The planning process could be made easier to help businesses and shops during the recession. Schools will also benefit from the proposals which would mean more than 25,000 non domestic planning proposals each year would no longer need full planning applications in a move estimated to save businesses at least 20 million pounds a year.

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The environmental regeneration charity Groundwork and the National Housing Federation are joining forces to create hundreds of green jobs to improve neighbourhoods in England and Wales. The two organisations have been awarded 15 million pounds from the Future Jobs Fund and said it would create around 2,000 new jobs.

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Bureaucracy and form filling are characteristics of public services. Police forces are no exception and beat officers have been spending almost half their time at the police station. The problem is being tackled vigorously and one approach is to introduce helmet cameras which record incidents and remove the need for a detailed report.

Read more on CUTTING PAPERWORK MEANS MORE BOBBYS ON THE BEAT…