Latest news with #localauthority
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Fees start for extra garden waste collections in Medway
Medway Council has introduced new charges for additional garden waste collections from waste collections now require a £40 per year subscription, which buys a permit to be fixed to an additional brown local authority says it will continue its standard weekly garden waste collections and residents can continue taking their extra waste to its three tips for Curry, cabinet member for climate change, said the council is "proud" of its service and Medway is "one of the few places in the country that still offer a free garden waste collection service". The councillor added: "This change won't impact most residents, however, those that do produce more garden waste than average will be able to sign up." Household that requires an additional brown bin will receive it within three weeks of signing up for the service, according to Medway local authority's cabinet agreed in 2024 to implement the scheme.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Can cup win renew stadium focus?
Aberdeen chief executive Alan Burrows says the club's Scottish Cup triumph may jump start talks over a new stadium. Plans to move away from Pittodrie have slowed recently after a decade of talk around a move away from the club's spiritual home. Advertisement A proposed shift to a site near the club's training ground moved on to a regeneration of a beach front site, however Burrows says "plans have slowed down". "It's been decades in the making," he told Sportsound. "What can I tell you on the back of all those scenes in Aberdeen over the last four or fives days is a renewed reminder of the power of football but the city of Aberdeen. "There's certainly been communication with the local authority and myself and others at the club. There's a willingness to get back around the table."
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Renovation of social home in Blackrock cost local council €200,000 to bring back into use
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council spent more than €200,000 bringing a vacant social home in Blackrock, south Dublin back into use last year. The local authority said it spent €503,142 on 'three major refurbishment properties' to re-let in 2024. This included the property in Blackrock, which was built in 1957 and had the same tenant for 63 years. A unit in Glasthule, built in 1934 with the same tenant for 39 years, cost €146,414. The other property was in Dún Laoghaire, constructed in 1932, had same tenant for 49 years, and cost €138,581. 'They were all major refurbishments due to the condition of the properties when they were handed back to the Council,' a spokeswoman for the council said. READ MORE 'One required an existing extension to be demolished and rebuilt, all required works such as electrical rewiring upgrade works, energy upgrades works, insulation works, external roof works, full new kitchen installations and replastering of internal roofs and walls.' [ Intimidation in a Dublin suburb, and the derelict house being used as stables Opens in new window ] The Department of Housing and Local Government said it is committed to supporting local authorities implementing an asset management ICT (information and communications technology) system to allow for 'strategic and informed planned maintenance work programmes' supported by stock condition surveys. 'This approach will ensure that homes are maintained on an ongoing basis and not only maintained at the time of vacancy in some cases after a significant period of time,' it said. 'This will result in less works required on re-let, less costs associated and ensure homes are turned around as quick as possible.' The Programme for Government commits to introducing a new voids programme, to implement long-term strategic reforms and mandate local authorities to establish voids frameworks to improve the turnaround of vacant social housing units. However, the Department said there is 'no set time frame in place' for the new programme. Void is the term given to when tenants vacate houses or flats, either transferring to somewhere more suitable or leaving to purchase their own property. The death of a tenant or a marital breakdown can also result in a void unit. [ Elderly residents of Dublin 8 complex still feel 'unsafe' despite installation of security gate Opens in new window ] Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which covers Blackrock, Dundrum, Dún Laoghaire, Sandyford, Killiney, Shankill and Stillorgan, said it re-tenanted 111 properties last year as part of what it would consider to be 'normal re-let processes'. The average cost per property was €31,190. 'The length of time a property remains vacant depends on the condition of the property when it is returned to the council and the amount of information required to complete the allocation process,' it added. 'Every effort is being made to ensure properties are tenanted as quickly as possible. In 2025, re-let works have been completed on 39 properties to date at an average cost of €17,580.' The council's average re-let time for vacant properties in 2023 was 23 weeks. Dublin City Council said the average cost of refurbishing void units in 2024 was €44,000. It said when a unit becomes vacant it allows two weeks for tenants to remove any personal belongings, a 10- to 16-week period to revamp the property as well as a two-week period to allow a new tenant to inspect the property and move in. Fingal County Council said it refurbished and brought back into use 79 voids, excluding energy efficiency retrofit works, at a total cost of €1.7 million (or an average of €21,519 per unit). The average re-let period was 33 weeks. South Dublin County Council said it allocated 184 re-let properties at an average turnaround time of 20.64 weeks last year. Taoiseach Micheál Martin hit out at local authorities for the delay in releasing vacated properties to those on waiting lists in the Dáil last month. Mr Martin said local authorities take 'too long to release a home that has been vacated'. 'It can take sometimes months or a year for the local authority fill the same house again, and they cite all sorts of reasons, and it's not good enough,' he said. 'And now they're looking for more and more grants to fill those voids.' He said those homes 'should be filled fairly quickly, within a week or two of a house being vacated, unless there's some structural issue' but added that the majority of cases did not involve structural issues.
BBC News
7 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Developer eyes Surrey garden centre site for 150 homes
Plans for about 150 homes on a Surrey garden centre site have been put forward to a local authority. Developer Taylor Wimpey has submitted an outline of the potential scheme at Hill Park Roses Garden Centre in Long Ditton to Elmbridge Borough Park Roses Garden Centre, which has been family-run since 1968, is still operating on the site. A spokesperson from the rose nursery said it was "not obliged to say" whether it has been sold or not. Details on the proposal are scarce, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS). But they added planning documents indicated that the new homes would be a mix of apartments and houses, from one to five beds, and could be up to three storeys documents show that the village green, local nature reserve Stokes Field, and One Tree Hill will be kept as green space. However, the developer will add environmental enhancements. Council told to plan for more affordable homes Up to 50 per cent of the proposed new builds could be affordable, the documents also borough, which includes the towns of Esher, Cobham and Walton, has been called one of the "least affordable in the country" by a planning proposed development site covers approximately 11 hectares of land and comprises fields of grassland, scrubs, hedgerows, mature trees and woodland along with the garden centre, documents for the project date back to 2016, according to LDRS.
