March 10 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening higher on Monday, with futures FFIc1 up 0.47%
* HOUSING: Britain set out plans on Sunday to scale back public reviews that can delay housing developments, as part of its goal to get 1.5 million homes built in the next five years.
* HEATHROW: Britain's Heathrow Airport is weighing changes to its expansion blueprint to cut costs and has been evaluating options such as building a shorter third runway, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.
* WELFARE: The British government is planning to make more than 6 billion pounds in welfare savings, ITV News reported on Friday.
* KANTAR: WPP WPP.L and Bain Capital-owned market research group Kantar's owners are exploring the sale of its Worldpanel division for 5 billion pounds ($6.5 billion) or more, Sky News reported on Sunday, while in a separate report the Financial Times said Kantar is set to be broken up and sold.
* VIRGIN GROUP: Virgin Group aims to raise 700 million pounds ($900 million) to fund its plan to launch cross-channel rail services as it looks to compete with Eurostar, the company said on Sunday.
* THAMES WATER: Britain's Thames Water [RIC:RIC:KMBWTU.UL] is preparing for the possibility that it may be pushed into special administration following an appeal in a London court next week, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
* COMMODITIES: Oil prices fell, London copper edged lower on and gold prices inched higher on Monday.
* The UK blue-chip index .FTSE ended flat on Friday but posted a 1.4% weekly drop, its biggest so far this year.
* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: LIVE/
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(Compiled by Simone Lobo in Bengaluru)
((Simone.Lobo@thomsonreuters.com; +919920570373;))
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