Briefings and responses

The impacts of short-term letting are felt across the country with some councils reporting growth of between 30-52 per cent in short-term lets. This indicates the need for regulation that allows local discretion and implementation.

Councils want to work as partners with central government on climate action. Councils are well-placed to do this as place-shapers, convenors of communities and partners, delivery agents, commissioners, and owners of assets.

The Housing Ombudsman ran a consultation on the development of Good Practice from 26 March to 21 May 2024. The publishing of Good Practice aims to help organisations learn from the mistakes of others, and improve their services accordingly by conducting self-assessments.

We have argued for the Bill to go further in supporting tenants’ rights and providing stronger regulatory and enforcement powers, and for government to ensure sufficient funding councils to enforce these measures and fully realise our shared ambition for a fairer, more secure, and higher quality PRS.

Working in partnership with Government, local government can help deliver much needed high-quality housing to achieve the Government’s goal of 300,000 new homes per year.

We are calling on Government to do more to rapidly build more genuinely affordable homes to help families struggling to meet housing costs, provide homes to rent, reduce homelessness and tackle the housing waiting lists many councils have.

This briefing provides the LGA view on relevant amendments tabled by the Government on 15 November.

Councils are extremely disappointed that the Government has removed Lords amendment 82, which would have enabled local planning authorities to set fees for planning applications at a level that covers the cost of processing them.

Private rents have reached record highs, with private rents rising an average of five per cent in the 12 months up to May 2023 and more than 25 percent since the start of the pandemic. Rising housing costs are a significant factor in driving financial hardship and homelessness.

The LGA, along with 29 other bodies across the sector, have written to government to urge them not to introduce the proposed Infrastructure Levy (IL). We have significant concerns that the proposed IL will result in fewer, not more, affordable homes delivered, will expose councils to excessive levels of financial risks, and be increasingly burdensome and complex for local authorities to implement and manage. The signatories propose that retention and improvement of the current developer contribution system is the most appropriate solution.