{"id":10408,"date":"2026-03-16T12:40:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T12:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/?p=10408"},"modified":"2026-03-16T12:40:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T12:40:59","slug":"monday-16-03-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/daily-news\/monday-16-03-2026-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday: 16\/03\/2026 \/ News"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"blue-color\">\n<h6>Daily News: 16\/03\/2026<\/h6>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A report titled Between Skyscrapers and Semis: London\u2019s Missing Mid-Rise Housing says London\u2019s housing crisis is partly due to its high proportion of low-rise homes, leaving it less dense than comparable global cities. It suggests mid-rise developments could add more homes within the existing city footprint while improving neighbourhood quality. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/pdf\/Between_skyscrapers_and_semis_-_REPORT.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">London <\/span><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/gov.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gov.UK<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Housing Ombudsman Service has defended its decision to stop accepting complaints by email as a standard route, while saying complaints submitted this way will not ultimately be blocked. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.housingtoday.co.uk\/news\/housing-ombudsman-defends-move-to-no-longer-accept-complaints-by-email-following-criticism\/5141277.article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Housing Today (register)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fortem has expanded its partnership with Amplius after securing a new contract to deliver repairs and void services across the East and West Midlands, supporting around 7,600 homes and strengthening a collaboration that began in 2022. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facilitatemagazine.com\/2026\/03\/16\/fortem-extends-alliance-amplius-midlands\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Facilitate Magazine<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vistry Group has partnered with Midlands Heart to begin construction of 228 new homes on a 28.5-acre site on Barnards Drive in Sileby, expanding housing supply in the area. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk\/mag\/property\/work-begins-on-228-homes-in-sileby\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">East Midlands Business Link<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First Choice Homes Oldham has a \u00a32.3m retrofit programme upgrading 138 homes in Abbeyhills and Roundthorn, improving energy efficiency and cutting one resident\u2019s winter gas bill by half as part of its wider \u00a331.4m plan to ensure all homes reach at least EPC C by 2030. Meanwhile, Wolverhampton City Council has upgraded more than 600 council homes through its retrofit programme with support from over \u00a35m from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fcho.co.uk\/news\/energy-retrofit-cuts-customer-s-winter-gas-spend-in-half\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wolverhampton.gov.uk\/news\/councils-retrofit-housing-programme-delivers-improvements-over-600-homes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wolverhampton City Council<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Westminster City Council has published a refreshed Code of Construction Practice planning document aimed at improving how construction activity is managed across the borough and reducing disruption to residents and businesses. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westminster.gov.uk\/news\/westminster-publishes-code-construction-practice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Westminster London Borough<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UK households spent a record \u00a3226bn on housing last year, with costs for both renters and homeowners rising 41% over the past five years, driven largely by higher mortgage interest payments as borrowers come off fixed-rate deals, according to analysis by Savills. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/money\/2026\/mar\/16\/uk-housing-costs-rise-renting-ownership-costs-savills\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Guardian<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UK government has pledged to go \u201cfurther and faster\u201d on energy security, with the energy secretary confirming plans to bring forward the next annual renewables auction to July to boost investment and expand clean power capacity, building on recent auctions that secured enough energy to power the equivalent of 23m homes. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/government-to-go-further-and-faster-in-becoming-energy-secure\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GOV.UK<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A report by CPRE warns demand on England\u2019s finite land is rising, with 1.5m new homes planned alongside infrastructure needs, and calls for a more coordinated approach to land use amid development and climate pressures. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cpre.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Understanding-the-tools-for-integrating-land-use-decision-making.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Campaign to Protect Rural England<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Daily News: 16\/03\/2026 A report titled Between Skyscrapers and Semis: London\u2019s Missing Mid-Rise Housing says London\u2019s housing crisis is partly due to its high proportion of low-rise homes, leaving it less dense than comparable global cities. It suggests mid-rise developments could add more homes within the existing city footprint while improving neighbourhood quality. London Gov.UK [&hellip;]<\/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-10408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10408","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=10408"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10415,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10408\/revisions\/10415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}