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The most expensive seaside town in Britain
Sandbanks in Dorset has been identified as Britain's most expensive seaside town for the second year in a row. It has an average house price of £664,051 according to an annual study by Halifax. Salcombe in Devon, which was the priciest seaside town in 2015, came second on the list in this report, with an average home there valued at £617,743.
During the last 10 years, the average house price in Britain's seaside towns has increased by 25 per cent, from £181,060 in 2007 to £226,916 in 2017 – equating to an average increase of £382 per month. Second home buyers are often blamed for helping to push up house prices in many popular seaside towns, making it harder for people who grew up in these locations to get on the housing ladder. In April 2016, a stamp duty hike was imposed on second home buyers.
Police warn heroin users of deadly batch
Police have issued a warning after 14 heroin overdoses were recorded in the last 24 hours, including one fatal incident. Cleveland Police, with the North East Ambulance Service and Public Health England, said
there was a particularly dangerous grade of the class A drug in circulation.
A 50-year-old from Stockton, Teesside, died, police said. The bad batch of drugs was centred around the Oxbridge area of Stockton. There was also one victim brought to hospital from Middlesbrough. Cleveland Police said people using streets dealers should be particularly cautious.
Two RAF Typhoon jets scrambled from Scottish airbase
Two British Typhoon jets were scrambled yesterday from RAF Lossiemouth in north east Scotland on a Quick Alert Response. An Airbus Voyager KC3 fuel tanker aircraft was also deployed from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. The reason for the move remains unconfirmed but it is believed to relate to Russian jets flying close to Britain. There have been a number of incidents in recent months in which Russian planes have passed near UK airspace.