By Stephen Thake, Sanjiv Lingayah and Melanie NockThe report from the Civil Renewal Unit in the Department for Communities and Local Government looks at the costs and benefits of community management and ownership of buildings. It highlights positive outcomes for community-based organisations, when they take control over the buildings they occupy. There are an estimated 18,000 community buildings, such as community centres and village halls, across England and Wales. Taking over the longterm responsibility for these buildings is a major turning point for the organisation that is transferring the building as well as the organisation receiving it.

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DOCTORS WANTS COUNCILS TO REGULATE TANNING PARLOURS

Doctors Leaders in Wales want local councils to have the power to regulate the use of sunbeds. BMA Cymru Wales is concerned about the link between cosmetic sunbed use and a rise in skin cancer cases in Wales. It wants the National Assembly to pass legislation regulating sunbed parlours and compelling local authorities to issue licences.

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CALL FOR BALANCED VIEW ON SOCIAL EXCLUSION

With the Prime Minister set to deliver a lecture today on social exclusion a leading research organisation is calling for those who shape Government policies to take a balanced view in debates on tackling disadvantage. Lord Best, Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said social and economic exclusion were two sides of the same coin.

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