Green Issues Newsletter - 22 August 2002
The south booms…
Forecaster Cambridge Econometrics has predicted that
there will be an increase of 200,000 households per year in the UK over the
next decade, and over a million more households in the south by 2010. The
growth is fuelled by the continuing trend of north to south migration for
work and a decline in the size of households. All of this increases pressures
on the existing housing supply, transport infrastructure and public services
in the capital and surrounding areas.
Fears are that house-building rates in the south of England need to be
much higher over the next decade if councils are to achieve targets set by
existing regional planning guidance. Government targets of 23,000 homes a
year in London, and 39,000 in the south-east, set two years ago, have still
not been met, increasing the pressure on affordability and housing provision
in the area.
While the government has gone some way to meeting these needs, there are
concerns that it is not doing enough for force councils to meet their targets.
A continuation of this trend and the widening gap between supply and demand
could spell a return to the boom-and-bust cycle the Labour government has
tried hard to avoid. The issue of housing provision now has the government's
full attention, and we await the upcoming planning White Paper to see how
it will attempt to balance the issue.
While the north declines…
Meanwhile a study by the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies has outlined
its fears that 20% of homes in the north-east of England are in danger of
being abandoned. Planners are pushing forward new development at the same
rate as the national average
210,000 homes in the north east are at risk of becoming empty or are likely
to be affected by a high turnover of tenants, with areas such as Tyneside
and Teeside being the worst affected. The problem is being compounded by
falling population in the area and north-south migration, and planning policies
encouraging 7,000 new homes in the last three years, and further building
of housing at 6.8% - despite a population declining by 3.5%.
The report calls for an urgent review of unrealistic forecasts for growth
and new planning policies that take account of the surplus of homes in the
region, such as the demolition of council homes and their replacement with
new homes at reasonable prices.
New town experiments are failing
Built to display some of the most modern development techniques available,
new towns are now falling into a ‘spiral of decline’ say MPs
in a new report. The Transport, Local Government and the Regions Committee
says many of the communities now suffer from collapsing house prices and
high crime rates.
The 22 communities, built between the 1940s and the 1970s, were intended
to improve conditions for those living in the inner cities but have been
overlooked in successive government programmes to regenerate urban areas – condemning
them to their current neglected state.
Communities such as Telford in Shropshire suffer from a collapsing housing
market, high crime levels and pockets of severe deprivation – and MPs
uncovered that this is not uncommon. Don Burrows, of the Neighbourhood Initiatives
Foundation - a Telford-based charity aiming to improve local communities
- said the estate's design had led to problems.
"High-density large estates with poor amenities, mainly designed
for the car not the pedestrian are turning into breeding grounds for petty
crime and drug abuse," he said.
The report illustrates that cutting-edge design may not be the answer
to all planning problems, and that support and investment is always needed
along the road.
10 tyres = enough energy to support one household for a week.
The fear that the illegal dumping of tyres could swamp Britain continues
to be a major concern of the Environment Agency. An EU directive will ban
the landfill of whole tyres next year and that of shredded tyres by 2006.
The cost of disposal is spiralling – it costs 70p to dispose legitimately
of a car tyre and £7 for a truck tyre. As costs rise so do the number
that are fly-tipped - Enfield Council alone spends £80,000 a year dealing
with fly-tipped tyres. But tyre use continues to grow.
There are methods of recycling available – tyres can be used for
carpet underlay and brake linings. Unfortunately, current methods are unlikely
to meet the demand for disposal. The Welsh Assembly is committed to encouraging
the re-treading of tyres and research is currently under way to examine how
they can be used in coastal defences.
There is another possible solution - tyres are a valuable source of energy.
The government has estimated that the amount of electricity needed to run
an average home for a week could be met from burning 10 tyres. Tyres are
more energy efficient than coal. The method of burning tyes in cement kilns
is widespread in Europe. Although tyres are used at four locations across
Britain - no British owned firm currently has permission for the practice.
As with many new technologies opposition is rife – local residents
complain about the possible harmful effects and local action groups have
flourished at possible locations. But there is indication that opinion towards
tyre burning is changing - a recent high court judgment rejected the objection
against the Environment Agency permitting Blue Circle Cement (Lafarge Cement
UK) to use waste tyres as fuel at Westbury, Wiltshire. Permission was originally
granted after a year of public consultation and with a commitment to continuous
regulation.
To hear more about our approach to waste disposal and the part community
consultation can play, contact Sarah King on 0118 959 1211.
Breakfast Seminars
Green Issues holds a number of breakfast seminars eachyear, inviting members
of the development community to listen to a guest speaker talking about issues
regarding development and also to hear more about what we do.
The next breakfast seminar will be held in Newbury, with our guest speaker
David Rendel MP for Newbury who will discuss the challenges of development
as a politician. The event will be held at the Donnington Valley Hotel on
Friday 20th September 2002 and will be by invitation only.
For more information, please contact our Business Development
Executive, Lisa Turner on 0118 959 1211 or go here.
Green Issues Communications
Alexandria House
3- 5 Castle Street
Reading RG1 7SB
Tel: 0118 959 1211
Fax: 0118 959 8244
Managing stakeholder communications
www.greenissues.com munication
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