After the building was evacuated, leaving hundreds temporarily homeless, we look at what happens next for residents and the council
What has happened at Barton House tower block in Bristol?
Barton House, a 65-year-old 15-storey tower block, was built in the late 1950s using reinforced concrete cross walls, pre-cast concrete floors and reinforced concrete external walls.
Continue reading...Angela Rayner says party’s housing recovery plan will enact reforms delayed by Tories since 2019 manifesto commitments
Labour will deliver more action on housing in the first six months of office than the Conservatives have delivered in the past six years, Angela Rayner has pledged.
Downing Street has confirmed the renters reform bill will be in the king’s speech, allowing it to continue its passage through parliament when the next session opens on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Ombudsman orders UK housing association Clarion to apologise to family in ‘deeply distressing’ case
A tenant killed himself after his landlord dismissed his pleas for help with a noisy neighbour as “whining” and told him he could not expect silence if he lived in London.
Clarion, the UK’s largest housing association, had been warned by the vulnerable resident’s doctor that the effect of noise from the upstairs flat on the tenant’s mental health was such that he had already attempted suicide twice.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Labour leader to pledge biggest expansion of devolution since party was last in power
A new Labour government would give all towns and cities in England new powers and funding to boost local economies, deliver thousands of new homes and create high-quality jobs, Keir Starmer will announce.
In the biggest expansion of devolution since Labour was last in power, he will pledge that councils and combined authorities would get more control over housing and planning, skills, energy and transport of the kind currently held by London, the West Midlands and Greater Manchester.
Continue reading...The unequal battle between major developers and cash-strapped councils means the reach of town hall enforcement officers is declining
The decision by the Royal Borough of Greenwich to say enough is enough and order the demolition of 204 homes at the Mast Quay development in south-east London casts a spotlight on one of the most unequal battles in the public realm – between major developers and town hall planners.
And it is one that often enrages the public. Greenwich’s gambit has cheered community groups who say they are feeling increasingly powerless to challenge, even with the help of the planning system, the might of developers.
Continue reading...Damp and mould so bad one cancer patient had to sleep on floor after ceiling collapsed, say residents
Hundreds of residents on a south London housing estate are demanding action from their council landlord, which they claim is ignoring urgent repairs needed on their homes.
Residents of the Tulse Hill estate say they have been left dealing with widespread issues of damp and mould that are so bad that in one case a cancer patient had to sleep on the floor for months after his ceiling collapsed twice.
Continue reading...People say summer stink has been ‘horrendous’, with blame put on a Wessex Water sewage works
The Dorset village of Wyke Regis has a lot going for it: sunsets across Lyme Bay, views of Chesil Beach’s spectacular pebbly sweep, proximity to great swimming and sailing spots.
But local people are not having a great time of it at the moment because of what has been called the “Wyke whiff”, an unpleasant smell that forces them to keep windows shut tight and ruins the simple pleasure of sitting out in the sunshine.
Continue reading...Under Lords amendment, developers will no longer have to offset nutrient pollution from new homes’ sewage
Taxpayers will pick up the bill for pollution by housebuilders, government officials have admitted, as rules on chemical releases into waterways are scrapped.
If an amendment in the House of Lords tabled on Tuesday passes, developers will no longer have to offset the nutrient pollution caused by sewage from new homes. The government has said it will double Natural England’s wetland funding to £280m in order to show it is trying to meet the requirements of its legally binding Environment Act.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Data shows more than 34,000 households placed out of area last year, with some moved more than 200 miles away
Councils are moving homeless families out of their neighbourhoods at almost three times the rate that has been officially recognised, and some have been uprooted hundreds of miles from their support networks, according to research.
Data released under freedom of information (FoI) revealed that 34,418 households were placed out of area last year, based on responses from 80% of English councils. This incomplete figure suggests a total 172% above what was officially recorded for the previous year.
Continue reading...Ralph Percy lost an application in 2021 to build 80 flats on part of his Grade I-listed Syon Park estate
An attempt by the Duke of Northumberland to replace allotments with dozens of new homes on his west London estate is simply an effort to line his “already deep pockets”, a public inquiry has heard.
Ralph Percy, the 12th Duke of Northumberland, lost an application in October 2021 to build 80 flats on part of his Grade I-listed Syon Park estate after the council received more than 900 objections from local residents to the plans.
