You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Morning Briefing: Home Group apologises over demolition letters
Home Group mistakenly sends out demolition letters and the Metropolitan Police asks government to help fund its Grenfell investigation
In the news
Home Group has been forced to apologise after mistakenly sending out letters to 246 households telling them their homes were set to be demolished, the News & Star has reported.
Elsa Brailey, head of development at Home Group, apologised to residents and said the letter was “not clear”. She added that the letter was intended to be “purely a formality” relating to the suspension of the Right to Buy in the area and there are “no plans in place” to demolish the homes.
The Met Police has asked the government for £38m to help fund its investigation into the Grenfell Tower fire, the BBC reports. The figure includes £11.1m to cover overtime and extra costs in 2017/18 and £27m to cover the entire costs of the investigation, which involves 200 officers and staff.
The investigation is expected to be one of the most complex the Met has undertaken and the force has gathered 31 million documents and 2,500 physical exhibits. Some 1,144 witnesses have given statements and 383 companies are part of the investigation.
And the Evening Standard reports that the Grenfell Tower Inquiry has appointed KPMG as its advisor despite the accountancy firm earning millions of pounds auditing the three main players being investigated over the fire – Rydon, Celotex and Kensington and Chelsea Council.
Newport Council is considering a blanket ban on begging in the city centre, Wales Online reports.
Since 2015 the city has had a ban on aggressive begging as part of a public spaces protection order, but it is now considering extending this to begging of any kind.
The Huffington Post has spoken to some of Windsor’s rough sleepers to get their take on this week’s controversy over the council leader comments.
Simon Dudley called for action to be taken over “aggressive begging and intimidation” ahead of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding in the town this year, but Theresa May – who is the local MP – distanced herself from the comments.
On social media
Inside Housing’s diversity campaign Inclusive Futures, launched today, is already prompting debate on Twitter:
Forty years after the first report on Race and Housing despite numerous initiatives HAs are still failing We need to seriously ask ourselves why? #ukhousing. @insidehousing t.co/CUpSSkuwi0
— Tom Murtha (@tomemurtha)Forty years after the first report on Race and Housing despite numerous initiatives HAs are still failing We need to seriously ask ourselves why? #ukhousing. @insidehousing https://t.co/CUpSSkuwi0
— Tom Murtha (@tomemurtha) January 5, 2018
And people have picked up on the fact that Windsor Council’s leader, who made controversial remarks about begging in the town, is also on the board of the Homes and Communities Agency – first spotted by Inside Housing reporter Luke Barratt.
Following call to prosecute the #homelessness disowned by May it turns out "Windsor council leader is paid director of Government agency responsible for helping homeless" - the Homes & Communities Agencyt.co/ukdNLNjs2N #ukhousing #Homeless
— Paul Kershaw (@1917paul)Following call to prosecute the #homelessness disowned by May it turns out "Windsor council leader is paid director of Government agency responsible for helping homeless" - the Homes & Communities Agencyhttps://t.co/ukdNLNjs2N #ukhousing #Homeless
— Paul Kershaw (@1917paul) January 5, 2018
