The British Council and Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo) has launched the Intercultural Dialogue (ICD) online resource guide to give policy makers and practitioners practical advice and good practice examples to support work on improving understanding within and between communities at a local, national and international level.

The Homes and Communities Academy (formerly the Academy for Sustainable Communities) will be wound up and all work and staff moved to a new and expanded Skills and Knowledge Directorate in the Homes and Communities Agency.

A new national charity - to be known as Civic Voice - will be launched on 17 April. Civic Voice will help strengthen the network of civic societies and other local groups and campaign to make the places where everyone lives more attractive, enjoyable and distinctive. It follows the demise of the Civic Trust in April 2009.

Housing Minister John Healey has backed the country's biggest ever green home building programme , with four areas sharing £60m to build over 600 new homes to a high environmental standard. It is claimed the programme will bring benefits such as reductions in energy use, savings on bills, increases in local jobs, the development of green building skills and transport improvements.

The Local Government Information Unit is calling for the reform of Section 106 agreements to allow councils to use money they receive from developers to build or improve social housing. They are backing Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes's Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (Amendment) Bill to make Section 106 regulations less restrictive.

The Liberal Democrats have published a policy document, Vibrant Local High Streets , which includes proposals to develop a Post Bank and establish a system of Local Enterprise Funds and regional stock exchanges to support small businesses. They also propose introducing a local competition test on planning applications to establish a better balance between local independent stores and large supermarkets.