Ownership of public assets should be transferred to community groups, think tank ResPublica has said
In a new reported, called To Buy, To Bid, To Build: Community Rights for an Asset Owning Democracy, it said that letting communities buy assets such as libraries, swimming pools and village halls would improve public …

Aberdeen City Council has agreed to set up a city development company into which it will transfer publicly-owned assets for redevelopment.
Last night, councillors on the enterprise, planning and infrastructure committee voted in favour of the project to create a development company called One Aberdeen, despite concerns from members of the …

Communities secretary Eric Pickles acted unlawfully in unilaterally revoking the system of regional planning strategies in England, the High Court has found today.
The court has given its judgment in the judicial review brought by housebuilder Cala Homes against the revocation of regional planning. It found that the secretary of state …

Glasgow City Council has today started a body to stimulate private sector growth and has recruited former council regeneration director Steve Inch to lead its infrastructure work.
The council has recruited a panel of private and public sector business and economic development leaders to run the commission, which will look …

This week, 1,300 professionals in the public and private sector gathered to talk about sweating publicly owned assets and financing regeneration.
They were attending the inaugural Public Property Summit in London on 1 and 2 November.
To see photos from the event and get a flavour of the atmosphere, take a look …

The government wants to keep its property vehicles in public ownership, Property Unit chief John McCready has told Public Property UK.
In an interview at the Public Property Summit this week, McCready said the vehicles in London and Bristol would need to be held by the public sector to help him …

Nottingham City Council has pulled out of sponsoring the city’s trip to MIPIM 2011, the property conference  in Cannes.
The council, which has had an annual presence at the festival in the past five years, announced today that spending cuts would force it to pull out next year.
Announcing the move, council …

The administrators of property services firm Connaught believe the amount owed to unsecured creditors could be as much as £100m, the Financial Times reports.
KPMG believed that the social housing maintenance arm of Connaught owed £46m, in addition to £22m owed to HRMC.
But 50,000 invoices have been discovered that had not …

Defence Estates, the Ministry of Defence’s property arm, will take a more centralised and strategic approach to its property following a government review being conducted by Lord Levene.
Levene was commissioned by the government to carry out a defence reform review, looking at how to make the MoD more efficient.
Speaking at …

Prime Minister David Cameron has set out a government’s plan for London’s East End to become a technology hub similar to Silicon Valley.
Speaking to technology business leaders in Shoreditch in London today, Cameron also announced that the Olympic Park media centre was to become flexible office space, facilities and expertise, …