Clearview Midlands February 2014 - Issue 147 | Page 70

BUSINESSNEWS Right to Buy New Year’s resolution The government will take further steps to reinvigorate the Right to Buy in 2014 so more hard-working tenants can aspire to buy their home, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles announced today. The maximum discount for a house will increase from 60% to 70% of its value, and the £75,000 cap will start increasing in line with the consumer price index rate of inflation. A £100 million fund will improve access to mortgage finance, and new Right to Buy agents will guide people through the buying process. ‘Allows them to do up their home, change their front door, improve their garden’ Revenue from additional sales will be ploughed back into delivering new affordable homes for rent, which will help drive up the rate of housebuilding across the country. Mr Pickles said the changes showed the government’s rock solid support for aspiration, and would ensure Right to Buy becomes a realistic New Year’s resolution for thousands of social tenants across the country. The Right to Buy gives something back to families who worked hard, paid their rent and played by the rules. It allows them to do up their home, change their front door, improve their garden - without getting permission from the council. SWELL START TO CHRISTMAS FOR JON Tearing into presents, preparing a festive feast, rocking around the Christmas tree - that’s what Christmas morning means for most people. Not so for Hurst Plastics’ customer Jon Dickson of Kings Lynn based J&K Glass. He braved the bitterly cold North Sea on a very blustery Christmas morning to raise money for the Rudham Ward at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn. Dressed for the occasion in a striking (but hardly warm) hula girl outfit, determined Jon took on the challenge of the annual Hunstanton Christmas Swim in a bid to raise at least £1,000 for the unit, which cared for his son who was struck down with viral meningitis at just two days old. And Hurst Plastics was only too pleased to sponsor his heroic effort to the tune of £250. Further donations have flooded in since the swim and Jon and his fellow hula girls have now raised nearly £2,000. Mark Atkinson, Sales Director at Hurst Plastics, said: “We have worked closely with the team at J&K Glass throughout the last year and built up a great rapport with Jon. We were really impressed when we heard about the challenge and were delighted to support him.” Tel: [phone], email: [email protected], Website: www.hurst-plastics.co.uk Now No.1 in Agency League MRA Marketing is now top of the Construction Marketing Awards’ Agency League, up from second place the previous year. Compiled by the organisers of the Awards, the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Construction Industry Group (CIMCIG), the League ranks 50 marketing agencies specialising in this sector. The results are based on their performance at the Awards over the previous three years. MRA was shortlisted in 70 FEB 2014 four categories at the December Awards and won two, which pushed the company up to No.1. ‘An independent, quantitative measure’ “The Agency League is an independent, quantitative measure so to be ranked first is fantastic,” comments Lucia Di Stazio, Director of MRA Marketing, which has won nine Construction Marketing Awards, and been shortlisted 15 times over the years. “All our campaigns have been based on our promise to help companies grow, and recognition like this just proves that we really do deliver that.” To find out more contact Lucia Di Stazio on 01453 521621 or lucia@mra-marketing. com, or read MRA’s Marketing Matters blog and follow @ MRAMarketing. To read more, visit www.clearview-uk.com