In brief: CABE slams BSF, flooding as flood defence, and Barker on planning...
A new report from CABE completely slams the Building Schools for the Future programme, saying that 50% of designs are not up to scratch, and that briefs must face a review 'as a matter of urgency' for being badly out of date. Worth a read.
The Environment Agency's new strategy of 'managed retreat' in certain coastal areas has its first big-scale test now that work has begun to breach 300m of a sea wall to create the UK's largest man-made marine wetland. As I write, the tide is entering on to what was wheatfields to create the new salt marsh and mudflats. the idea is that it will absorb tidal energy and stop flooding further inalnd without requiring unsustainable defence systems.
And finally, Kate Barker has said, contradicting the noises coming out of the Treasury, that her review of the planning system is not going to recommend any major changes. Erm, Brown to Barker, hello? Her interim report can be downloaded from the site - worth a read if only for the extremely good summary of 'how the planning system works' - good both for beginners and hardened policy spods like myself...
The Environment Agency's new strategy of 'managed retreat' in certain coastal areas has its first big-scale test now that work has begun to breach 300m of a sea wall to create the UK's largest man-made marine wetland. As I write, the tide is entering on to what was wheatfields to create the new salt marsh and mudflats. the idea is that it will absorb tidal energy and stop flooding further inalnd without requiring unsustainable defence systems.
And finally, Kate Barker has said, contradicting the noises coming out of the Treasury, that her review of the planning system is not going to recommend any major changes. Erm, Brown to Barker, hello? Her interim report can be downloaded from the site - worth a read if only for the extremely good summary of 'how the planning system works' - good both for beginners and hardened policy spods like myself...
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