2228,000 first time buyers have been provided with over £1 billion pounds worth of deposits within the last 5 years. 30% of first time buyers have purchased a property through their parents helping hands. Grandparents have also been helping their families get on the property ladder, as £125 million deposit has come from them.

Many parents have been proud to lend their children the money but some are now having doubts that whether their children can actually financially cope each month in funding the mortgage payment and the household items needed.  Read more...

Two stores closed after 35 years of trading between them both. The two shops, 2Funky and JC Sports, both in Leicester have said that it was due to the competition from online retails.

Clothing and equipment store JC Sports has been in Belgrave Gate, Leicester, for 20 years, and record shop 2Funky in the street for 15 years.

Vijay Mistry, managing director of urban music specialist 2Funky, said customers had told him it would be “like a funeral” for them when the shop shuts its doors on Saturday, February 5.

Mr Mistry, who set up the shop in 1997, said: “It’s definitely the end of an era.  Read more...

Some good news at last for motorists as now one major super market has announced that they have cut their petrol prices.

Asda have announced their cut will be 2p a litre, they added that those filling up at Asda would pay no more than 130.7p a litre for petrol and no more than 135.7p a litre for diesel and that this was in response to a drop in wholesale fuel prices.

The move announced yesterday follows the announcement that rival supermarket Tesco was cutting the cost of 3,000 products as part of a £500 million campaign.  Read more...

Plans have been made to modernise a Leicestershire swimming pool complex and the work is due to start next year.
Melton Borough Council announced a £2.5 million investment in Waterfield leisure pools, in Melton.
The plans include a “village-style” pool changing area and new reception and fitness suite.
General manager Ian Bradgate said: “We will be able to offer more activity under one roof than ever before.
“Children will be able to work out alongside their parents and we will have a range of classes to suit every need.”
He invited parents of young children to say what classes they would like provided.

In a piece in the New York Times newspaper, the billionaire investor and philanthropist said the rich should do more to help plug the deficit. Warren Buffett has called for Congress to make him and his “mega-rich friends” pay more income tax.

He called for a tax rise for those earning more than $1m (£600,000), and a higher rate for those on over $10m.

In a rebuttal of arguments made by Republicans, he said tax rises would not hurt investment or jobs in the US.  Read more...

Villages won their latest battle to stop a developer building over their last allotment plots.

A total of 175 objection were handed in to the proposed plan from locals in Quorn.

Developers Moore, Herbert & Moore applied to build 13 houses over the 35 plots, in Loughborough Road.

The proposal is recommended to be rejected at a Charnwood Borough Council planning committee on Thursday.

Phil Child, 63, of Loughborough Road, owns two allotments.

He said: “I’m delighted it’s looking like it will be rejected, but I’m keeping reserved until the actual decision.  Read more...

Dear All,

Gary Latham, the Managing Director of Latham & Company is taking part in a climb to the top of Ben Nevis (the UK’s highest moutain) on 20th August 2011 to aid fundraising for Leukaemia research and the hospitals that take care of the unfortunate children and families who are strick down by this severe and heart wrenching illness.

THis is due to a close friend’s son Ben being diagnosed with Leukaemia at just 5 years old.  Read more...

A man formally from Leicestershire has now completed a 16-month, 16,000km kayak trip around the coast of Australia.

Stuart Trueman, 48, who used to live in Frisby on the Wreake, near Melton, is the third person to complete the epic trip and the first to do so unsupported.

He fought illness, injury and shark attacks during his adventure, completed with just two weeks to spare before he is due to return to work with the Australian Ministry of Defence.  Read more...

Compensation to customers who were mis-wold PPI caused Lloyds to produce a £3.3bn loss for the first 6 months of 2011.
The bank, which is 41%-owned by the UK government, said in May it was putting aside £3.2bn to cover PPI mis-selling.
Lloyds’ shares closed down 10% as UK banks suffered from worries about the European economy.
Excluding one-off expenses, the High Street bank reported a decline in pre-tax profit to £1bn from £1.6bn in 2010.
The fall in underlying profits was partly down to larger than expected losses on its loans in the Irish Republic and reduced loan income.
Lloyds recently announced 15,000 job cuts. It brings the total number of job cuts announced since the merger with HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland) in 2009 to 43,000.
Lloyds’ £3.2bn PPI compensation bill is the largest of any UK bank. Barclays is setting aside £1bn, RBS £850m and HSBC £269m.