Robbo
1K posts



The Government has cut five of its proposed new towns but continues to plan for the remaining seven.
The cut ones are Adlington (Cheshire), Heyford Park (Oxford satellite), Marlcombe (near Exeter), Plymouth (Devon) and Wychavon Town (Worcestershire).
The retained ones are brownfield schemes in Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, Milton Keynes and Thamesmead (in SE London), an urban extension by Enfield, and the genuinely new town at Tempsford (Bedfordshire).
A few thoughts:
1. It is odd that we are still at the stage of choosing sites two years in. Wasn't that supposed to have been done last year? Couldn't it have been done while Labour was still in opposition?
2. The sites that have been cut were mostly relatively tenuous economically. All of the remaining sites are good projects that should certainly be supported. Today's announcement is thus, viewed from a certain angle, not economically insane.
3. I am gratified to see that the site I proposed at Tempsford is growing steadily in importance, and that 40,000 homes are now projected there. This might actually be the new city I proposed, not just a bit of housing development.
4. At the same time, it is interesting that Tempsford is actually the *only* new town surviving in the sense of a physically distinct settlement. In my view this reflects on the general limitations of new towns: even a government that is full of enthusiasm for them can find hardly any good sites. There *are* occasional strong cases, but they are exceptional. Growing existing cities will always do the lion's share of the work, as it has for eight hundred years.
5. Quite a few of these sites were underway anyway. Brabazon has been underway since 2020 or so. There is lots of development in central Leeds and Manchester. There may be a bit of double-counting going on here in which existing large brownfield schemes are relabelled as new projects.
6. I am a bit puzzled that they could not make e.g. a satellite town for Oxford work economically. Why not? I do rather wonder if the issue here is that they could not afford the share of social housing that they wanted, and so they have scrapped the project entirely rather than building some useful but ideologically unpalatable private housing. Or maybe it is just that MHCLG doesn't have the capacity to allow developments at twelve sites simultaneously. Either way, this seems concerning.
7. In any case, it is vital to remember what a small contribution to British housing this is. The schemes total 'up to' 191,000 homes. It will take maybe twenty years to build them out, in which time they will make up perhaps 2.5% of the houses that the Government wants, if current target levels are sustained. Probably nothing will be delivered before next election, except on the double counted schemes that were already happening. I say this not because I oppose the new towns scheme – I don't, and in fact I have actively contributed to it – but as a reminder that it should not distract from the vastly more important task of reforming planning and regulation.
Overall verdict: these are still good sites, and I still support this project. But the Govt needs to get on with it, and nobody should imagine that this can be more than a minor contributor to its housing strategy.
thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…

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Cadburys was once a beloved British institution. And then a US company got its hands on it...
Kentucky Girl@Notwokenow
Cadbury has changed Easter to “This Season.” But they’re still profiting from selling Easter Eggs. Christianity is not shameful. It is not offensive. Not another dime should be spent on Cadbury products by any Christian. Anywhere. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
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crewe fans af Shrewsbury Station. great picture, one for the archive lads.
#crewe #Shrewsbury #crewe #cafc #alex

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Once again, London is named Europe’s slowest city. Did you hear that @MayorofLondon ?
Average speed is 11mph.
The congestion charge does not improve “congestion”. It is merely a tax on workers to access our own capital city.

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@ChaponaBike123 It’s cycle in the middle of the lane, not the road. That’s a good’n 👍🏻
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Who wants to play a new game, it’s called:
Make Up A Reason Why The Cyclist Is At Fault #mbgames
Chapona Bike@ChaponaBike123
🤷♂️
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Another example of the terrible standards of journalism. Getting rid of VAR makes no difference to this for 2 reasons.
1) It's a legal run up
2) Even if it wasn't VAR doesn't get involved in restarts of play so they can't get involved in the run up.
Sanny Rudravajhala@Sanny_Rudra
Get rid of VAR and give agency back to referees. This run up is absolutely ridiculous.
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@CraigHope_DM And fans wonder why police treat them like shit...disgraceful animals
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@Imnotamaccfan @silkmenarmy Fair...hadn't noticed him looking too fat to be fair. He's always been quite lazy for me
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@Robbouts @silkmenarmy What other then being unfit and morbidly obese
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Far from our best. Sure JR would say the same.
Bailed out by some magic out wide.
Don’t understand freezing JJ & Whitehead out
Business end of the season, we have loads of games. They’re obvs in our best 18 players, why have them walking around the ground not involved? 🔵⚪️
Macclesfield FC (C)@thesilkmen
FT | A BIG THREE AT HOME FOR THE SILKMEN💙 Macclesfield FC 3-1 Hereford FC
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@silkmenarmy JJ is transfer listed and as soon as suitable offer is made will be gone
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