Archive

Richards on ... exchanging experiences

30 May 2008

Recently a colleague told me about a few days spent on the Grand Union Canal. This got me thinking about how communication has changed over the years. No doubt it was the planners and local enthusiasts, working with British Waterways, who turned these dead highways of another age into the leisure and environmental success they are today.

Fyson on ... crumbs of comfort

By Anthony Fyson

23 May 2008

Leaked figures from the Home Builders Federation have underscored the impact of the credit crunch on the private house building sector.

Halman on ... working with market forces

By Gary Halman

23 May 2008

Housing minister Caroline Flint took the government's desire for greater transparency to new levels last week.

Countryside manifesto sounds a warning on the price of progress

By Huw Morris, editor

23 May 2008

Government advisers and watchdogs on the environment perform a series of different but valuable functions across Whitehall. The Sustainable Development Commission acts as the government's conscience, the Environment Agency as its enforcer and Natural England as champion of landscape and countryside.

Regulation is the big weapon in climate change battle campaign

By Huw Morris, editor

16 May 2008

The government may have started backtracking on green taxes and a resurgent Conservative Party fallen silent on climate change in the aftermath of this month's local elections. But reports of the issue's demise are premature by any sane perspective.

Fyson on ... establishing lines of responsibility

By Anthony Fyson

16 May 2008

The Commons environment select committee report Flooding, published last week, sinks into exaggeration when it claims to have discovered a total lack of awareness about the vulnerability of large parts of the country to flooding.

Shepley on ... responsibility but no reward

By Chris Shepley

16 May 2008

People sometimes say planning is doomed and will be wiped out by a combination of economic illiteracy, political naivety, sloth and alcohol.

Electoral drubbing underscores need for government to listen

By Huw Morris, Editor

9 May 2008

The inquest into last week's electoral humiliation for the government has focused on the uprising of the suburbs.

Bell on ... foundations for the future

By Graeme Bell

9 May 2008

There was an newspaper advert that ran for years with sketches of a man's face gradually ageing.

House building slowdown points to flawed government idealism

By Huw Morris, editor

2 May 2008

Maybe, just maybe, the past fortnight saw the chickens at last come home to roost for Gordon Brown's premiership.