Continue reading...Estate agents selling Twickenham ‘property’ believe it could have development potential
If climbing the property ladder seems stressful to you, why not consider taking the stairs?
A disused four-storey stairwell at the back of a branch of Starbucks in south-west London has become the latest peculiar piece of property to go on sale in London’s feverish housing market.
Continue reading...One in five firms see risk of financial failure in next six months due to sums owed by NHS and councils
Dozens of home care companies in England fear collapse because invoices are going unpaid by councils and the NHS.
Hundreds of millions of pounds in unpaid bills are threatening parts of a care industry already stretched by a recruitment crisis and rising wages, according to research by the Institute of Health and Social Care Management (IHSCM).
Continue reading...Calls grow for legislation requiring developers to include hollow bricks for endangered nesting species
Conservative MPs are joining calls for a new law to guarantee swift bricks in every new home to help the rapidly declining bird and other endangered roof-nesting species.
Pressure is growing to amend the levelling up bill so that developers are required to include a hollow brick for nesting birds in all new housing, with MPs to debate the issue in parliament on 10 July.
Continue reading...Campaigners say second homes and holiday lets are taking homes away from residents in hotspots such as Devon and Cumbria
The supply of new homes in some tourist hotspots is being almost completely negated by the rise of second homes and holiday lets, analysis has revealed.
In the Copeland area of the Lake District, which includes the beauty spot of Scafell Pike, there were 426 new homes created in the last three years. Over the same period, 407 existing homes were converted to commercial holiday lets or second homes.
Continue reading...Carla White’s battle has shone a light on city’s lack of affordable new housing for those on low incomes
A single tenant in a Montreal apartment block has halted a multimillion-dollar development project in a standoff that has focused fresh attention on the lack of affordable housing in major Canadian cities.
Property developer Mondev has been trying for years to persuade Carla White to move from her small C$400-a-month (£238) apartment so it can demolish a row of mostly abandoned buildings and build 176 luxury apartments.
Continue reading...Co-author says UK’s oldest form of social housing could be part of solution to care crisis
Poor, older people living in almshouses enjoy longer lives than far wealthier people living elsewhere, a study has found.
The secret to longer life has been intensely sought after for centuries. But research using data from almshouses going back 100 years has found that the solution devised in early medieval times to help poverty-stricken knights returning from the Crusades is still relevant today.
Continue reading...Annual RHS show uses theme of accessibility in effort to broaden appeal of horticulture
Chelsea flower show has long been a staple of the society calendar, with celebrities and royals making an appearance among the peonies and roses.
However, this year, the Royal Horticultural Society is trying to make the show – and horticulture – more inclusive, by putting on special events for children, and encouraging the creation of gardens with an accessibility theme.
Continue reading...Capital’s mayor lauds achievement but warns skyrocketing rents pose threat to ‘the soul of our city’
Sadiq Khan is to announce the surpassing of a landmark housebuilding target in London, but will warn that the capital’s skyrocketing rents pose a threat to “the soul of our city”.
In a speech on Monday setting out his stall before the 2024 election for city hall, the mayor of London will say that nearly 120,000 affordable homes have been built in the capital since 2015, equivalent to the housing stock of Plymouth.
Continue reading...Fiona Fey, of popular choir Mediaeval Baebes, says her livelihood was threatened by noise abatement order
Musicians are facing a postcode lottery of noise complaints, industry leaders have warned, after a member of the classical chart-topping choir Mediaeval Baebes was handed a noise abatement notice for playing music in her flat.
Fiona Fey was told she had created “excessive noise from the playing of musical instruments that is audible and detectable from your property” and that she must cease making any more “noise from the property in the form of playing loud music”.
Continue reading...Robert Alton, 70, is believed to have died in 2017 with his death going unnoticed by his landlord and local council
The body of a retired bookkeeper lay undiscovered in his flat for six years with his “skeletal” remains found only after housing officials forced entry to carry out a gas safety check, an inquest heard.
Robert Alton is believed to have died in 2017 aged 70, but his death went unnoticed by both his landlord, which continued to receive his rent automatically through housing benefit, and his local council, which seemingly failed to act on Alton’s mounting council tax arrears.
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