Latest news with #Surrey
Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Surrey council plots ‘pointless' second homes tax raid
Councillors have agreed to launch a 'pointless' tax raid on second home owners in Staines, despite concerns no one will pay up. Spelthorne Borough Council has just 76 second home owners on its books, yet it has agreed to bring in a 100pc council tax premium from April 2027. Critics argued the small share of second home owners – which equates to 0.2pc of the Surrey borough's housing stock – will avoid paying the levy by making use of exemptions. Owners can swerve the additional rate for 12 months by listing their property for sale, without having to commit to a transaction. The home can also be marketed for let. Spelthorne Council, which was more than £1bn in debt as of January, became the latest local authority to tax second home owners following a meeting on Thursday. Local authorities in England were given the power to charge a double tax premium from April 1 under laws passed by the previous Conservative government.
BBC News
4 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Second home owners in part of Surrey hit with double tax bill
Second home owners in a Surrey borough will be hit with double council tax bills in an effort to "combat housing shortages". Spelthorne Borough Council has agreed to introduce a 100% council tax premium on furnished properties that are not used as someone's main home, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).The change, set to start from 1 April 2027, means affected owners will pay twice the standard council tax rate on their second councillor Darren Clarke said at the council meeting: "There are better ways in order to try and occupy more homes than just increasing the amount of council tax that can be levied against them, in a kind of cash grab." Members agreed to initiate the changes for second homes and properties that have been empty for a year at a full council meeting on Thursday. The decision came after the government changed local authority powers to set council tax for empty second homes.A council report stated the policy was "to encourage owners to bring the properties back into the housing market for occupation to combat housing shortages nationwide whilst obtaining further council tax payments to fund local services".The LDRS reported only 76 properties in the borough would be affected by the change, according to council documents.
BBC News
5 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Guildford Borough Council overspent by £1.6m on fire safety scheme
A Surrey council has overspent by £1.6m on a major fire safety project after failing to work out how many fire doors needed replacing, it has been from incomplete data left officers underestimating how many doors needed replacing in Guildford Borough Council's housing stock, according to a revealed that the council had already spent £4.1m on the scheme – above the original £2.5m contract further expenditure needed to complete the project would bring its total cost to £6.5m, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Council leader Julia McShane labelled the unexpected cost a "slight overspend", but emphasised the importance of fire efforts to shore up fire safety follow a self-referral to the regulator of social housing in 2023, which came after the council had admitted it was not fully compliant with building safety standards.A C3 rating, flagging serious weaknesses in the council's oversight of its housing stock, was the new doors, additional blocks and fire safety improvements were added mid-way through the project, increasing costs the overspend, no extra funding is being asked for at this stage, with the costs set to be covered from elsewhere in the capital Wrobel, joint chief executive of the council, said: "Whilst it is frustrating we did not catch this before breaching the budget, at the very least, we caught it very shortly afterwards."
Hindustan Times
5 hours ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Yorkshire replace Ruturaj Gaikwad with Pakistan batter after CSK captain abruptly ends county stint
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was all set to represent Yorkshire in the County Championship 2025 season. However, due to personal reasons back home, the right-handed batter abruptly ended the stint and flew back home. Yorkshire have now confirmed his replacement, signing Pakistan opening batter Imam-ul-Haq. The left-hander will be available for the club straightaway, representing the team against Surrey at Scarborough. Yorkshire confirm Ruturaj Gaikwad's replacement for the remainder of the County season. (PTI) Imam-ul-Haq will remain with the team for the remainder of the County season and the Metro Bank One Day Cup. The left-handed batter is the nephew of the former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq. He averages 43 in first-class cricket, and he had recently helped his side, Pakistan Television, win their domestic first-class trophy, the President's Cup, in March. Speaking of Ruturaj Gaikwad, the batter was ruled out of the IPL 2025 season midway due to a hairline fracture on his elbow. He was then named in the India A squad for the two unofficial Tests against England Lions; however, he did not make it to the playing XI. According to an official statement, Yorkshire's general manager of cricket, Gavin Hamilton, worked together with Anthony McGrath, the county's current head coach, to get Imam-ul-Haq on board on a last-minute deal following 'complications' with Ruturaj Gaikwad. Imam-ul-Haq has played 101 international matches for Pakistan. Even his uncle, Inzamam, represented Yorkshire in 2007. Also Read: Why Ruturaj Gaikwad abruptly ended his County stint with Yorkshire and flew back home Imam represented Pakistan at the 2019 ODI World Cup in England and the 2023 World Cup in India. He was also called up as a replacement for Fakhar Zaman during the 2025 Champions Trophy. Imam is now the second Pakistani player to represent Yorkshire this summer after Abdullah Shafique. What did Yorkshire say about Imam's signing? In the official statement, Gavin Hamilton said that the club is delighted to have Imam on board and to have him available immediately for the contest against Surrey. 'We're delighted that Imam has joined us and that he will be available immediately. Whilst we were naturally disappointed that Ruturaj couldn't join up with the squad, in Imam we have an exceptional player of proven international quality," he said. 'Imam has an impressive record and is already familiar with domestic cricket in this country, which will stand us in good stead for a crucial block of fixtures. We are grateful for the speed in which he has arrived in the country and everyone at the Club is looking forward to working with him through until the end of the season," he added.
