The Royal Mail Group Limited has been fined £50,000 after a worker’s foot was run over by a reach truck in a bundling warehouse. Medway Magistrates Court heard how an incident happened at the Royal Mail Group Limited (RMG) bundling centre in Rochester where a worker stepped out into an
A new report from Connells Survey & Valuation has found that expanding growth in the property sector during March was fuelled by a rush of first time buyers breaking in to the property market. During March, valuations jumped by 8% year-on-year and by 21% when compared to the previous month,
Good news for the construction industry of Britain, as construction output has increased by 1.5% in the last three month. This statistic is lead by a 15% growth in the North West which official data has shown is at least 10 times the national average for growth rate. New housing
The Royal Mail Group Limited has been fined £50,000 after a worker’s foot was run over by a reach truck in a bundling warehouse. Medway Magistrates Court heard how an incident happened at the Royal Mail Group Limited (RMG) bundling centre in Rochester where a worker stepped out into an aisle and another worker, who was driving a reach truck, ran over his foot causing broken bones and bruising. The injured worked was not wearing safety boots with steal toe caps when the incident happened. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident which occurred on 7 March 2014 found that workplace transport was not organised to ensure pedestrians and vehicles can circulate safely as they both operated in the same areas without segregation. Better organisation of the workplace transport within the warehouse would have prevented this incident from happening. Royal Mail Group Limited, of Victoria Embankment, London, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 17(1) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, and Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,406. For further information on workplace transport safety visit: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg199.pdf Notes to Editors: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/ HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk Journalists should approach HSE press office with any queries on regional press releases. Source link
A new report from Connells Survey & Valuation has found that expanding growth in the property sector during March was fuelled by a rush of first time buyers breaking in to the property market. During March, valuations jumped by 8% year-on-year and by 21% when compared to the previous month, mainly due to strong FTB activity. The report also confirmed that FTB valuations increased by 41% compared to the previous month and 15% compared to March 2015. John Bagshaw, corporate services director of Connells Survey & Valuation, commented: “March’s solid topline figure demonstrates the hardiness of the housing market, largely driven by first-time buyer activity. Increased determination on the part of this once-cautious sector, alongside a brightened economic outlook compared to a few years ago, have certainly been key drivers in activity.” Remortgagors and home movers have also seen a significant boost in valuation activity. Total remortgaging volumes represented an increase of a quarter (25%) on February 2016, as well as reflecting a jump of a third (33%) on March 2015. Home mover valuation activity grew by 4% in March on a year-on-year basis and leapt by 27% compared to the previous month. However Stamp Duty changes have impacted the buy-to-let market, with valuation activity dropping 27% between February and March 2016, as well as dipping by 36% compared to the same month a year ago. John Bagshaw concluded: “The buy-to-let market has endured a turbulent month but we expect this to be a short-term tumble, with investors adopting the standard-kneejerk reaction to legislative changes by proceeding cautiously. This is particularly true for a tax increase like the Stamp Duty shake-up. Many aspiring buy-to-let landlords may have realised that if they initiated a buy-to-let mortgage application in March, they would be unable to get it processed in time to beat the 1st April deadline. Instead, they may be taking their time in order to factor the changes into their financial planning. More importantly, the fundamentals of buy-to-let remain unaffected by the new 2% levy. Home values continue to increase while high LTV lending remains accessible, meaning investors can more easily take advantage of the capital returns on offer from the property market. Equally, demand for rental property remains strong and potential yields remain appealingly high. As the year progresses, these benefits will be the silver lining that outshines the short-term cloud in the buy-to-let sector that the Stamp Duty hike has created.” Source link
Good news for the construction industry of Britain, as construction output has increased by 1.5% in the last three month. This statistic is lead by a 15% growth in the North West which official data has shown is at least 10 times the national average for growth rate. New housing in the North West has been of incredible value to the construction industry as a whole over the country, with the value increasing by £368 million in this quarter compared the the same quarter last year (2017). According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the output of new infrastructure has also seen significant growth, which puts Britain’s construction industry in a steady position before the new year and before Brexit become reality. The North West has become a hustle and bustle of new housing developments being undertaken but even though this comes as welcomed news, it is believed there is still more to be done. Although encouraging, a wider range of residential property needs to be explored, as the vast majority of North West builds are being marketed to suit the first time buyer. Regardless this is still very positive with huge benefits being spread across the North West and beyond, the fact new buyers are being targeted more than any other buyer is due to the Help To Buy scheme taking place. The government run scheme was launched five years ago and is available until 2020, although aimed at any home buyer, not just first time buyers, the Help To Buy scheme is only accessible on purchasing a new build property. A buyer is required to raise 5% of the properties value as deposit, which is much less than the previous 10%+ which first time buyers often struggled to provide. Since the launch of the Help To Buy scheme, first time buyers have gone from accounting for 37% of mortgages to 51%. Given there is less than two years left of the scheme definitively being in motion, the British government are eager to get things moving in terms of new construction developments in the residential sector. This is not just for the first time buyer, more bungalows have been proposed to help the elderly move from larger housing and family homes are being thought out for those who need to up-size their property. It is widely thought that fewer homes than are needed are being constructed as more and more people are wanting to get their foot on the property ladder.
