Afghans living in temporary accommodation in the UK under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) will receive additional support to find settled accommodation.
New measures have been announced by the Government to tackle antisocial behaviour, including introducing increased fines for fly-tipping, littering and graffiti.
Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, are among the headline speakers confirmed so far for the LGA’s annual conference in Bournemouth in July.
Local health chiefs are warning that the increase in costs of essential food items and energy has created a ‘second health emergency’ after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The LGA remains a ‘strong organisation’ that has continued to improve since its last corporate peer challenge in 2015, according to a cross-party political and officer team.
Urgent action and funding are needed to address river pollution and low water levels so 20,000 new homes left in limbo can be built, the LGA has warned.
Funding and measures to widen employment support, improve local roads, protect swimming pools from rising costs and support regeneration and levelling up were among the key announcements for councils in the March Spring Budget.
A further 57,000 social homes in England will be lost to Right to Buy by the end of the decade, with no region or local authority capable of providing one-to-one replacements.
Vital telecare equipment used by nearly two million older and disabled people, as well as traffic lights and cash machines, could cease to operate unless councils get more support with preparing for the upgrade to next-generation digital networks.
People’s job prospects post-pandemic would have been better if councils and devolved authorities had been able to take the lead on supporting them, the LGA has said in response to a report on the Government’s Restart programme.