European court of human rights to investigate eviction

Human rights court to examine eviction The European court of human rights is looking into the procedures used by social landlords to evict tenants in the UK. The court is looking into the case of Paul and Amanda Wilkes who were evicted from their Blackpool council home by the local authority in 2007, after 57 incidents of alleged anti-social behaviour including a threat to kill. The family, including their two children, had their one-year introductory tenancy terminated following a review panel decision by the council. The court now wants to establish whether the eviction was proportionate and the review panel was sufficiently independent Calls to include 'presumption in favour of sustainable development' in localism Bill The National Housing Federation has welcomed government plans to presume in favour of sustainable development in planning decisions, but is calling on ministers to include the presumption in its localism bill to give the concept extra weight in law. The draft document was released on Wednesday and will set the default position for planning decisions which do not infringe sustainable development principles set to "yes". The presumption will underpin the government's new national p lanning policy framework, on which a consultation will be announced in the coming months. Council gives grants to reduce empty homes Slough council are discussing plans to give social landlords individual grants of up to £5,000 to improve empty homes and bring them back into use. The council has set aside £240,000 which it hopes will see 20 empty homes renovated and ready for tenants. There are currently 7,000 people on the housing waiting list in the town, as well as 3,500 who are living in overcrowded conditions. The number of homes which have stood empty for longer than six months, and are therefore not subject to council tax, has risen, from 160 in 2009 to 259 in 2011.