Cutting red tape for business improvement districts that help small shops and local traders
The Department for Communities and Local Government has today (1 October 2013) ended the cumbersome red tape which made it harder for local firms and traders to set up business improvement districts where high streets stretch across council boundaries. For full details click here.
New competition authority comes into existence
The UK’s new unified competition body, the Competition and Markets Authority, launched today in shadow form before going live in April 2014. The Competition and Markets Authority will bring together the Competition Commission (CC) with the competition and certain consumer functions of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in order to promote competition, both within and outside the UK, for the benefit of consumers. For more information click here.
New measures to increase rural home-building
Towns and villages will now find it easier to get the development they need after changes to the village green system that will stop it being abused came in today. Village green status protects land that is regularly used for recreation but loopholes in the system have increasingly been abused by people looking to stop local development. As well as having a negative effect on the rural economy and reducing the value of land – often by over 90% – this reduces the availability of rural homes, facilities and hospitals across the country. To read more click here.
