Increase In Scarlet Fever Across England

Public Health England (PHE) has reported a continued significant increase in scarlet fever notifications across England with 883 new cases reported from 24 to 30 March – the highest weekly total across all weekly records available since 1982.

A total of 5,012 new cases have now been reported since the season began in September 2013, compared to an average of 1,650 cases reported for the same period in the previous 10 years.

The increases in scarlet fever have been seen across the UK. Whilst most cases of scarlet fever are mild and will resolve within a week, continued vigilance by healthcare professionals remains essential due to uncommon but possible complications.

Dr Theresa Lamagni, PHE's head of streptococcal infection surveillance, said: "We are continuing to see increases in scarlet fever notifications across England and are working closely with healthcare professionals to try and understand the reasons behind these increases and do our best to reduce the impact of this infection."

500 Homes To Be Built For Rent

Housing Minister Kris Hopkins has welcomed a deal that will get nearly 500 homes built specifically for private rent.

This is the fourth deal under the government's £1bn Build to Rent scheme – and the largest to date.

Overall, through this innovative new fund, work will be underway on 10,000 new homes for private rent by 2015.

Under the terms of the deal, Genesis Housing Association will receive £45.5m to build 485 homes for private rent across four sites in London and Chelmsford. The homes will be a mix of 1, 2, and 3-bedroom properties.

They are:

• 244 homes at the former Anglia Ruskin University site in Chelmsford – including 130 1-bedroom and 113 2-bedroom properties

• 196 homes at Grahame Park, Barnet – including 22 three-bedroom properties

• 25 homes at Madeley Road, Ealing

• 20 homes at Springboard House, Newham.

In each case, Build to Rent homes will form part of wider developments, with affordable housing and home ownership schemes including Help to Buy also available.

Rebuilt Platforms Open At London Bridge Station

The first improvements for passengers using London Bridge Station have been unveiled with the opening of the initial two rebuilt platforms.

This week commuters stepped off their trains on to the newly re-opened platforms 14 and 15, which have been demolished and rebuilt over the past 11 months as part of the £700m project to completely refurbish the busy terminal and make it fit for 21st century travellers.

As well as the new precast platform structures, new prefabricated eyebrow canopies over the platforms have also been installed.

Costain's Community and Security Manager at London Bridge, Mick Caldwell, said that challenges for unforeseen risks had been included in the timescale for this unique project but the work had generally gone extremely smoothly.

The two new platforms will remain slightly narrower in width until later this year due to the positioning of hoardings to separate passengers from continuing work on the neighbouring platforms and on the station façade.

All platforms at London Bridge will undergo the rebuilding process, with work starting yesterday on demolition of platforms 12 and 13. The tempo of work will continue, with the second pair of rebuilt platforms due to be unveiled in August.

(CD)