RICS latest monthly survey shows that property surveyors are gloomy about the current state of the housing market.

The London Assembly Environment Committee has reported that the amount of waste from single-use plastic bottles in London has risen out of control.
The report, Bottled Water, finds that people in the Capital consume more plastic bottled water than anywhere else in England, 7.7 billion bottles a year, but only recycles 32 per cent of it consumption. This is behind the national recycling rate of 43 per cent. The Thames21 waterways group recently claimed that plastic bottles make up 10 per cent of all litter found in the Thames, taking 450 years to break down.

The Association of Play Industries has revealed the extent to which local authorities across the country have been closing children’s playgrounds.

Birmingham City Council has been awarded official Honouree status in the 2017 Webby Awards, the leading international award honouring excellence on the internet.

Essex County Council (CC) is facing legal action over the level of fees it pays to care home providers for looking after residents, following a judicial review launched by Care England.

The Environment Agency’s annual scheme to replenish beaches in Lincolnshire is set to begin.

The Department for Education has approved applications for 131 new schools, in a move which is expected to create more than 69,000 places.

UK infrastructure provider CityFibre are set to transform the digital connectivity in Slough and Maidenhead as they gain Gigabit City status.
Joining Reading and Bracknell, the two towns will see an alternative introduced to their copper-based networks as ultrafast, pure fibre will see them become better digitally connected.

New figures have revealed that at least 2,314 council employees received total remuneration in excess of £100,000 in 2015-16.

New figures reveal that over 900 adult social care workers a day quit their job in England last year, representing a collapse in the system.
Despite the government investing an extra £2 billion into social care, Mike Padgham, the chair of the UK Homecare Association has claimed that the adult social care system has begun to collapse, emphasising that his ‘biggest fear is that we will soon run out of capacity to provide care to those who cannot fund themselves’.