Sweeping up as the fur flies
It's goodbye from me …
Keith and Ken – London's two-man housing roadshow – hit the Thames Gateway on Wednesday 6 August.

As they glad-handed their way around a building site, the housing minister and mayor were invited to the opening of the Docklands Light Railway extension in December 2005. "I'll be there," exclaimed Keith Hill jauntily, "not too sure about Ken though." Miaow.

The valleys are alive
One Welsh housing association has decided to uphold Wales' reputation as the land of song by conducting its annual general meeting to music.

Paul Diggory, chief executive of North Wales Housing Association, opened each section of the meeting with a housing-related tune. Madness' Our House headed up the development section of the meeting, and Paul Young's Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) introduced a talk on homelessness. No, I haven't made this up.

Consultation: the next generation
We have finally found a worthy winner of the prize for oddest consultation. The lucky winner is the regulatory impact unit at the Cabinet Office with … a consultation about consultation. That's right.

Housing folk across the land have received a letter giving "advance warning of a consultation on a proposed revised code of practice on consultation". This metaconsultation, postmodernism fans, starts in early September and runs for 12 weeks. The replies should be fun.

Here comes the summer
The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the beach is beckoning. Who wants to work in August? Certainly not the staff of Tewkesbury council.

Clocking up an average of 12 sick days a year – compared with the national average of eight – these folk have got their priorities right. But council bosses aren't so keen and have outraged righteous taxpayers with proposals of financial rewards for workers who can be bothered to turn up all year round. Sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

Tough crowd
They don't call it London-by-the-sea for nothing. Brighton is flash, brash and proud – but perhaps a bit too loud. The council has had to issue an edict demanding spectator silence at planning committee meetings after a spate of over-enthusiastic heckling.

Scorchio!
It was reported this week that Gravesend in Kent had recorded the UK's highest-ever temperature – 38.1ºC – but readers of the Gravesend Churches Housing Association Newsletter know that the district is no stranger to extreme weather.

Last month, the GCHA's office was hit by lightning. Shocking.

City limits

So much for the long-awaited housing crash. House prices are stubbornly remaining beyond the reach of London’s key workers, while new figures show the North’s housing market to be gaining ground on its southern equivalent. Leading the charge is, erm, Macclesfield. Apparently, those who’ve benefited from the regeneration of Manchester are all moving to the suburbs now. So, if you’re a city-dweller intent on cashing in on your two-bed flat and dreaming of purchasing a small country mansion on the back of the proceeds, best get a shift on.

Source

Housing Today