Relatively wealthy Braintree has supported just one asylum seeker in recent months while deprived Rochdale hosted 734Labour councils house eight times as many asylum seekers as Tory areas, analysis findsSituated in the heart of rural Essex, Braintree o…
Shell aims to install 50,000 on-street EV charge points by 2025
Oil firm sets out plans to provide a third of Britain’s network needed to hit climate targetsShell has announced its aim to install 50,000 on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging points in the UK over the next four years, in an attempt to provide a th…
UK councils urged to offer housing and support to fleeing Afghans
Government calls on two-thirds of local authorities yet to come forward to make firm offers of helpAfghanistan: live updatesBritain’s councils have been urged to come forward and provide accommodation and other help for Afghans fleeing the Taliban afte…
Lack of psychologists hits pupils with special educational needs
Councils are struggling to complete children’s education and care plans before the new school year because of a shortage of specialistsCouncils in England are struggling to assess the level of support children with special educational needs require bec…
London golf courses could provide homes for 300,000 people, study says
Courses on public land could be used ‘in a more creative way’ to ease housing crisis and provide accessible green spaceLondon’s golf courses make up an area larger than the borough of Brent and there is enough space on publicly owned courses to house 3…
Forget shops: how Stockton on Tees ripped up the rule book to revive its high street
Stockton-on-Tees is leading a radical rethink of our urban centres, which is now even more urgent as Covid takes its tollA few months before the pandemic struck, Nigel Cooke found himself under incredulous interrogation at a Local Government Associatio…
Serious child harm cases in England rose by 20% during pandemic
Abuse more likely to have gone unseen behind closed doors during lockdowns, say authoritiesSerious child harm cases reported by councils in England rose by nearly 20% during the first year of the pandemic, including a 19% rise in child death notificati…
The Guardian view on children’s care in crisis: the high price of neglect | Editorial
After years of cuts, the pandemic has left social services and the young people they support brutally exposed About the only good thing that can be said about the worsening crisis in children’s social care is that it is being talked about. The extremel…
Is time up for the ‘Blackboy clock’? Racism row divides Cotswolds town
Campaigners pushing to remove Stroud’s 240-year-old figure are accused of trying to erase history by the local Tory MPMuch of Dan Guthrie’s life has been haunted by a disturbing mechanised figure resembling a tethered black slave boy, which is supposed…
Councils seek funds to fight rise in children’s type 2 diabetes in England and Wales
Local authorities urge minister to step up investments to meet target of halving childhood obesityCouncils are calling for more support to meet the government’s target of halving childhood obesity after recording an “extremely worrying” 60% increase in…