The Local Government Association has warned of ‘home-owning hopelessness’ for private renters and first buyers.

Derby’s ‘The Keep’ Emotional Health and Well-being Service for children and young people is now fully operational after opening in April.

The fourth in the government’s series of large-scale fire safety tests has been completed by the Building Research Establishment.

Small businesses struggling to get finance have received almost £4 million of funding thanks to an innovative government scheme.
230 small businesses, ranging from beauticians to forklift truck training companies, which were rejected for loans by some of the UK’s biggest banks, have gained £3.8 million from alternative lenders over the past nine months.

Nearly 160,000 households are experiencing the worst forms of homelessness across Britain, a new report reveals.
The report, conducted for Crisis by Heriot-Watt University, also forecasts that rough sleeping is going to rise by 76 per cent in the next decade unless the governments in Westminster, Scotland and Wales take long-term action to mitigate it.

West Sussex County Council has approved its first batch of Operation Watershed applications over the summer.
Awards worth £54,126 have been granted to help West Sussex communities prepare themselves against flood risk.
The county council has made £500,000 available for 2017/18 to help mitigate flood risks.
Community groups, volunteer groups, town and parish councils within West Sussex are all welcome to apply to the Operation Watershed Active Community Fund for help.

A £6.2 million government boost is to help unlock 15,000 new homes in Didcot Garden Town.
The money will also help Oxfordshire to make improvements to its local transport networks, the Housing Minister has said.
Government funding has been awarded to South Oxfordshire District Council to help speed up the delivery of Didcot’s Northern Perimeter Road. As a critical transport link around Didcot, it will be one of the new roads that will be key to the success of Didcot Garden Town, a locally-led development which aims to build over 15,000 homes by 2031.

Nearly £1 billion has been invested in the West Midlands train network, creating more seats for rail passengers.
The almost £1 billion investment means that rail passengers will get new longer rains with more seats and more space.

The Secretary of State for Scotland has announced UK government funding in a regeneration programme in Kilmarnock.
The HALO project, in the former Diageo bottling plant, will strengthen Ayrshire’s economic prospects, create hundreds of new jobs and benefit local businesses and residents.
The new hub will foster the next generation of entrepreneurs with a strong focus on innovation, digital skills, and cyber security.

Children’s social care is being pushed to breaking point, council leaders have warned.
In 2015/16 councils surpassed their children’s social care budgets by £605 million in order to protect children at immediate risk of harm, the Local Government Association (LGA) has found.
There has been a surge in demand for children’s social care support over recent years, with more than 170,000 children subject to child protection enquiries in 2015/16 compared to 71,800 in 2005/06 - a 140 per cent increase in 10 years alone.