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Alex Marsh says Thatcherite hostility to local government is casting a shadow on housing policy today. Photograph: Nils Jorgensen / Rex Features We all agree that Britain needs new homes. A significant shortfall has emerged over many years and the collapse in construction simply piles on further pressure. Increasing supply is central to dealing with some acute problems facing the housing system.Simple, but pressing questions follow. Who is going to pay? And how are they going to do it?The Communities and Local Government select committee addressed this issue in its recent report on housing finance. The report's premise is that austerity means there is no more public money for investment in housing, so the question is what else might be done. And while many would ... Continue reading →
I've been trawling YouTube for regeneration aspiration clips down the ages. Here's a punchy CNN summary from June 2009: Video clip: CNN Thanks Jim. See how we've moved on - and maybe slightly back again - with the stadium. Note that promise about "affordable" homes and how the meaning of the word "affordable" has, well, gone upmarket since David Cameron moved into Number 10.Now fast forward to last February and a short speech by Andrew Altman, chief executive of what was then called the Olympic Park Legacy Company. It's now called the London Legacy Development Corporation and will have overall control of the evolution of the Olympic Park and its immediate surroundings after the Games themselves have been and gone.I've seen Altman deliver several versions ... Continue reading →
Late last year, Chicago opened the first of its new protected bikeways. People who cycle on the bikeway are protected from moving motor traffic because they cycle on the inside of parked cars. They also benefit from traffic lights specifically designed for people on bicycles. Again, the aim is to keep people in motor vehicles and people on bicycles well apart from each other. By the end of this year, Chicago will have built 25 miles of protected bikeway. You can see what the Chicago protected bikeways look like below. Each mile costs £175,000 to build. London has spent up to £2million per mile on vastly inferior bike routes. The London bike routes are, for the most part, blue paint painted on the inside of ... Continue reading →
