Newspaper roundup: 30 August

The Daily Mail reported that failed London Underground PPP Metronet is facing a probe by Parliament’s spending watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO). The NAO will look at how Metronet fell into administration.

The Financial Times picked up on the Home Builders Federation’s warning yesterday that targets for housebuilding in the South East are too low. The warning follows a Planning Inspectorate report on the regional strategy for the area, which suggested a target of 32,000 homes. The HBF said the region needed 40,000 new homes.

A study from the Met Office’s Hadley Centre has urged the government to consider the full impact of global warming while planning for flood defences. Existing computer models do not take account of the effects of climate change on plant life.

The Guardian revealed that house price growth in July slowed last month in England and Wales to a monthly rate of 0.1%, providing further evidence that interest rate rises have started to bite.