Town and Country Planning articles from October 2005

Town and Country Planning archives from October 2005

25 years ago.(t&cp back bites)
October 1, 2005... A KEY reason for the lack of participation is ignorance of what 'planning' is and what it can or cannot do. This phenomenon is not restricted to planning. Those planning aid groups which have attempted to stimulate an interest in planning in...

10 years ago.(t&cp back bites)
October 1, 2005... A BIG risk is token consultation, intended to placate residents but without real involvement in decisions. One reason is a legacy of non-participatory government--decades of politicians and professionals vying for the 'we know best' mantle....

5 years ago.(t&cp back bites)
October 1, 2005... PEOPLE WILL look after what they have helped to create; and planners ignore this at the peril of themselves creating even more 'sink estates'. In every community, from teenagers to senior citizens, there are reserves of skill, experience,...

5.9 Climate change.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 5.9 Climate change: Friends of the Earth claims that an analysis of figures supplied in the latest DTI Digest of UK Energy Statistics shows that Britain may miss its Kyoto target for reducing carbon emissions. The FOE warns that emissions of...

6.9 Participation.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 6.9 Participation: An independent report commissioned by the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, Improving Delivery of Mainstream Services in Deprived Areas: The Role of Community Involvement, argues that involving local people delivers improved public...

6.9 London government.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 6.9 London government: The Government announces a review of the powers and responsibilities of the Greater London Authority (GLA), and in particular those of the Mayor. The review is to consider the balance of power between national government,...

7.9 Urban parks.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 7.9 Urban parks: Parks Need Parkforce, a report issued to mark the launch of CABE's 'Parkforce' campaign, argues that every urban park in England should have dedicated staff present during daylight hours to encourage people back into under-used...

8.9 Transport.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 8.9 Transport: The Department for Transport publishes Public Transport Statistics Bulletin: Great Britain 2005 Edition, showing that compared with 2004, passenger journeys on local buses and light rail systems in England and on national rail...

9.9 Countryside.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 9.9 Countryside: A report from the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Your Countryside, Your Choice, argues that since 1980 60 per cent of the English landscape has changed in ways which are 'inconsistent' with its traditional character. ...

9.9 Countryside: the RTPI issues an open letter to the CPRE in response to the Your Countryside.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 9.9 Countryside: The RTPI issues an open letter to the CPRE in response to the Your Countryside, Your Choice report, which, it says, is scaremongering and aims to subvert any discussion about where new communities can be built. ...

12.9 Public space.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 12.9 Public space: People Make Places: Growing the Public Life of Cities, a report by Demos, argues that the current focus of both urban designers and city planners on creating grand plazas and iconic architecture ignores the role of the people...

13.9 Climate change: the ODPM announces amendments to Parts L (Conservation of Fuel and Power) and F (Ventilation) of the Building Regulations.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 13.9 Climate change: the ODPM announces amendments to Parts C (Conservation of Fuel and Power) and F (Ventilation) of the Building Regulations, aimed at making buildings more energy efficient and saving up to 1 million tonnes of carbon...

20.9 Local governance.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 20.9 Local governance: The Government announces that it is extending the scope of the Lyons inquiry into local government funding to consider issues relating to the wider functions of local government and its future role. Plans to overhaul...

21.9 Climate change: the Tyndall Centre publishes Decarbonising the UK.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 21.9 Climate change: The Tyndall Centre publishes Decarbonising the UK. The report sets out a detailed set of energy scenarios mapping pathways from the present day to a decarbonised UK in 2050. It warns that if the Government does not curb...

21.9 Planning.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 21.9 Planning: The ODPM publishes A Practical Guide to the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive, practical guidance on applying European Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the...

21.9 Sustainable communities.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 21.9 Sustainable Communities: Housing and Planning Minister Yvette Cooper announces that Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation (TTGDC) will gain strategic planning powers from 12 October. ...

23.9 Planning: the ODPM issues a consultation paper, Applying the Planning Acts to the Crown, on proposals for integrating the Crown into the planning system, in line with the primary provisions included in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.(context: news digest, september 2005)
October 1, 2005... 23.9 Planning: The ODPM issues a consultation paper, Applying the Planning Acts to the Crown, on proposals for integrating the Crown into the planning system, in line with the primary provisions included in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase...

