Stephen Plaster|Shutterstock
This service is a good first step towards a one-stop shop for easy access subnational statistics to understand local areas and how they’re changing.
Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove addresses the Convention of the North in Leeds in March 2024.
PA Images|Alamy
English councils have neither the ongoing funding or the staffing needed to effectively deliver on the government’s economic development promises.
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We investigated whether rates of children in care have been growing or falling across all English local authorities according to their party political leadership.
Bradford is in danger of joining the six councils on the ‘bankrupt’ list.
APS (UK)/Alamy
A new study of council financing in Germany, Italy and Japan offers some new ideas for how to solve English councils’ financial difficulties.
Kilburn High Road, North London.
Jonathan Goldberg|Alamy
Capital-driven regeneration projects rarely deliver because they focus on profit, not local people’s needs.
LightField Studios/Shutterstock
The UK needs to fix its recycling system for a more sustainable future.
Shutterstock/Dr Ajay Kumar Singh
If decision makers don’t have up-to-date information about urban water use and demand, any policies they design are unlikely to deliver for communities or the environment.
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Sarnia | Shutterstock
If some progress was made in the early 2000s, austerity measures from 2010 saw the push for equality, diversity or inclusion die down.
Attempting to leave an abusive partner is a high risk factor for violence and femicide.
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Domestic violence is a housing issue. Ensuring survivors have access to safe accommodation is key to enabling them to escape.
Countrywide/Alamy
Pouring money into levelling up won’t work without a rethink of how Whitehall and local government work together
Motortion Films/Shutterstock
Homelessness among veterans is not as common as the headlines suggest, but leaving the Armed Forces is a difficult process that can lead to housing problems
A memorial for Grenfell Tower.
Will Oliver/EPA.
The public inquiry into Grenfell makes its first report – but those responsible for the circumstances leading up to the fire are yet to face the consequences.
A clouded future for local councils.
Little Miss Clever Trousers/Flickr.
Reforms to the way local authorities are funded are probably the most radical – and least discussed – changes made by the Conservative government.
People power in Totnes.
Sophie Wilder/Flickr.
The UK government has been trying to hand planning power over to local people for 50 years – but research reveals it has fallen far short of its goals.
Hampstead Heath, London.
Emotionless Wi/Flickr.
The UK’s surviving urban commons are precious green spaces, but the laws that protect them are confusing, complicated and in some cases outdated.
Taking a lead.
Paulaphoto/Shutterstock
Poverty leaves people feeling unable to take responsibility for their future – but community programmes can empower young people to take control.
Jobs on the line.
Barry Batchelor/PA Wire/PA Images
Regional authorities require real teeth to protect their towns from big shocks like factory closures.
Rawpixel/Shutterstock
We found hundreds of local council workers willing to give out login details for government systems without realising.
Store closures in Swansea.
jax10289/Shutterstock.
It’s not just affecting areas in post-industrial decline – retail spaces are closing and losing value across England and Wales.
Dan Jarvis, Mayor of Sheffield City Region Combined Authority.
Danny Lawson/PA Images.
Westminster holds its power tight, but that could be bad news for cities and regions.