Rotherham garden waste collection halted over staff shortage
In a statement, the authority said: "We understand this is frustrating and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience. "Please be assured that we are actively recruiting new staff to bolster the service and making changes intended to make it more efficient and effective in the future."Residents who have already placed their brown bins out for collection have been asked to return them from the kerbside, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.Garden waste collections are expected to resume on Monday 1 September. The council said it would issue another update by Friday 29 August if further delays occur.The authority said it was "considering the best way to make amends" to subscribers for the disruption and would share further information in due course.
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The Sun
12 minutes ago
- The Sun
High street retailer with 240 shops launches huge closing down sale ahead of shutting six branches in DAYS
A MAJOR high street retailer has launched a huge closing down sale ahead of the closing of six of its branches across the UK. GAME - which operates around 240 stores across the UK - has slashed the prices of some of its products by up to 20 per cent across the closing outlets. 2 The retailing giant announced the closure of six of its stores across the UK in August and September, including outlets in Eldon Square in Newcastle and at Galleries Shopping Centre in Bristol. Fans of the gaming store spotted major discounts at their local outlets that are due to be shut. GAME, which stocks video games, consoles, and even LEGO products, is owned by Frasers Group - the company behind brands Sports Direct and House of Fraser. Closing down sale signs were seen outside the popular store in Eldon Square last month, reports ChronicleLive. GAME stores closing in August and September Basingstoke, Hampshire (closed August 10) Southend, Essex (due to close before end of August) Metrocentre Shopping Centre, Gateshead (due to close September 7) Galleries Shopping Centre, Bristol (due to close September 25) Chatham, Kent (due to close before end of September) Even more have appeared since the first sighting, with discounts slapped on countless products in the store. These savings could grow even larger as the store heads closer to its final day of trading. Other stores due for the chop include one outlet in the Metrocentre Shopping Centre in Gateshead as well as another in Southend, Essex. This follows the closure of a number of other GAME stores in recent months, including shops in the Trafford Centre in Manchester in June and the outlet in the Victoria Centre in Nottingham in July. GAME was acquired by the Frasers Group, owned by businessman Mike Ashley, in 2019, as part of a £52 million deal. However, in January 2020 the retailer announced plans to close 40 of its more than 300 stores across the UK. Major card chain with 163 shops launches closing down sales ahead of shutting its doors for good Today, there are roughly 240 Game stores operating across the UK. HIGH STREET STRUGGLES The high street has majorly struggled in recent years due to a combination of factors. Shoppers are buying much more of their products online, while retailers have faced higher rental, wage and energy costs. The Centre for Retail Research says the sector has been going through a "permacrisis" since the 2008 financial crash. Figures from the Centre show 34 retail companies operating multiple stores stopped trading in 2024, leading to the closure of 7,537 shops. Businesses have cautioned more closures are to be expected this year as well due to the hike to employer NICs and staff wages. The rate of employer NICs was hiked from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent and the threshold at which they are paid lowered from £9,100 to £5,000 in April. The national minimum wage was also increased by up to £12.21 a hour. Some big names have already announced mass store closures in 2025, including Poundland, Hobbycraft and The Original Factory Shop. RETAIL PAIN IN 2025 The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion. Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April. A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024. Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year. Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025." Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector. "By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020." 2
Daily Mail
14 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Nice house? Labour wants to tax it, Kemi Badenoch tells Middle England
Kemi Badenoch warns today that Labour is plotting a tax raid on homes for the billions needed to fill the fiscal black hole. The Tory leader says Rachel Reeves saw property as a 'cash machine' to plug the gap in the public finances. The Chancellor is coming under pressure from both flanks of the Labour Party to bring in a 'wealth tax'. She must find £50billion in tax rises or spending cuts to balance the books, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said last week. Writing in the Daily Mail, Mrs Badenoch warns that Labour could change council tax bands or introduce a tax on the value of land, adding: 'A home is more than bricks and mortar. It is the reward for years of hard work, saving and sacrifice. It is security for our families. And it should not be treated like a cash machine for the Chancellor.' She says a plan by Labour's Welsh government to target property wealth by revaluing homes and pushing them into higher council tax bands could be introduced in England. And she raised concerns Labour could adopt a suggestion in the NIESR report that the party should introduce a 'land value tax'. The respected think-tank said the Chancellor should consider reforming council tax or even replacing it altogether with a land value tax. This tax, once championed by the party under Jeremy Corbyn, would replace stamp duty and council tax by introducing a flat levy on the price of land. The idea was last seriously proposed by David Lloyd George in 1909, but fears that it could become a new poll tax have deterred successive governments. Ms Reeves is under pressure from the Left and Right of her party to reform property taxes as MPs warn that the current system is unfair. Blue Labour, an influential faction within the party that is economically Left wing but culturally conservative, wants an overhaul of taxation on homes. Earlier this year it urged the Chancellor to consider changing council tax rules so that poorer parts of the country were not hit unfairly, adding: 'Our tax system needs reform to reflect new realities, including that most value is tied up in land and assets rather than income. 'We should consider taxes on assets, and updating council tax bands to ensure it no longer disproportionately hits those in poorer parts of the country.' Mr Corbyn's new party is expected to call for a land value tax to replace council tax. Other supporters include Labour peer Dame Margaret Hodge, Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake and the TaxPayers' Alliance. But a Treasury source had 'not heard' that such a tax might come in. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner is planning the biggest shake-up of local government funding in more than a decade to divert money from the South to more deprived areas. The Treasury said: 'The best way to strengthen public finances is growing the economy, which is our focus. Thanks to our planning reforms, the Office for Budget Responsibility has said the economy is expected to grow by the end of the decade.' During the general election Labour said it was not planning to reform council tax and ruled out rebanding properties.
Daily Mail
14 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Elon Musk's Tesla gears up to sell energy to UK homes as new household supplier
The company's UK car sales may have hit a bump in the road. But Elon Musk 's Tesla is preparing to move beyond vehicle sales by launching a household electricity supplier. Tesla Electric will likely integrate closely with the firm's electric cars and home batteries. The company's energy subsidiary Tesla Energy Ventures applied to regulator Ofgem for an electricity supply licence last month. And it's possible Tesla could be supplying customers electricity before the year ends as the process can take anywhere from a matter of weeks to nine months. It has not applied for a gas supply licence. Having sold more than 250,000 vehicles in the UK as well as chargers and Powerwall home battery systems, the company has a wide potential customer base. But figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed Tesla sales plummeted 60 per cent in the UK last month compared to July 2024. Tesla registered just 987 vehicles, compared to 2,462 in July 2024 amid a backlash against chief executive Mr Musk for his involvement with Donald Trump's White House and his support for hard-Right parties in Europe. Tesla sales have slumped amid a backlash against Musk for his involvement with Donald Trump's White House and his support for hard-Right parties in Europe An ageing line-up of models and increasing competition have also contributed to a general decline in sales across European markets this year, although Tesla did record a 14 per cent year-on-year increase in June in the UK. Tesla has run an electricity supply division in Texas since 2022, where customers are charged a flat fee for unlimited Tesla charging at certain hours of the day. Customers with Powerwall batteries connect them to the grid and are paid when the firm uses electricity from them to power other homes, in what it calls a 'virtual power plant'. And job adverts for the UK business suggest Tesla will apply the same idea, helping to balance out inconsistent energy sources such as wind and solar, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
