House-hunters in the West Midlands looking for a new home in time for Christmas are being encouraged to consider Bromford’s Blythe Valley development in Solihull, where they could be gifted a £500 Argos voucher.

Blythe Valley consists of a wonderful collection of two-bedroom Shared Ownership apartments, surrounded by green open spaces and great transport links, making them more than ideal for first-time buyers and young professionals alike.

The UK’s first housing provider to commit to a digital-only telecare system has had its innovation recognised with an accolade at this year’s Health Investor Senior Awards.

Housing 21, a leading not-for-profit provider of Retirement and Extra Care Living for people over the age of 55, and Appello, a Technology Enabled Care (TEC) provider, jointly won the Best Use of Technology in Senior’s Housing Award.

Eight locally-led projects designed to offer people new skills and new opportunities have been awarded more than £5m funding as part of the Government’s plans to level up communities.

These include skills training for those impacted by the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic and projects to close gaps in support for key groups such as the over 50s and those with a history of offending.

A new survey from rental platform LettingaProperty.com has revealed how hugely important green issues have become to the UK’s renters. A staggering 98% of respondents said that they would prefer a property that was optimised to increase energy efficiency, reduce energy costs and minimise environmental impact.

Not only that, but tenants are prepared to pay more to rent in line with their principles. Over half of those surveyed (53%) were prepared to pay more for a greener property.

Two-thirds of the British public recognise the railway as a greener mode of transport - and yet 73% of this group still primarily use cars to get around.

That was the key finding of a national survey carried out by Network Rail as part of the industry-wide ‘We Mean Green’ campaign to encourage travellers to make greener travel choices.

The £5.7 billion promised in the Budget is not alone enough to level up urban transport says Centre for Cities in new research finding that just four in 10 people in the UK’s largest cities* outside London can reach their city centre by public transport in under 30 minutes.

This is significantly worse than in big European cities where almost seven in 10 people can travel to their city centre in less than 30 minutes.