Microgeneration--a planning matter.(Inside Stories)
October 1, 2005... * Microgeneration Strategy and Low Carbon Buildings Programme. Consultation paper, Department of Trade and Industry, London, Jun. 2005 The TCPA Response RESPONDING to a consultation paper on the subject issued by the Department of...

Housing provision--informed by the market, but not driven by it.(Inside Stories)
October 1, 2005... * Planning for Housing Provision. Consultation paper, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, London, Jul. 2005 * The TCPA Response THE CHALLENGES outlined in Planning for Housing Provision consultation paper issued by the Office of the...

APaNGO on the net.(APaNGO Update)
October 1, 2005... THE APaNGO ('Advocacy, Participation and Non-Governmental Organisations in Planning') project, announced in the July/ August issue of Town & Country Planning, has now embarked on its mission to improve community engagement in regional planning...

Walter Stranz--an appreciation.
October 1, 2005... WITH THE death of Waiter Stranz at the end of August the TCPA lost one of its most respected, devoted and likeable supporters. He came to England as a teenage immigrant from Nazi Germany in 1939 and took a wartime degree before training as a...

Tax and development.
October 1, 2005... NO-ONE SHOULD underestimate the potential difficulties of introducing any new tax measure--even if it has the worthy aim of capturing a fair share of land value increases for the public purse, to be reinvested in infrastructure and community...

Aux armes--against housing disaster.(Planning World)
October 1, 2005... THERE'S A big debate opening up, a battle even, that is of central and vital concern to all in the TCPA. It isn't a new battle: Frederic Osborn--FJO--fought it passionately for most of his working life. All that's surprising about it now, in...

Flexible friends.(Trading Places)
October 1, 2005... THERE HAS BEEN a long-established debate in retail planning regarding the proper place for low-cost, large-format or 'big-box' retail and leisure developments. These are cheap to build, being in their simplest form a rectangular shed which can...

Ever higher density--who is pushing, and why?(Off the Fence)
October 1, 2005... MAKE NO mistake. The campaign for even higher average housing densities than those in current national planning policy (30-50 dwellings per hectare in PPG3: Housing) is driven by two mutually reinforcing networks of people. One comprises...

Planning reforms take centre stage: Greg Lloyd and Deborah Peel look at the key role that the land use planning system and its reform has in the Scottish Executive's legislative programme--through the Planning (Scotland) Bill and beyond.(planning in scotland)
October 1, 2005... ON 6 SEPTEMBER the Scottish Executive revealed its proposed legislative programme for the next 19 months. This reflects the Scottish Executive's stated ambitions and addresses a wide range of issues associated with a number of political...

A sheep in wolf's clothing? Environmentalists have been advocating charging for road space for years; but the initiative announced by Alistair Darling at the beginning of the summer is not an occasion for rejoicing, but for wariness--not to say weariness.(road pricing)
October 1, 2005... IN JUNE Alistair Darling gave a speech to the Social Market Foundation about the 'potential of moving away from the current system of motoring taxation towards a national system of road pricing.' (1) This would replace current motoring taxes,...

Establishing skills for tomorrow: the new Academy for Sustainable Communities, which became operational in April, aims to establish a skills and knowledge programme for professionals and enthusiastic citizens, and so help to ensure that the conditions which have developed in so many failing communities do not emerge in future.(skills for sustainable communities)
October 1, 2005... IT IS AMAZING how sound ideas survive the ravages of time. Just compare the introduction to To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform (1) with the vision which introduces the wider implementation programme for the Sustainable Communities Plan....

City-regions--the way forward for strategic planning? Stephen Crow wonders whether city-regions, rather than regions or sub-regions, could come to be adopted as the fundamental building blocks of strategic spatial planning in the new planning regime.(city-regions)
October 1, 2005... OUR CITIES are Back trumpets a recent Government publication--adding Competitive Cities make Prosperous Regions and Sustainable Communities. (1) Another proclaims that 'Cities are high on the British policy agenda. After two decades of economic...

Housing the next generation: household growth, housing demand and housing requirements: the growth in the number of households--the major influence on the demand and need for additional housing--is examined by Alan Holmans, who, with Christine Whitehead, looks at how the number of households in England is expected to grow over the next 15 years and the main reasons for that growth.(housing need and demand)
October 1, 2005... THE OBJECTIVES of this article are to clarify the extent of the expected growth in the number of households in England over the years to 2021 and to identify the main factors affecting that growth. The starting point is a projection based on...

