Annoying lack of posts
For some reason two long-ish draft posts got deleted by my system. Suffice to say I can't be bothered to research and write them again. Ephemera that was probably boring anyway.
Well, today's round-up contains:
Ruth Kelly has challenged developers to beat the standards of Scandinavian housing within the decade, with regard to energy efficiency and carbon neutrality. Well, maybe they'll beat the Scandis standards of today in ten years...but by that time the original energy-saving blondes will have moved onto houses that probably eat carbon for breakfast, rather than emitting any.
Is it groundhog day? CABE says that housebuilders are still failing on quality but get planning permission anyway. Apparently just six percent of new housing is 'good' or 'very good' under their measures and despite some design champions being appointed, they are "not being listened too", which comes as a shock. Meanwhile CABE itself has been missing targets: BD reports that it has not met 43% of its quantitative targets, which apparently are the fault of moving to new offices.
And according to a Knight Frank study for the British Property Federation and others, Gordon Brown's proposed planning gain supplement will raise less money that the s106 system unless it ran at over 30%. The study will be published next week. Personally I think the PGS is probably a good idea anyway, because developers won't be able to wriggle out of it and it won't be subject to the failure of local authorities to collect as it will be handled nationally. But I think s106 will still have to survive in some form to make up the balance. We'll see.
Well, today's round-up contains:
Ruth Kelly has challenged developers to beat the standards of Scandinavian housing within the decade, with regard to energy efficiency and carbon neutrality. Well, maybe they'll beat the Scandis standards of today in ten years...but by that time the original energy-saving blondes will have moved onto houses that probably eat carbon for breakfast, rather than emitting any.
Is it groundhog day? CABE says that housebuilders are still failing on quality but get planning permission anyway. Apparently just six percent of new housing is 'good' or 'very good' under their measures and despite some design champions being appointed, they are "not being listened too", which comes as a shock. Meanwhile CABE itself has been missing targets: BD reports that it has not met 43% of its quantitative targets, which apparently are the fault of moving to new offices.
And according to a Knight Frank study for the British Property Federation and others, Gordon Brown's proposed planning gain supplement will raise less money that the s106 system unless it ran at over 30%. The study will be published next week. Personally I think the PGS is probably a good idea anyway, because developers won't be able to wriggle out of it and it won't be subject to the failure of local authorities to collect as it will be handled nationally. But I think s106 will still have to survive in some form to make up the balance. We'll see.
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