In 2011 the ratio of lower quartile house price to lower quartile earnings in England was 6.5. The highest ratios are found in London (9.0), the South East (8.2) and the South West (7.8).
The Government published the final version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPFF) on 27 March 2012. It replaced almost all planning guidance immediately, although planning authorities have twelve months in which to get their plans adopted.
From 20-22 June 2012 the UN will hold a conference on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, twenty years on from the ‘Earth Summit’ of 1992, also held in Rio. This note sets out the likely agenda for the conference and some surrounding political issues.
The Water Industry (Financial Assistance) Bill contains two measures. One will give the Government the discretion to reduce water bills in certain regions. The other will give the Government the discretion to provide financial assistance for major water and sewage infrastructure projects. Initially the Government plans to use these powers to reduce water bills in the South West of England and to support the Thames Tunnel project.
This House of Commons Library briefing paper summarises the options available to tenants when they discover that their landlord has defaulted on the mortgage payments.
This note highlights some important issues in the planning part of the Localism Bill as it completed its Commons stages and went to the House of Lords.
This note provides background on the old Housing Revenue Account (HRA) subsidy system and considers some of the issues associated with it up to its abolition in April 2012. This note will not be updated – information on the self-financing regime can be found in Library note SN/SP/6776 Local housing authorities - the self-financing regime: progress and issues. A further paper, CB8963, A new era of social rented housing in England? (2020) considers prospects for social rented housing following the lifting of the HRA borrowing caps in 2018.
This is an account of the House of Commons Committee Stage of the Welfare Reform Bill. It complements Research Papers 11/23 and 11/24, prepared for the Commons Second Reading debate.