Category Archives: Communities

Call for UK utility firms to face higher fines for ‘street scars’ on pavements

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Government adviser says water and telecoms privatisation is to blame for disfiguring streets with concrete slabs

The government must increase fines on utility companies that dig up pavements for roadworks, then pour in concrete rather than fixing the mess, a government adviser has said.

Telecoms and water companies are creating “street scars” in a “wasteful process” that is marring British high streets, Nicholas Boys Smith, who chairs the Office for Place in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has said in a report.

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Voters think Labour would be better than Conservatives on housing and house prices

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Opposition would do better on issues including the economy, health, education, the environment, immigration and crime, public says

More than twice as many voters believe a Labour government would be better for housing than the Tories, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

The survey shows Labour is well ahead of the Conservatives on most issues including the economy, health, education, the environment, immigration and crime, and level pegging on ones it has traditionally lagged way behind on, including defence.

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Hampshire allotment holders ‘appalled’ over eviction notices

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Villagers in King’s Somborne angry over letters from landowner, the diocese of Winchester, sent over festive period

For more than a century villagers have grown fruit and veg on allotments at King’s Somborne, a picture postcard village in the Test valley, Hampshire.

But plot holders are up in arms after being served eviction notices from the owner of the land, the diocese of Winchester, to make way for housing.

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‘I had no idea’: the new wave of fans attracted to darts by Luke Littler

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The teenage sensation may have lost his world final showdown but has helped bring a fresh audience to the sport

When Eilidh Milne was visited by her dad and brother on Tuesday, she initially protested against their insistence on watching the darts world championship on television.

But Milne soon found herself on the edge of her seat, yelling at the TV and leaping into the air when the 16-year-old Luke Littler, who had taken the tournament by storm, defeated the 2018 world champion Rob Cross in the semi-finals.

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England has ‘twice as many empty homes as families stuck in B&Bs’

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There are 121,327 in short-term housing, while 261,189 homes are empty long-term, say Lib Dems

England has more than twice as many long-term empty homes this Christmas as there are children living in temporary accommodation, the Liberal Democrats have said, calling this a stark indication of a “broken” housing market.

The numbers of families without a permanent home and in short-term housing, whether hotels and B&Bs or temporary rental properties, has hit a record high this year, with the latest statistics showing it now affects 121,327 children, according to data collated by the House of Commons library.

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Plato, pilates and pubs: has an Irish town found the secret to the good life?

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Book claims it is ‘hard to find another currently existing society’ better than that in Skerries, near Dublin

Philosophers have long debated the concept of the good life and whether such an exalted state exists but the reality turns out to be not so elusive: you drive north from Dublin on the M1, turn right onto the R132, take another right at Blake’s Cross and keep going until you reach the sea. Then, if you have any sense, you stay put for ever because you are in Skerries.

This town of 11,000 people on Ireland’s east coast does not look remarkable. There is a high street, a harbour, a library, a community centre, a SuperValu supermarket, cafes, pubs, sports pitches. Residents walk their dogs, play bingo, sit on benches. Yet amid the ordinariness there is, apparently, an answer to a riddle pondered by Aristotle, Kant and Hegel: the good life? It’s right here. Or at least the good enough life.

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Campaigner for council housing in London fights on after leaving her home

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Aysen Dennis, who accused Southwark council of ‘social cleansing’, continues court challenge over Aylesbury estate plans

The bulldozers will soon be out for the south London council flat that was Aysen Dennis’s home for 30 years. After leading a fierce battle against the council and developers, claiming their plans to fill much of her estate with private homes amounted to “social cleansing”, she has finally moved.

Dennis, 65, has been relocated to a swanky new flat in a development bought back by Southwark council. She claims it paid £690,000 for her ninth-floor flat with panoramic views of the park – and is convinced it was an attempt to shut her up before a legal challenge.

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Barton House: what happened and what is Bristol council doing about it?

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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.

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Labour promises rapid housing action after ‘years of Tory paper promises’

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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.

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Tenant killed himself after landlord failed to resolve repeated noise complaints

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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.

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Keir Starmer to promise new powers for all of England’s towns and cities

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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.

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The decision to demolish the Mast Quay flats is a rare triumph for planners

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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.

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Residents of south London housing estate demand urgent repairs

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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.

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‘Wyke whiff’ befouls Dorset village – and angry residents have had enough

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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.

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Scrapping housebuilder water pollution rules in England to cost taxpayer £140m

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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.

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English councils moving homeless families out of areas at almost three times official rate

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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.

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Homes proposal effort ‘to line’ Duke of Northumberland’s pockets, inquiry told

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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.

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Step to riches? Disused stairwell in London could be yours for just £20,000

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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.

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Home care providers in England fear collapse over unpaid invoices

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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).

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Tory MPs back mandatory swift bricks in all new homes to help declining birds

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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.

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