Lunchtime news July 9

Kate Barker will be taking questions from members of the London Assembly planning and spatial development committee tomorrow at 10am at City Hall. The meeting can be viewed as a live webcast.

£14million package of support for the areas worst hit by the recent flooding.

Shelter. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has calculated that the estimated 7,000 flooded households not covered by contents insurance could lose up to £30,000, reports the Telegraph.

First-time buyers are paying an average of £1,458 in stamp duty to get on the property ladder, according research from the think tank Policy Exchange.

inaugural speech as President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), American Author Bill Bryson warns of the need to safeguard the ‘miracle’ of the British countryside. ‘Something I have often wondered is why we don’t make the whole of England a National Park,’ said Bryson.With consumer debt hitting record levels, teenagers will be given formal lessons in how to manage their spending. A new subject – economic wellbeing and financial capability – is to be introduced to the curriculum for all 11 to 16-year-olds.

Nearly half a million mortgage holders have missed monthly repayments in the last six months, according to new research from moneyexpert.com.The Observer reproduces Howard Springett’s research for ROOF showing that, between 2003 and 2006, reposessions at Kingston-upon-Thames County Court almost doubled, with more than 50 per cent of clients holding mortgage contracts with sub-prime lenders.

The Times offers advice to a young couple hoping to take advantage of the Social HomeBuy scheme.