Town and Country Planning articles from October 2001

Town and Country Planning archives from October 2001

Hedging their bets: Lucy Nichol looks at DEFRA's draft aim and objectives document and finds it raises as many questions as it answers. (Viewpoint).
October 1, 2001... While still in the throes of the foot and mouth crisis, the newly created Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has issued a consultation paper, A New Department, a New Agenda, setting out its aim (singular as there is just...

The streets ahead? Louise Thomas looks forward to a time when the car is no longer in control of our streets. (Viewpoint).
October 1, 2001... The DTLR's new consultation document on Homes Zones and Quiet Lanes provides an interesting insight into how our streets may be policed in the future. The draft regulations describe a new way of looking at streets and the traffic in them (as...

Gregory's home town girl: Colin Ward on Cumbernauld on screen. (People & Ideas).
October 1, 2001... I wouldn't miss a chance to see it again, so I happily watched the television revival of Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl (1981) on Channel 4 a few weeks ago. You'll remember that it's about a Scottish schoolboy's unrequited passion for a new,...

Crossrail complexity: Peter Hall on the complications in London's Crossrail saga, and why the eventual outcome will be relevant throughout the UK. (Planning World).
October 1, 2001... London's long running Crossrail saga, it might be thought, is of absolutely no interest to anyone north of Watford or south of Croydon. But that would be profoundly wrong, because Crossrail is symbolic -- one might say symptomatic -- of the...

Attracting tourists without cars: Sally Cairns on transport alternatives for holiday travel. (Getting Somewhere).
October 1, 2001... Day trips, excursions, weekends away, city-breaks, summer holidays, peak-season offers, off-season deals -- the range of holiday options is growing as tourism is on the increase. Between 1990 and 1999, the number of overseas holiday visitors...

Big buildings for the boys: David Lock on tall buildings and where they should go. (Off The Fence).
October 1, 2001... With the exception of developments conceived and implemented wholly by public bodies unconstrained by concern for value for money -- housing for the malleable poor, exhibitions of giant ego, and demonstrations of political power, for example --...

Stakeholder involvement in regional planning: Mark Baker, Peter Roberts and Stephan Sadoux set out the key objectives of a new major TCPA project on stakeholder involvement in regional planning processes, partly funded by the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions. (Topics).
October 1, 2001... Following recent moves towards a re-invigorated regional tier of government in England and central government's commitment to stronger public participation in planning, expectations of stakeholder involvement in the new planning processes are...

Use class answer to second-home ills? In the wake of Exmoor National Park Authority's proposal to use the Use Classes Order to restrain the growth in rural second homes, Nick Gallent and Mark Tewdwr-Jones look at the practicalities of controlling second-home ownership through the planning system. (Topics).
October 1, 2001... The idea that the planning system might be used to regulate the use of rural property as second homes is not new. This was first discussed in the 1970s and, drawing inspiration from practices abroad, it was proposed that a distinction might be...

Who's up and who's down in the urban hierarchy: Peter Hall on research that revealed huge changes within a highly dynamic urban hierarchy. (Feature).
October 1, 2001... The TCPA ran a conference a few months ago at a wonderful venue called the Centre for the Magic Arts, a place at the back of Euston railway station usually dedicated to pulling rabbits out of hats and sawing ladies in half. This time the fare...

Country towns and the rural growth divide: with resources being directed towards the improvement of country towns, in recognition of their importance in rural life, Ray Green reports on a study that identifies a rural divide reflecting that afflicting our urban society. (Feature).
October 1, 2001... One of the most perceptive commentators on the countryside, Gerald Wibberley, addressing a conference in 1965, suggested that the term `country town' had lost its meaning, and that henceforth -- given that the links between the town and the...

City-region planning and a new town for Cambridge: Wyndham Thomas on the evolving proposals for a new town north of Cambridge, and the associated provision of a high-quality public transport system. (Feature).
October 1, 2001... Do I sleep, do I dream? Do I wonder and doubt? Are things what they seem? Or things what they seem? Further Language from Truthful James Bret Harte And the answer to Bret Harte's astonished and innocent...

Good to talk? Simon Spurgeon looks at the continuing debate over sites for mobile phone masts, and at the planning system's role in helping to resolve conflict over site designation. (Feature).
October 1, 2001... The explosion in the popularity of mobile phones has led to a debate over the role that the planning process should play in decisions regarding the siting of mobile phone masts. Despite recent new Government guidance amending the permitted...

Household ecological footprints -- moving towards sustainability? How sustainable are UK households, and what are their main environmental impacts? Robin Roy and Sally Caird report on a major study, based on the ecological footprint technique, of the environmental impacts of nearly 700 representative British households. (Feature).
October 1, 2001... Households account for about a third of the energy delivered and a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions generated in the UK. If personal transport is included, households account for about half of all UK energy. consumption, and so are a very...

Better urban design adds value: Matthew Carmona, who led the research resulting in the recent Value of Urban Design report, explains how good urban design can deliver better social, environmental, and economic value -- and bring about a sea-change in private and public development investment decisions. (Feature).
October 1, 2001... In a contemporary development climate, commercial pressures often seem to militate against long-term investment in design quality. The problem has been compounded in the past by a public sector that has also not always placed design quality...

What's on.
October 1, 2001... November 6 Making Places: Applying Urban Design Guidance at the Local Level. DTLR/CABE/English Partnerships/Housing Corporation Seminar, Portsmouth. Details: CABE, London. Tel. 020-7960 2400. enquiries@cabe.org.uk 7 Excellence in...

Patacon, patacon, baker's man: David Boyle on a new currency circulating in the province around Buenos Aires. (Local exchange).
October 1, 2001... How do you rescue a city that has run out of cash? When it's Liverpool, and you're Mrs Thatcher in the 1980s, you probably just turn a blind eye. When it's a city like East St Louis -- so poor that the police have to provide their own patrol...

Planning for recovery: Mike Teitz on the terrorist attack on New York and Washington and its potential effect on attitudes to land use planning. (Inside America).
October 1, 2001... Beside the death and destruction in New York City and Washington, DC, other topics seem impossible to write about. This has been a profound shock to Americans and to American society, the full consequences of which may not be known for years....