Rural communities in Northumberland are being encouraged to take the lead on developing affordable homes in their area.
Northumberland County Council has approved a Community Housing Fund Policy which sets out how the council aims to allocate a £1.3 million Community Housing Fund.
The funding, allocated by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG), will be used in various activities, ranging from helping local communities establish appropriate partnerships to develop Community Led Housing schemes, to the actual provision of affordable housing.

Oxford City Council has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ask him to help tackle Oxford’s illegal air pollution in his upcoming budget.

The LGA has warned that 56p in every £1 that people pay in council tax may have to be spent caring for children and adults by 2020.

Cardiff Council has launched a parking app to assist motorists in the Welsh capital find real-time available spaces in the city.
The £900,000 system, which saw the installation of 3,300 sensors in parking bays across the region, is similar to that used in Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, South Africa and Europe. However, Cardiff is the first council in Europe to roll out this technology across its citywide road network.

Plans to transform a large garage site in Hollingbury, with four new council homes, are to be considered by the housing committee.

Newcastle City Council will need to save over £13 million next year and raise council tax in order to set a balanced budget.
This means the city will have lost £282 million by 2020.
How the money could be saved is set out in a series of proposals in the report Newcastle 2020: Investing in a fairer future - One year one.
The draft budget is the second of a three-year plan that the council published last year.
It proposes a 1.95 per cent rise in council tax and three per cent rise in the government’s social care precept.

Two proposals for new licensing schemes aimed at improving conditions in private rented housing have received over 80 per cent public support.

Local people are to be asked for their views on the right deal on devolution for Doncaster.
A community poll will ask every voter in Doncaster to say which devolution proposal they would prefer Doncaster to pursue. The choices are wider Yorkshire or Sheffield City Region devolution.
A recent business poll by the Doncaster Chamber of Commerce resulted in 70 per cent of those who responded saying they would prefer a county wide devolution deal. Other supporters of a wider Yorkshire deal include the CBI, Institute of Directors, the TUC and Doncaster’s three MPs.

Predictions of the worst winter in 10 years is not good news for highway authorities who have failed to rebuild their roads.