by piles of unwashed mugs, some inexplicably tightly wrapped in cellophane. There are no clear surfaces. Blackened, disintegrating cabinets sag under yet more wreckage. Not an inch of floor can be seen.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Local authority in Surrey declared itself effectively bankrupt in 2023 after series of risky investments
Two former senior figures at bankrupt Woking council are to be investigated by the UK’s accounting watchdog after it racked up more than £2bn in debt on a failed investment spree.
The Surrey council declared itself effectively bankrupt in 2023 after ploughing vast sums of borrowed money into skyscrapers, a luxury hotel and other risky commercial investments, in what was one of the biggest financial failures in local government history.
Continue reading...Sharon Osbourne says husband excited to be awarded Freedom of Birmingham along with other band members
Being awarded the Freedom of Birmingham “means a lot” to Ozzy Osbourne and the members of Black Sabbath, Sharon Osbourne has said, as the city council prepares to approve the honour.
Ozzy, alongside the founding band members, Tony Iommi, Terence Butler and Bill Ward, will be given the honorary title in recognition of their service to the city, with councillors expected to give the go ahead on Tuesday.
Continue reading...At least 12 councils may request postponement of May elections amid government devolution plans
Half of the county councils due to have elections in England this spring could ask to have them postponed.
Local elections are due to take place in 21 county council areas in England in May, but at least 12 of them are poised to ask ministers for a delay, the BBC and the Times reported.
Continue reading...Revellers left disappointed after social media reports of display turn out to be a damp squib
Thousands of people gathered in the centre of Birmingham on New Year’s Eve despite a police warning that the announcement of a fireworks display was false.
Police and the city council had urged revellers not to travel after false reports there would be a spectacular show in Centenary Square.
Continue reading...Campaigners jubilant after government heeded warning 2031 cutoff would mean loss of precious footpaths
A deadline for registering historic rights of way is to be scrapped after a warning that the looming cutoff date could result in the loss of thousands of miles of footpaths.
The last government set a deadline of 2031 for all rights of way in England to be added to an official map, after abandoning a previous commitment to scrap the policy.
Continue reading...James Howells seeking go-ahead to search for hard drive that was accidentally thrown into landfill in 2013
For more than a decade, a computer expert from Newport in south Wales has doggedly fought to recover £500m of bitcoin he says was accidentally thrown into a council tip.
James Howells’ bid to become extremely rich reached a judge on Tuesday with a team of lawyers arguing that it was still possible to launch a hunt for his missing hard drive containing the bitcoin.
Continue reading...Social workers declined to provide short-term foster care for Mazeedat Adeoye whose mother had overstayed visa
A two-year-old girl who drowned in a bin containing 9cm of water in a back garden in east London was a victim of “gross failures” largely by social workers, a coroner has concluded at an inquest.
At the time of her death, Mazeedat Adeoye was being cared for in Dagenham by an acquaintance of her mother, Balikis Adeoye, who had to stay in hospital with Mazeedat’s baby brother when he required urgent heart surgery.
Continue reading...Louise Haigh plans to focus on poorer areas, healthy methods and ability to ‘tap in and tap out seamlessly’
Transport across towns and cities could become integrated using dedicated apps, with investment focused on poorer areas and healthier methods, as part of what ministers are calling a “people-first” revolution in local travel.
Louise Haigh, the transport secretary, described the plans in a speech in Leeds as “a revolution to wrestle back power over transport”. She said powers would be heavily devolved to mayors and councils across England, who would be encouraged to devise their own priorities.
Continue reading...Proposal would give councils option to charge 75p-£1.25 a night to help alleviate pressure on local services
People who stay in Wales overnight, including children, are set to be charged a visitor levy under a scheme that could raise up to £33m a year to be ploughed back into tourism and culture.
All visitors would be charged 75p a night to stay in campsites and hostels and £1.25 for all other accommodation including hotels, B&Bs and holiday lets.
Continue reading...Local government ombudsman report into SEND in England offers damning assessment
England’s special education system is failing, causing thousands of children to have their development put back by months or even years, according to a damning report by the local government ombudsman.
Amerdeep Somal, the local government and social care ombudsman, said her caseload was now dominated by complaints from families involving special educational needs (Sen) provision and schools, with more than 90% of complaints being upheld.
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