A National Planning Framework for England? II-options and mechanisms: following on from his examination of the need for a National Spatial Planning Framework for England, published in the September issue, Chris Shepley looks at the possible content of a such a Framework and at possible mechanisms for its production.(national spatial strategy)
October 1, 2005... PART I OF THIS ARTICLE, published in the last issue, (1) looked at the reasons why there has been resistance to the idea of an National Spatial Planning Framework (NSPF) for England, outlined the reasons why an NSPF is needed, and examined some...

Building a national strategy from the bottom up.
October 1, 2005... Drawing on a review of the strategic direction and themes emerging from regional economic strategies, regional planning guidance and the early drafts of regional spatial strategies, Nick Sharman argues that we should aim to create a national...

Why kitchens are key to local renewal.(Going Local)
October 1, 2005... I'M SURE Jamie Oliver did not think to himself, when he decided to take over school meals in Greenwich for a month in front of the TV cameras, that he was about to become an apostle of localism. I'm sure he hoped he was becoming a thorn in...

Perception and prejudice--public fears and planning.(Legal Eye)
October 1, 2005... IN A rapidly changing society the courts are expected to rule on whether disparate matters can properly be considered as material to planning decisions. The result is a planning system which is now concerned with issues that go far beyond what...

City-regions and 'non-core' cities.(North & West of Watford)
October 1, 2005... Minister of Communities and Local Government David Miliband deserves plaudits for his decision to get out a bit more, by going to see civic leaders around the country. A very early signal to local government as a whole was his visit, more or...

Is participation too expensive?(Planning Participation)
October 1, 2005... AS LOCAL AUTHORITIES gear up to the next stages of implementing all the agreements on community involvement in the new planning legislation, the plaintive cry will be heard yet again that participation is very 'expensive'. While those making...

Metropolitan co-operation the gallic way.(The Euro-Files)
October 1, 2005... THE UNITED KINGDOM and France are often characterised as being the most politically centralised of the EU's larger member states, although developments in the 1980s and 1990s such as regional decentralisation in France and devolution to the...

Sustainability in the suburbs.
October 1, 2005... The Green City: Sustainable Homes, Sustainable Suburbs By Nicholas Low, Brendon Gleeson, Ray Green and Darko Radovic Routledge, 2005, ISBN 0 415 37231 3, PB, 248 pp., 155 mm x 233 mm, index, 19.99 [pounds sterling] IT SEEMS THAT the...

Square deal on urban renaissance.
October 1, 2005... Transforming Cities: Revivial in the Square By Nick Corbett RIBA Enterprises, London, 2004, ISBN 1 85946 160 3, PB, 168pp., 220 mm x 220 mm, index, 19.95 [pounds sterling] REVIVAL IN THE SQUARE promotes a familiar vision of urban...

Guide for a multi-value activity.
October 1, 2005... The Allotment Handbook By Sophie Andrews eco-logic books, Bath, 2005, ISBN 1 899 233105, PB, 124 pp., 6.95 [pounds sterling] (Completely Revised Second Edition) ALLOTMENTS are an important part of the urban scheme and are, as George...

In your dreams.(Connections)
October 1, 2005... PLANNERS HAVE long sought to reduce the need to travel by placing housing and employment areas close to each other. This has always seemed to me to defy human nature: people tend to give priority to finding a home in an area that they like and...

It can be done.(Connections)
October 1, 2005... THE 'nobody wants them and they cost too much' arguments that housebuilders put against adopting higher sustainability standards are rapidly being undermined. First, a report by the London Assembly suggests that four out of five buyers...

Avoiding unwanted consequences.(Connections)
October 1, 2005... ACCORDING to a report financed by the European Commission, the enforced use of daytime running lights would reduce daytime car crashes by between 5 per cent and 23 per cent. However, there is a potential disadvantage: there could be a...

Write back.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... STEPHEN MARSHALL (in Town & Country Planning, July/August) defines 'eco-cars' solely in relation to the emissions (if any) that they make, i.e. LEVs, AFVs (not armoured fighting vehicles!), BEVs, HEVs and FCEVs. I believe that this is too...