September News from around the UK

• Call for 'green-home' cash bonus

Households should receive council tax rebates to encourage them to install solar panels and wind turbines, an independent think tank claims.

The New Local Government Network says planning laws should be relaxed to increase the take-up of green energy.

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• Homeowners build bigger nests

An increasing number of homeowners are choosing to renovate and extend their property, rather than move house.

Just one in ten homeowners age between 30 and 40 years of age are planning to move home, with many stating they would rather upgrade than move, according to research released today by Standard Life Bank.

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Business - Finance

News: Environment, Climate & Attitudes

• UK faces "reality check" over climate change targets

The UK will miss government targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2010 and also goals to bolster renewable energy, according to a new report.
Leading think tank Cambridge Econometrics forecast in a report out this month the country will achieve a 12.75 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2010.

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Business - Finance

News: Finance & Economy

• House price slowdown casts doubts on 6% rates

Britain's biggest building society warns there are 'clearer signs' of a housing downturn as annual price inflation falls

Britain’s biggest building society today warned that there were “clearer signs” of a slowdown in the housing market and claimed that millions of homeowners may now be spared another interest rate rise.

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• Mortgage-seekers shrug off Bank rate rise

The property market has enjoyed an unexpectedly robust summer, figures showed yesterday, suggesting that the cost of borrowing might have to rise further before the full effect of a forecast housing slowdown takes effect.

Figures on mortgage approvals from the Bank of England showed that there were 115,000 new loans taken out in July, unchanged from the previous month despite the Bank raising rates that month to their highest level in six years.

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Business - Finance