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Woman 'raped and murdered by her ex–fiancé at a luxury five–star hotel owed him £100,000', court hears
A man accused of murdering his ex–fiancée at a luxury five–star hotel told jurors she owed him around £100,000 at the time of her death, a court has heard. Samantha Mickleburgh, 54, was found dead in a twin room at the exclusive Pennyhill Park Hotel in Bagshot, Surrey, on the morning of April 14 last year. The mother–of–two, from Axminster, Devon, had spent the night at the hotel with her ex–fiancé, James Cartwright, because she 'didn't want him to feel lonely' on his birthday, Guildford Crown Court was told. Cartwright, 61, made a 999 call at around 8:30am claiming he woke to find Ms Mickleburgh lifeless beside him in bed. Wearing a dark suit, Cartwright took to the witness stand on Monday and claimed that Ms Mickleburgh had borrowed tens of thousands of pounds from him as part of a property development project – and by the time she died, the debt had ballooned to a six figure sum. He told the court: 'She purchased a property to fix up and collected the keys in early March 2023.' He added they were 'very close' at the time and that he lent her £30,000 in April to help fund the renovation. 'She planned to get a mortgage once it was habitable and repay him 'but (the money) ended up running out quite quickly,' the court heard. By July, she had secured the mortgage and they began living together in the house. At that point, Cartwright said she owed him between £40,000 and £50,000. That figure had risen to 'about £100,000' by the time of her death, he claimed. Cartwright also told jurors that he had proposed to Ms Mickleburgh during a romantic getaway in the autumn of 2023 – a proposal that was met with what he described as 'an immediate and emphatic yes'. 'Everything (was) extremely amicable and friendly and loving' during the trip, he added. But just days after returning home, he claimed their relationship took a turn when he spotted a 'highly sexual' WhatsApp message on her phone from a former partner. 'I was deeply shocked and very upset and very hurt,' he said. His barrister, Martin Rutherford KC, asked whether he had spoken to Ms Mickleburgh about what he saw. The defendant replied: 'Yes, I did, it went not well – Samantha was very embarrassed that I'd seen it and read it and stormed out of the house without any sort of explanation and response, which I was even more upset about. 'She got into her car. It was clear that she was going to drive away. I pulled (the gate) to prevent the car from leaving. 'She chose to drive through the gate and onto the road, so I had to put myself in front of the car to stop her leaving, because the gate hadn't worked.' He admitted to jurors: 'I was very embarrassed by my behaviour, I had overreacted,' adding that he later apologised. From that point, the relationship began to deteriorate. Later in October, Cartwright claimed he discovered another string of messages — again sexually explicit — between Ms Mickleburgh and the same man, this time on her laptop. 'There were a very large quantity of messages and they were highly sexually explicit between both of them – it wasn't just one–way traffic, it was both ways,' he said. 'Again, I was absolutely devastated,' he added, telling jurors that it destroyed his trust in her. Despite the tensions, they continued living together until February this year and remained physically intimate, the court heard. Then, around two weeks before he moved out, Cartwright said he again saw messages between Ms Mickleburgh and her ex. But this time, he stayed silent: 'I chose a different tack and, this time, I didn't disclose to Samantha that I had seen them. I suppose, if I'm honest, I wanted to catch her out. 'I asked her when she'd last had contact with him and she said 'oh, towards October last year – she hadn't heard anything from him since'. 'It was almost terminal on my part, I just couldn't get beyond it.' Cartwright said that on February 17, Ms Mickleburgh confided in him that she was 'really struggling' with various pressures in her life — from family to job hunting. He told the court he offered to move out to a commercial property he had access to in Axminster. After moving out, he downloaded dating app Bumble and began messaging two women. 'I was just looking for companionship, friendship,' he said. In texts read to the court, Cartwright told one of the women - who he had not yet met - about an upcoming birthday dinner with Ms Mickleburgh, who he described as the 'love of my life'. He wrote: 'I'm not planning it, she is. It has the feel of a final farewell.' Another message said: 'It could go any way… the last goodbye.' Cartwright told jurors he had been married and divorced three times and has three adult daughters. He denies raping and murdering Ms Mickleburgh between April 12 and 14, 2024, and also denies a charge of controlling and coercive behaviour between May 1, 2022, and April 14, 2024.
