Waltham Forest Council has defended its decision to spend at least £100,000 in collaboration with three other Labour-run local authorities to instigate a legal challenge to the coalition’s decision to scrap the multi-million pound Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme. The scrapping of the scheme saw the group lose around £260 million that had been promised to 16 local schools. Council leader Chris Robbins said: “We cannot walk away from our young people. The borough has lost over £260 million — we can’t just accept that and not put up a fight.”

Union members and Labour councillors have been angered by Derby City Council’s decision to have employment tribunals heard by senior officers rather than councillors. The Lib Dem group on the council defended the move, arguing councillors lacked the necessary expertise, however Labour councillor Paul Bayliss said: “Members are and should be able to determine such issues as we are the employers at the end of the day.”

Gloucestershire County Council is preparing to invest up to £300,000 in a superfast broadband pilot scheme to assist rural businesses. It follows the successful bid last year of Gloucestershire First, a council body, in conjunction with Herefordshire Council, to take part in a large government-run project examining the provision to broadband services to rural areas. Cllr Chas Fellows said: “Accessible fast broadband is seen as an increasingly important element of infrastructure for both business and the wiser community.”

Ludlow Town Council has overwhelmingly rejected a suggestion by one of its members that councillors should be paid for their work. Cllr Jennifer Leyton-Purrier said she had no regrets about raising the issue, following her failure to secure a single sympathetic voice in the recent debate. Former mayor Marie Glaze said: “I have been a member of the council for 15 years continually, manage on a pension, and do not want to be paid.”