The Liberal Democrat leader of Cardiff council, Rodney Berman, has hit back at critics who claim that his proposal to allow building only on brownfield sites will result in a shortage of family accommodation and hold back the city’s growth. Highlighting Rome and Milan as models, councillor Berman said: “If we can get more three or four-bedroom apartments we can start to build a more sustainable city. But to do that we have to close off the easy option to develop large swathes of green-field sites for housing.”

Birmingham City Council is encouraging more local construction firms participate in its £2.4b Building Schools for the Future project. Part of a £55b nation-wide initiative, the BSF scheme will see over 80 schools renovated in the next 15 years. The project also offers opportunities to the young, buffeted by the current economic climate. Roger Thompson, of the Catalyst Lend Lease consortium said: “Our goal is to recruit 40 apprentices in the first year and offer work placement experience to 100 students.”

Problems with developers have prompted North Lanarkshire Council to request that SNP ministers back moves to “reinstate” some of the feudal rights it lost five years ago. This would enable the council to impose conditions on other people’s land, as if it were a “feudal superior” and the owners “vassals”. A report, lamenting the loss of feudal rights, which had formerly been in place for 800 years, explains that “The Abolition of Feudal Tenure Etc (Scotland) Act 2000 removed the right of councils (and others) to enforce conditions or burdens as feudal superior. One major impact of this is that councils can no longer retain such direct control over the use of land they have sold as could be exercised previously."

Jane Hore, former leader of Suffolk County Council , has received a year-long ban from standing for election after being discovered to have voted twice during a meeting – the second time when Ipswich councillor Bill Quinton briefly exited the chamber, leaving his smartcard in the delegate unit in front of him. Ms Hore maintains her innocence, insisting that “My conscious is clear. I know what I did not do. The Standards board does not consider formal evidence. They rely on tittle-tattle. I have no intention of returning to public life.”