The LGA's media office provides the national voice of local government in England and Wales on the major issues of the day for national, regional and local press.
Taxpayers will continue to subsidise planning services by almost £5 million a week until the Government finalises measures to increase fees to cover the cost of processing applications, councils warn today.
Increasing numbers of families are turning to councils for temporary accommodation as homelessness reaches record highs, the Local Government Association warns.
Analysis from the LGA, which represent councils across England, reveals that the number of households living in temporary accommodation has risen by 89 per cent over the past decade to 104,000 households at the end of March 2023 – the highest figures since records began in 1998 – costing councils at least £1.74 billion in 2022/23.
The severe shortage of social housing means councils are being forced to pay to house people in private
“This Bill will help to achieve better standards in the private rented sector through increasing the rights of tenants and enabling them to better hold landlords to account."
The number of long-term empty homes has increased nationally by nearly 10 per cent over the past five years, the equivalent of just over one per cent of the country’s housing stock, a new report commissioned by the Local Government Association reveals today.
"The reality is that planning is not a barrier to house building. Nine in 10 planning applications are approved by councils despite significant resourcing and capacity issues across the country."
"We are calling on the Government to use the Budget to grant councils the flexibilities needed to resume their historic role as a major builder of affordable homes."
The LGA is proposing reforms to the Right to Buy scheme in order to prevent the current net loss of much-needed social housing stock year on year currently being experienced by local authorities.