Daily Mail
27-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Can the council make me sell my mother's bungalow to pay for care?
My mother currently is in an elderly mental health ward suffering with depression and anxiety. Her £150,000 bungalow in Port Talbot has been put into a trust since 2015 with myself as the beneficiary and my mother remaining as a tenant. Should the need arise, and she needs to go into something like a sheltered housing complex, could the local authority make me sell her bungalow to cover any care and housing costs? S.M, via email SCROLL DOWN TO ASK YOUR FINANCIAL PLANNING QUESTION Harvey Dorset, of This is Money, replies: Care is something that many of us don't consider earlier in life, meaning that if or when this need arises we may not be ready or able to fund it without making financial life altering decisions. As many as 66 per cent of care seekers are self-funding, according to 2024 data from Just 16 per cent of care seekers were able to access funding from their local authority. For those who live alone, there is a risk that means testing could see their home's value used to pay for care. There has been forethought on your mother's part to place her property into trust. However, depending on the circumstances of this, it could still be deemed that the property can be used to fund any care needed. As discussed below, this largely relates to the decisions made in 2015 and the reasons they were taken. Yours is a complex issue. This is Money spoke to two financial advisers to find out what your mother needing care might mean for her property held in trust. Natalie Donnell, independent financial adviser at Flying Colours, replies: I am sorry to hear about your mother's illness. Having looked at your question, I think the key issue as regards the bungalow is intent. By that, I mean what was the intention from your mother when she placed the property into a trust in 2015? This is because if your mother were eventually to need full-time care, the local authority would conduct a capital assessment to determine who is responsible for funding the care (i.e. self-funding or funded by the local authority). When it comes to long term or full-time care, if the value of your mothers' assets is more than £23,250 (in England – it varies in other parts of the UK), she will be responsible for funding her care needs. This is different from the current situation, where I would think your mother's care, in a mental health ward, is being funded by the NHS. Intent comes into this because if the local authority deems that the property was put into trust in 2015 to reduce assets and avoid the eventuality of paying for full-time care later down the line, they could consider this this to be a case of 'deliberate asset deprivation'. That would mean they could treat your mother as still owning the asset (known as notional capital). They could also refuse to fund care (or assess your mother's situation as though she still owned the asset). In some cases, they could take legal action to challenge the trust. Whether the trust holds under scrutiny depends on several factors such as whether the trust was created at a time when future care needs were foreseeable, and the structure and type of trust (i.e. discretionary, life interest etc.). Trusts are a notoriously complex area so I would advise you to seek specialist independent advice on the likelihood of the current arrangement falling foul of the 'deliberate asset deprivation' category, and if so, to see whether there is any action you could take to mitigate against this. Get your financial planning question answered Financial planning can help you grow your wealth and ensure your finances are as tax efficient as possible. A key driver for many people is investing for or in retirement, tax planning and inheritance. If you have a financial planning or advice question, our experts can help answer it. Email: financialplanning@ Please include as many details as possible in your question in order for us to respond in-depth. We will do our best to reply to your message in a forthcoming column, but we won't be able to answer everyone or correspond privately with readers. Nothing in the replies constitutes regulated financial advice. Published questions are sometimes edited for brevity or other reasons. Adam Johnson, director at SJP partner practice New Forest Wealth Management, replies: The first consideration is whether your mother's care will be funded by the NHS (such as through NHS Continuing Healthcare) or subject to means-testing by the local authority. If her needs are deemed primarily health-related — for example, if she is sectioned under the Mental Health Act or qualifies for NHS Continuing Healthcare — the value of her property will be disregarded entirely, as the NHS covers all associated costs. If, however, the care is means-tested, the local authority will assess your mother's income, savings, and assets. If her savings exceed £23,250 and her income is insufficient to cover care costs, her home could be included in the financial assessment, depending on her living arrangements. Property use and living arrangements If your mother continues to live in the property or moves into another owned property (such as sheltered accommodation) and receives domiciliary care, the value of her home is typically ignored. However, if she moves into residential care and no longer lives in the property, the local authority may then consider the value of the home — unless it is exempt for another reason, such as a dependent still living there. Trust ownership and deprivation of assets As the home has been placed in trust, the key issue becomes whether your mother has any rights to the capital value. If the trust structure means she has no such rights — and only a right to reside, with the capital ultimately passing to you — she may no longer be considered to "own" the property for assessment purposes and therefore cannot be made to sell it. However, this leads to the question of deliberate deprivation of assets. If the local authority believes the home was placed in trust to avoid future care fees, they could treat her as though she still owns it. Their judgment will centre on why the transfer was made in 2015. Since the arrangement did not benefit inheritance tax planning (due to her continued occupation), they may question what financial objective was being addressed, and whether placing the property in trust was a proportionate response. There is no statutory time limit on how far back local authorities can look for evidence of deprivation. Although a transfer made 10 years ago may be less likely to be challenged, it cannot be ruled out. The outcome will ultimately depend on the local authority's interpretation of the facts and the strength of the explanation for the trust. I recommend reviewing the trust documents in detail.
