Town and Country Planning articles from September 2001

Town and Country Planning archives from September 2001

2001/2002 Policy Council and new TCPA chair elected. (Association Matters).
September 1, 2001... The 2001 Annual General Meeting of the Town and Country Planning Association was held on 10 July in London. Baronness Sally Hamwee was re-elected to the position of President unopposed. None of the currently serving Vice-Presidents had...

From mutual aid to old fashioned bathrooms: Colin Ward on friendly societies, mutuality, and the English passion for nostalgia. (People & Ideas).
September 1, 2001... I hammered my keyboard for two decades in the depths of cereal country, but have finally landed in a village high street, where I look up and see everyone go by. And right opposite is the Foresters' Hall, which apart from the parish church is...

Migrant magnets and comeback cities: the major Western cities showing significant population gains are those that act as magnets for international migrants. (Planning World).
September 1, 2001... Cities are coming back. That seems to be the message from the latest population figures. Ken Livingstone's planning policy document, Towards the London Plan, tells the London story: the capital's population peaked at 8.6 million in 1939, fell...

BIDs for success? Cliff Guy on the possible application of the `business improvement district' idea to the UK. (Trading Places).
September 1, 2001... `I can tell you today that we have decided to introduce legislation to create Business Improvement Districts. These will be similar to the successful US examples where local businesses help pay for projects that improve their local area. This...

Cabinets and scrutineers: David Lock on the sorry state of English democracy. (Off The Fence).
September 1, 2001... Escaping one of the intensely hot spells that characterised this summer to the equal heat of the South Australian winter, I found myself asked to explain the radical changes that have taken place in England's arrangements of democracy. Viewed...

Social inclusion -- a strategic vision for Scottish planning: Philip Allmendinger and Craig Watkins look at the recently issued consultation paper on strategic planning in Scotland and argue that a new strategic planning framework should focus on helping to tackle the spatial dimensions of social justice. (Topics).
September 1, 2001... The Scottish Executive recently announced a review of strategic planning for Scotland. (1) This marks an important step in the development of the post-devolution planning system -- one that, according to the Executive, could have potentially...

A councillor's-eye view of meeting the demand for housing: the contrast between the take-up of new houses and the apparent lack of call for them from the public needs explanation. (Topics).
September 1, 2001... For the past six years I have been combining the role of planning academic with that of local councillor and member of a planning committee. On the vexed issue of meeting the demand for dwellings, it is as though I inhabit two entirely...

Sustaining the plot: it may be time to re-define allotments -- their sizes, forms, facilities, and functions -- say Richard Wiltshire and David Crouch, authors of the latest TCPA Tomorrow Series paper. (Topics).
September 1, 2001... Allotment gardens -- those contested vernacular green spaces within our cities where private enthusiasms find public expression -- have been experiencing an upsurge in public interest and official attention on a scale not seen since the 1970s....

New economy, old geography: Ian Christie and Mark Hepworth look at the `e-economy' and its implications for spatial development and planning for sustainability, and argue that unless positive action is taken regional and local divides will only be re-inforced. (Feature)(Cover Story).
September 1, 2001... A tidal wave of hype about the `new economy' of electronic commerce and the information technology revolution crashed upon us in the late 1990s. So far, the new millennium has seen an equally spectacular anti-climax as the wave recedes, leaving...

E-city: Stephen Graham looks at some of the strange ways in which the growth of e-commerce is affecting cities. (Feature).
September 1, 2001... Contemporary cities can be thought of as constructions which support mobilities and flow to more or less distant places: flows of people, goods, services, information, capital, waste, water, meaning. According to Manuel Castells, as cities...

Sustainable urban drainage -- a neglected area of planning: supported by case study illustration, Joe Howe and Iain White explain how the planning system could be used to support the introduction of sustainable urban drainage systems in place of traditional but damaging drainage methods. (Feature).
September 1, 2001... The UK has recently seen the worst flooding since records began, causing hundreds of millions of pounds of damage and bringing chaos to the nation. There has undoubtedly been a sustained and excessive level of rainfall, but in many areas our...

The power of public speaking: Susan Manns and Colin Wood report on findings from a survey of current practice and procedures on public speaking in local authority development control committees in England and Wales. (Feature).
September 1, 2001... Planning committees play a critical role in the UK town and country planning system. Since the nationalisation of development rights in the early post-war years, most forms of land use development have to be sanctioned by the local planning...

Accelerating local sustainability -- evaluating European LA21 processes: Bob Evans and Kate Theobald report on a European Commission co-funded project aimed at encouraging local authorities across Europe to assess the effectiveness and impact of their LA21 processes. (Feature).
September 1, 2001... A recurring problem in policymaking is the reluctance of policy-makers and politicians to invest in the evaluation of past programmes and approaches. This has been particularly evident in the field of environmental policy and planning, where...

Re-stitching the social fabric, one favour at a time: Gill Seyfang presents the first findings of an investigation to assess the development and potential of time banks in the UK. (Feature).
September 1, 2001... There is a growing policy interest in community self-help, which aims to nurture trust and reciprocity, promote voluntary activity, help people access employment, foster empowerment, and develop notions of active citizenship. (1) The Government...

Introducing a London-wide currency to rebuild communities: David Boyle on a project aiming to give London a de facto secondary currency. (Local exchange).
September 1, 2001... Take a look at the small print in the draft economic strategy for London -- better known as the London Development Agency strategic plan -- and you will find an intriguing paragraph which seems to imply a kind of volunteering `smartcard' for...

Planning for telecommunications -- different signals: Greg Lloyd, Jonathan Riley, and Peter Roberts examine the evolution of different regulatory regimes for telecommunications planning and development in Scotland and England and Wales. (North -- And West -- Of Watford).
September 1, 2001... As is now increasingly documented and debated in the national media, the telecommunications sector is undergoing constant and sustained expansion, with significant impacts on the environment. There are now some 40 million subscribers to mobile...

A false dawn? Adrian Colwell examines the EU Strategy for Sustainable Development agreed at the Gothenburg European Council in June. (The Euro-Files).
September 1, 2001... The Amsterdam Treaty made sustainable development one of the core objectives of the European Union. The Helsinki European Council in December 1999 invited the European Commission to `prepare a proposal for a long-term strategy dovetailing...

Nuclear or what? Paul Burall on the energy review, teleworking trends, and bus romances. (Connections).
September 1, 2001... A Government that proclaims its commitment to joined-up thinking should not complain about suspicions that its proposed `simplification' (meaning, of course, the removal of opportunities to object) of the planning rules for major infrastructure...

Misleading headlines: Paul Burall on the energy review, teleworking trends, and bus romances. (Connections).
September 1, 2001... Planners trying to interpret how employment trends may impact on transport, the location of housing and employment, and similar issues have been having a hard time recently. The TUC attracted headlines and a sage nodding of traditionalist...

Bus romance: Paul Burall on the energy review, teleworking trends, and bus romances. (Connections).
September 1, 2001... Government research aimed at finding more ways to persuade students on to school buses and out of their parents' cars has revealed that `one in seven adults who travelled to school by bus in their youth claim to have met a future boyfriend or...