Birmingham City Council has saved £3m in the last 12 months by vacating leasehold properties.
The council announced today that its Working for the Future programme had resulted in a number of buildings being vacated, creating savings on running costs and rent.
Staff have vacated city centre leased properties including Alpha Tower, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Local authorities need to be realistic about what their region can support if they want to attract retail development, a conference in London has heard.
Speakers in a session on retail at the Public Property Summit, run by PublicPropertyUK.com and Property Week, said that there was a gap between what the …

Birmingham City Council has signed a five-year deal with Abu Dhabi in a bid to win more overseas investment for the West Midlands city.
Council leader Mike Whitby today announced that Birmingham has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government in Abu Dhabi (pictured). Under this agreement, the Abu Dhabi …

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council has instructed Colliers International to conduct a retail and leisure study of Rotherham following a competitive tender.
The study will provide an evidence base for the Rotherham local development framework, which will cover the period up to 2027, and inform any retail policies and proposals that come …

Birmingham City Council is set lose 79 full-time posts as it merges its planning and regeneration departments into a single team.
Its plan will mean cutting the team by one third, and setting up smaller planning and regeneration teams based in different areas across the city. It means all staff in …

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has offered local authorities £55m over the next five years as part of a bid to encourage more localism in the planning system.
In a letter to councils, sent after yesterday’s Spending Review, Pickles gave details of how various grants would be distributed over the next five …

Mary Harpley has been appointed as chief executive of the London Borough of Hounslow.
Harpley, who is currently chief executive of Cherwell District Council, replaces interim chief executive Michael Frater.
Prior to joining Cherwell, Mary was a director of regional development agency Advantage West Midlands and before that, a senior consultant with …