Planning a journey on the West Coast Main Line today proved near impossible yet again, thanks to widespread delays and cancellations. I was reminded for the umpteenth time that our rail network’s drainage system, designed for the Victorians’ chilly but stable climate, is no longer fit for 21st century weather that’s getting ever more extreme. While populist politicians try to […]
Another fine mess
The news that MHCLG ministers couldn’t even wait to get their wretched Planning & Infrastructure Bill through Parliament before announcing another tranche of attacks on England’s planning system will surprise no-one who read about the frequent visits of developer lobbyists to the ministry to drink its coffee and to demand more. The latest thousand bomber raid was even graced with […]
Unnatural England
Gloomily contemplating a tweet by the Natural England quango this morning, I immediately wondered if it was time to put the poor, mutilated and hobbled beast out of its misery. The tweet is a one-minute video claiming that “together, we can unlock growth, scale up nature recovery and strengthen national security”. It’s just the latest bit of propaganda from a […]
The “Golden Triangle” is another destructive fantasy
The alchemists of old sought ways of turning base-metal into gold. Today, there’s a persistent delusion that the rich agricultural counties north and north-west of London can be turned into commercial gold.Recently, the “Golden Doughnut”, “Silicon Fen”, “the Oxford-Cambridge Arc” etc. have been joined by “the Golden Triangle”, an arbitrary chunk of English countryside with London, Cambridge and Oxford at […]
Planning’s “real moment” – a dangerous one
“Planning,” said RTPI chief executive Victoria Hills at the Labour conference, “is having a real moment.”That moment included an Institute roundtable with planning minister Matthew Pennycook which discussed things like the need for more planners and planning skills. But it also heard that “planning is an economic enabler”.Planning, of course, should be a key component in co-ordinating our sustainable economic, […]
New towns – a big threat to the countryside
New towns have always been a bit of a dangerously addictive drug in planning. Like narcotics, they initially promise a sweet, heavenly paradise, only to turn into destructive addictions that prove almost impossible to escape from. Any day now (it’s already late), the Government’s New Towns Taskforce will deliver its report on a fresh generation of mega-sprawl blobs. Its recommendations […]
All political careers really do end in failure
There comes a moment for most prime ministers when a big public blunder takes their momentum away and from which they never really recover. But often it’s the little things that historians note as fatally eroding that sense of solidarity their governments depend on. With Margaret Thatcher, the big one was the poll tax and subsequent riots, with John Major […]
The ghost of Ramsay MacDonald
I’ve no idea whether it’s true or not that deputy prime minister Angela Rayner actually threatened to quit when she twigged the Government’s 1.5 million house building target by July 2029 is completely impossible and had to be talked out of it by Tony Blair. But it’s plausible. The story appeared in an updated biography of Keir Starmer penned by […]
Trebles all round! The Outer M25 is back
Anyone who has watched roads lobby dinosaurs placidly munching on their trunk road contracts even as Comet Climate Change approaches the Earth will not have been surprised by the Government’s decision to approve the destructive Lower Thames Crossing The road will add £9 billion to the country’s pointless debt mountain, investment which could have been used for acutely needed sustainable […]
Batting for Tufton Street
It’s funny, I searched in vain through Labour’s 2024 manifesto Change for any firm commitment to exterminate the country’s bat population, or at least any of the scarce, tiny, flying mammals that had the temerity to hinder Sir Keir Starmer’s passion to build “infrastructure” – but at least we knew what he regards as infrastructure. In his 2023 conference speech […]