Town and Country Planning articles from September 2002

Town and Country Planning archives from September 2002

The future of the new towns: TCPA memorandum of evidence submitted to the inquiry on `the new towns: their problems and future' conducted by the Urban Affairs Sub-Committee of the Transport, Local Government & the Regions Committee, of the House of Commons.
September 1, 2002... The TCPA's memorandum to the Urban Affairs Sub-committee--of which this is a much edited version--focused on the questions set out the Subcommittee press notice launching the inquiry. 1 `The extent to which the original design of the new towns...

The Deputy Prime Minister's statement to the House of Commons in July on planning and housing was a welcome swing of the pendulum for those who believe in the right to a decent home in a good environment for everyone.
September 1, 2002... The Deputy Prime Minister's statement to the House of Commons in July on planning and housing was a welcome swing of the pendulum for those who believe in the right to a decent home in a good environment for everyone. For too long, banal...

On the bench. (People & Ideas).
September 1, 2002... It was fascinating to read Cliff Guy's observations on the planning aspects of cafe society in this journal's June issue, because in the same month I read an item in Planning describing a report from the Cabinet Office's Performance and...

London's seedy streets. (Planning World).
September 1, 2002... Freud said, towards the end of a long professional life, that he still hadn't answered the question he'd been asking himself all those years: what do women want? I sometimes feel the same about a question of mine: what makes cities work? ...

The neglected laboratory. (Off the Fence).
September 1, 2002... The House of Commons subcommittee inquiry into the new towns (1) proved to be more narrow than the subject matter deserves, but it did reach a final profound conclusion on which we should build: `It is very surprising,' said the MPs, `that the...

EU policy influence on land use planning in Britain; Stefanie Duhr gives an overview of recent developments in EU policy that have direct relevance for land use planning in Britain. (feature).
September 1, 2002... While UK planners concentrate attention on proposals for planning reform emerging from the ODPM (the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) and devolved administrations, in the long term it may be the continued rapid expansion of spatial planning...

Moving to a sea green paper. (feature).
September 1, 2002... With the clock ticking down towards July 2004, by which time EU member states are required to implement the EU Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive into their own national legislation, Tom Holstein looks at the relationship between SEA...

Trying to dodge the control freaks. (Local Exchange).
September 1, 2002... It's been two years since I started writing these monthly columns in T&CP. Anyone who has read them--I know you're out there somewhere--will have discovered, as I did, the emergence of time banks in the UK to underpin the social economy,...

Radioactive waste policy--involving the public: as the government embarks on the second stage of its radioactive waste management programme, Andrew Blowers argues that the public must be involved in decision-making if credible, acceptable, and legitimate solutions are to be achieved. (feature).
September 1, 2002... Why is it important to involve the public in policy-making for the long-term management of radioactive waste? What is likely to get them involved? Answers to these questions are necessary as we are about to embark on one of the most extensive...

Towards a fiscal agenda for urban regeneration? Greg Lloyd, John McCarthy, Jim Berry, and Stanley McGreal look at the experience of using tax-based measures for urban regeneration in Ireland and the USA. (feature).
September 1, 2002... The potential of tax-based measures for the general purposes of urban renewal is attracting increasing attention. (1, 2) There is also an interest in specific aspects of this approach, such as the hypothecation of tax revenues. While this...

Allowing the public to have its say at planning committee--towards good practice: Sue Manns and Colin Wood outline the findings of follow-up research on public speaking at development control committees, and put forward some first thoughts on `good practice' guidelines. (feature).
September 1, 2002... Over the last decade or so there have been substantial developments in the practice of allowing members of the public to have their say on planning applications, and to make oral representations direct to development control planning...

Urban villages--a concept with mixed uses? Malcolm Tait, Mike Biddulph, and Bridget Franklin report on research into the implementation of the urban village concept, and highlight some key differences and commonalities. (feature).
September 1, 2002... The term `urban village' has been common to the parlance of planning for some ten years. Urban villages have risen in importance over the past decade through the promotional work of the Urban Villages Forum and through their appearance as an...

Legitimate expectations: to what extent can developers and others rely on representations made to them by officers of the local planning authority? And what can legitimately be read into resolutions of planning committees? Simon Spurgeon examines a recent court case that appears to have cemented the concept of `legitimate expectation' and killed off the concept of estoppel in planning law. (Legal eye: legal update column).
September 1, 2002... The case of R v East Sussex County Council, ex parte Reprotech (Pebsham) Ltd (1) has again raised the issue of the extent to which it is wise for developers and others to rely on representations made to them by officers of the local planning...

Market towns and retail challenges: Peter Jones, Daphne Comfort, and David Hillier look at some of the links between retail change and market town decline, and outline the main elements in--and explore some of the retail challenges raised by--the Countryside Agency's Market Towns Initiative, designed to promote market town regeneration. (feature).
September 1, 2002... Traditionally, market towns have been seen as the focus of social and economic activities in many parts of rural Britain, but in recent years their role and viability have been undermined and destabilised. A number of interlinked factors have...

Market towns, older people, and regeneration: Rose Gilroy and Tim Shaw look at ways in which meeting the needs of older people might help to rebuild market town economies. (feature).
September 1, 2002... Older people as a driver for regeneration--a contradiction in terms or a new way forward for market towns? The Rural White Paper Our Countryside: The Future sets out a new vision of rural Britain--one in which market towns are expected to play...

Reviving rural community self-help: drawing upon a study of rural England, Colin C. Williams argues for a `fourth sector' approach to rejuvenating localities that cultivates one-to-one reciprocity. (feature).
September 1, 2002... Numerous government reports now embrace the idea of harnessing community self-help to rejuvenate localities. (1) Fostering such activity is seen to bolster community spirit, encourage local solutions to local problems, promote local democratic...

Chicago, Chicago ... (Inside America).
September 1, 2002... Earlier this year, I mentioned that I had visited Chicago and that it was worth writing about. That is an understatement--it is a remarkable place. Among American central cities, the Census of 2000 revealed that the great boom of the 1990s...

Planning through the looking glass. (Connections).
September 1, 2002... The Nolan-inspired codes of conduct being imposed on local government seem increasingly onerous on councillors who are members of development control committees. Councillors have long been told not to give any indication of their views on...

Costly planning permission. (Connections).
September 1, 2002... One legalistic approach may, however, be helpful in achieving land uses that people actually want. I only came across the Property Misdescriptions Act a few weeks ago when a local developer infuriated the residents of a 360-house estate...

More than a game. (Connections).
September 1, 2002... Sustainable development means different things to different people, even to the world leaders attending the Johannesburg Summit in September. So finding a way to explain to people the effect that different decisions may have in several decades'...

Green cement. (Connections).
September 1, 2002... Discovered almost two centuries ago, Portland cement continues to be ubiquitous: every year 1.7 billion tonnes is produced worldwide. But maybe it is time for an alternative, for Portland cement is a major contributor to climate change: its...

The ultimate speed trap. (Connections).
September 1, 2002... Most drivers slow down when confronted with a speed hump. But not all. An invention from Siemens could stop the speed freaks. A camera in the speed hump automatically radios digitised photographs of any offender's number plate direct to the...