Government

Local government commissioners have warned that the government’s withdrawal of funding for a £600m PFI highways contract, won by Kier, is likely to damage a bankrupt council’s ability to turn its finances around. On 30 November, the Department for Transport (DfT) confirmed it was ending its funding support for the…

Builders merchants, scaffolders and a subsidiary of a large main contractor are among firms named by the government for failing to pay the minimum wage. More than 500 companies have been named after investigations by HMRC found that between 2015 and 2023 they had breached the National Minimum Wage Act.…

The Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) has called for a two-year extension to the cut in fuel duty and a relaunched rebate for hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) ahead of the Spring Budget on Wednesday (6 March). The trade body said the government should introduce the measures to “maintain and grow” the…

A coalition of built environment groups have said the government’s net-zero housing plans do not go far enough. Low Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI), a network of 1,000 professionals in the sector, says the Future Homes Standard could see housing built to lower environmental standards than today. The Department for Levelling…

Infrastructure projects are being held back in rural areas due to inflated material prices, MPs have warned. In a House of Commons adjournment on infrastructure procurement on Monday (20 February), two MPs from the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) argued that creating a centralised access point for…

The government has unveiled plans to extend permitted development rights for demolishing buildings and replacing them with housing. In 2020 the government introduced a rule that allowed the demolition of residential, office or industrial buildings built before 1989 without planning permission if they are replaced by a home or housing…

The government has injected £3bn into affordable housing, which it says will finance 20,000 new homes. The extra funds were pledged towards the Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme, which, for the first time, can now also be used to upgrade existing properties to make them safe or “fit for the future”.…

A major trade body has warned that new biodiversity net gain (BNG) legislation, which comes into force today (12 February), will deter homebuilding. Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and market insights at the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said some of the organisation’s members had told him that they planned…

Labour has almost halved its green investment plan for the next parliament. The opposition party, which has a large lead in opinion polls with a general election due to be held within the next 11 months, previously made a flagship commitment to a £28bn annual “green prosperity plan”. The plan…

Housing secretary Michael Gove has said he doesn’t believe a modern methods of construction (MMC) taskforce is necessary, after criticism that a promised £10m taskforce had never materialised. At a House of Lords’ Built Environment Committee session on 6 February, Gove said that “other issues have loomed larger” since the…