Curtis Howard retweetledi
... Brilliantly, Coventry City Council has found a way round the mess (as @djjmilner showed for @CapX here) but....
capx.co/coventrys-tram…
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Curtis Howard
234 posts
Curtis Howard
@CurtisHowardLEC
Cabinet Member for Planning & Regeneration and councillor for Long Eaton Central on @ErewashBC
Katılım Şubat 2023
155 Takip Edilen89 Takipçiler
Same with neighbourhood wardens - in 2015 there were more than a dozen, each assigned to their own area, dealing with flytipping, graffiti, etc.
By the time we took control of Erewash in 2023, there were just three wardens. More responsibility, fewer resources, less efficient
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At the start of the 2010s, Erewash Borough Council had 6 street cleaning vehicles and a separate, on-foot town centre sweeping team
After 2019, this was cut down to just two street cleaning vehicles - so fewer regular routes, and no dedicated town centre sweeping
Ed West@edwest
Why is Britain COVERED in RUBBISH?
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Curtis Howard retweetledi
Fixed it for ya
Samuel Hughes@SCP_Hughes
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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Out enforcing a clean-up order on the old Wigfalls building in Ilkeston this afternoon - left empty for nearly thirty years.
Owner didn’t even bother to respond to our legal notice, so the council is going to do the necessary works instead - and take him court for the bill!
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Meanwhile in Erewash:
➡️ Reform run Derbyshire County Council? ⬆️ 4.9%
🌹 Labour run Erewash Borough Council? 🥶 0.0%
Michael Fabricant 🇬🇧🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦@Mike_Fabricant
Got my Council Tax Bill ❌ Staffordshire County (Reform) UP 3.9% ❌ Lichfield City (Labour) UP 6.0% ✅ Lichfield District (Conservative) UP 1.9% below inflation Says it all
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Curtis Howard retweetledi
Alarming thread on the govt's new advisor on Planning and Infrastructure reform, Catherine Howard.
She seems to have supported the environmental lobby's campaign against Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which successfully watered down the best part of it.
Looking for Growth@lfg_uk
Howard's LinkedIn is filled with Likes of posts criticising the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (and even one attacking her new boss the Chancellor!) She is rumoured to have helped these groups in their successful campaign to get the bill watered down.
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Curtis Howard retweetledi
The Government is considering a second planning bill - if they are serious about meeting their target of 1.5 million new homes, they should use it to introduce a new flexible zoning system:
Centre for Cities@CentreforCities
BLOG | What should the Government put in the second planning bill? 🏗️ The English planning system needs more certainty at the plan-making stage. @AntBreach and @maurice_a_lange set out how new legislation could help to establish a zoning system. Read 👇 buff.ly/pxUo7mh
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Curtis Howard retweetledi
14,000 families on the housing waiting list in her local authority. They just don't care.
Wendy Morton MP@morton_wendy
I am dismayed to learn that the applicants of the proposal to site 165 new houses on Longwood Lane have decided to appeal the decision and take the matter to a public enquiry. This type of development on #GreenBelt land is totally inappropriate in my view.
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Curtis Howard retweetledi
“if you are thinking of investing in our communities think again” nice one 👍
Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧@TiceRichard
Reform control the Mayoralty and County Council in Lincolnshire with myself as local MP If you are thinking of investing in solar farms, Battery storage systems, or trying to build pylons Think again We will fight you every step of the way We will win
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Curtis Howard retweetledi
Great to be at East Mids Labour Conference today, chairing a panel for @yimbylabour 🏡
Thanks so much to @rosie_wrighting and @CurtisHowardLEC for joining, it was a really insightful discussion!
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Curtis Howard retweetledi
🚨 NEW: Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay says a third runway at Heathrow would be "incredibly irresponsible in the midst of a climate emergency"
Starmer: "I'm not going to take lectures from those who talk about climate change but oppose vital renewable infrastructure" #PMQs
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@CharlotteCymru @OliJProbertHill None in Yorkshire since the 1960s! None in the Midlands in nearly a century!
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Curtis Howard retweetledi
This goes to the heart of the deep problem with British planning, development & governance culture. Unclear quality asks. Totally dependent on consultants & lawyers on high day rates. Nothing is clear and nothing is ever anyone’s fault. Natural England demand mitigation & …
max tempers@maxtempers
🚨 NEW: HS2 Chief Executive defends the £100m bat tunnel ‘It’s the most appropriate mitigation to comply with the law’
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Curtis Howard retweetledi
So much to break down here
"We simply have to comply with the law"... but the law didn't say anything specific, they were simply told "this won't do" by a Quango and had to invent their own mitigation 1/n
max tempers@maxtempers
🚨 NEW: HS2 Chief Executive defends the £100m bat tunnel ‘It’s the most appropriate mitigation to comply with the law’
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Curtis Howard retweetledi
Why can’t Britain build anything anymore?
The news this week of the £100m ‘bat tunnel’ gave us some clues.
Here’s the story of this tunnel, which has been 12 years in the making, and some thoughts on what it tells us
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Curtis Howard retweetledi
Here’s a Simon Jenkins housing column that makes sense - because it’s about him, rather than by him.
(It’s by @JonnElledge)
capx.co/nimby-watch-wh…
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Curtis Howard retweetledi
Yesterday we secured £63 billion of investment to provide almost 38,000 jobs.
Today we announced half a billion pounds extra investment for housing.
We are delivering on our promise of change.
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Curtis Howard retweetledi
🚨 NEW: Keir Starmer will today promise to get rid of 'needless regulation' that blocks investment in the UK
"Where it is stopping us building the homes, the data centres, warehouses, grid connectors, roads, trainlines, you name it then mark my words – we will get rid of it."
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@willuminare every time I think “this could not possibly get more miserable” - it does!
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is anyone watching for the first time? i would love to know how ppl are finding it in real time
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i see we are at “the bomb has just gone off” part of threads. enjoy - this is probably the happiest you’re going to feel for the next year
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