The number of planning approvals for new homes in England is unacceptable, the new housing secretary has said, after official data showed permission for building homes fell to a record low during Labour's first year in office. Fewer than 29,000 projects were granted permission by councils in the year ending June 2025 - striking a blow to the government's promise to deliver 1.5 million homes by the next election. Steve Reed, who has taken over from Angela Rayner as housing secretary, said fixing the planning system won't happen overnight. Conservative shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly said that Labour had promised to'build, build, build' but their flagship planning reforms clearly aren't working. You can see the figures for your local area in BBC Verify's housing tracker.

Michael Gove has loosened restrictions on building onshore windfarms in England, meaning developments will no longer be quashed by one objection, but campaigners have said such schemes are still at a disadvantage. The communities secretary announced on Tuesday that the government would make a series of changes to the planning system in order to lift a de facto ban on the structures that has been in place since 2015. The move comes after a long campaign by Conservative MPs to overturn the 2015 rules, which have allowed local authorities to block new turbines based on just one complaint. Those rules have led to just 20 new onshore turbines being given planning permission in the last nine years. Gove said: "To increase our energy security and develop a cleaner, greener economy, we are introducing new measures to allow local communities to back onshore wind power projects. This will only apply in areas where developments have community support, but these changes will help build on Britain's enormous success as a global leader in offshore wind, helping us on our journey to net zero."

Two brothers whose grandmother was left unaided for hours after a fall, have developed AI technology to help local authorities reach hundreds of shielding, isolated or digitally excluded residents. Monty and Hector Alexander are working with Hammersmith and Fulham council to pilot their automated voice call system that phones households every fortnight to ask whether they need help during the Covid-19 pandemic. At the ages of 24 and 26, the brothers said they decided to harness their tech expertise to find solutions to social issues rather than joining a big corporate machine or tech giant. The brothers, who live in White City, founded the start-up Yokeru while Monty was still studying mechanical engineering at Imperial College London last year in an attempt to "improve communication between vulnerable people and caregivers". Much of their motivations were personal after their grandmother was left stranded outside her residential home for eight hours after falling over, even with the home's 24/7 care.

Local councils in England must be given powers to regulate Airbnb and other short-term letting sites in order to alleviate the "intolerable" pressure they put on the availability of local housing, the Green party MP, Caroline Lucas, has said. Her intervention followed a Guardian investigation that found one Airbnb listing for every four residential properties in some hotspots across Britain. Airbnb has disputed the finding. Meanwhile, an organisation representing landlords has warned that imminent tax changes will drive an increasing number of landlords towards Airbnb and its rivals, depriving renters of long-term, stable tenancies. Last month Lucas asked the government to make it easier for councils to impose a 90-day cap on homes let out on Airbnb and other online platforms.

Some local councils – such as the London Borough of Enfield – are already embracing this shift. Last year, Enfield collaborated with IPsoft to develop Amelia, robot technology dedicated to frontline council services, such as taking resident queries or authenticating licenses. Through AI and cognitive computing, government departments can lessen the burden of administrative tasks while gaining faster access to sophisticated insights, empowering them to make better decisions for citizens. The volume of information available today continues to grow exponentially. By deploying technology to successfully navigate and manage these huge quantities of data, both structured and unstructured, local councils can speed up services, improve frontline services and reduce human error. British citizens can already anticipate the advantages.