{"id":10268,"date":"2026-02-26T12:39:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/?p=10268"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:39:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:39:05","slug":"thursday-26-02-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/daily-news\/thursday-26-02-2026-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday: 26\/02\/2026 \/ News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Daily News: 26\/02\/2026<\/h6>\n

The RSH Oct-Dec 2025 quarterly survey shows ongoing financial pressure but rising investment in existing homes: private registered providers spent \u00a32.4bn on repairs and maintenance in the quarter and \u00a39.4bn over 12 months, up 7% year-on-year. <\/span>GOV.UK<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

A complaints-handling report says stronger apologies can resolve serious housing issues, featuring Bristol City Council, Futures Housing Group, London Borough of Hackney, London Borough of Haringey, London Borough of Lambeth, L&Q, PA Housing, Southern Housing, and Stonewater. Separately, Barnet Council was found at fault for incorrect housing advice that caused significant distress, while a fire-related death in Luton has prompted calls for action on landlord fire safety and risk management. <\/span>Housing Ombudsman Service<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>MyLondon<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Luton Today<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Platform Housing Group reported a 6.4% rise in social housing lettings turnover to \u00a3238.7m for the nine months to December 2025. Meanwhile, Norwich City Council approved a housing-focused budget including \u00a378m HRA spend for 2026-27 and a \u00a367.48m capital programme within a \u00a3260.58m five-year plan, while Moray Council confirmed continued HRA investment and progress on national standards in Scotland. <\/span>Platform Housing Group<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Norwich City Council<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Moray Council<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The Scottish Government\u2019s Scottish House Condition Survey 2024 highlights persistent fuel poverty and thermal comfort pressures in Scotland, with 19% of households only sometimes warm in winter and 6% never warm, underscoring ongoing housing quality and energy efficiency challenges. <\/span>The Scottish Government<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The UK government has allocated over \u00a350m to councils and frontline organisations to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, focusing on high-pressure areas and strengthening prevention and emergency response measures. <\/span>GOV.UK<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Metropolitan Housing Trust appointed 30 contractors to a \u00a3655m fire and structural safety remediation framework. Highland Council named initial contractors under its \u00a32.1bn Highland Investment Plan. Meanwhile, Soha Housing partnered with Huws Gray Partnership Solutions to enhance repair services, reporting improved resident satisfaction, and Wates Residential has appointed UK Power Solutions to install a ground-source geothermal heat network for a new housing estate in Cardiff. <\/span>Construction Enquirer<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Construction Enquirer<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Construction Magazine UK<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>The Construction Index<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Codi Group and Edenstone Homes will start a \u00a355m, 184-home scheme at Plasdwr this summer within a wider 7,000-home regeneration. Meanwhile, John Lewis Partnership has withdrawn from a \u00a3500m build-to-rent plan across Bromley, Reading, and West Ealing, citing a cautious market. <\/span>Housing Executive<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>The Guardian<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Lovell Partnerships reported resilient results, with revenue up 5% to \u00a3903m and operating profit rising 16% to \u00a342m. Meanwhile, creditor claims tied to Blenheim House Construction\u2019s collapse have exceeded \u00a360m, underscoring continued financial strain across construction. <\/span>TheBusinessDesk.com<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Construction Enquirer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The UK Government has unveiled major proposals to tighten regulation of construction products, strengthen oversight of safety standards and tackle unregulated practices in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy. <\/span>GOV.UK<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The UK government reports 114,022 Boiler Upgrade Scheme vouchers to Jan 2026 (98% air source heat pumps). The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund has delivered 120,600 measures across 57,200 homes, and Energy Company Obligation schemes have installed 4.4m measures in 2.6m homes. Analysis also warns 800,000+ homes across the United Kingdom could face high flood risk by 2080. <\/span>GOV.UK<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>GOV.UK<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>GOV.UK<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>STV News<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Nearly 4,000 homes were approved on a former US airbase in Norfolk. Wheatley Homes South secured consent for almost 300 homes in Dumfries. Elsewhere, plans for up to 230 homes advanced despite objections, proposals for up to 1,500 homes near Telford are in preparation, a 430-home scheme with a local centre has been lodged, and developers submitted plans for a further 226 homes in Northampton. <\/span>BBC<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Scottish Housing News<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>BBC<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>BBC<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>BBC<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Northampton Chronicle<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daily News: 26\/02\/2026 The RSH Oct-Dec 2025 quarterly survey shows ongoing financial pressure but rising investment in existing homes: private registered providers spent \u00a32.4bn on repairs and maintenance in the quarter and \u00a39.4bn over 12 months, up 7% year-on-year. GOV.UK A complaints-handling report says stronger apologies can resolve serious housing issues, featuring Bristol City Council, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10268"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10272,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10268\/revisions\/10272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}