Wokingham station
In Wokingham today. Their station building is quite new. And I like it in a functional kind of way.
25.02.2025 08:48
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Wokingham station
In Wokingham today. Their station building is quite new. And I like it in a functional kind of way.
Last week I submitted a response to the Government’s INTS consultation.
While everyone talked about inclusivity and people-centered approaches (rightly), I just went with “FFS just get on with it.” With suggestions on changing transport governance to boot.
mobilitymatters.io/2025/02/21/%...
A faster growing economy, higher pay, and cutting emissions? We clearly can’t have this woke rubbish here.
Guildford Castle
Though to be fair, Guildford’s ruined castle game is strong
Poster showing how Freiburg is twinned with Guildford
It’s always funny to me how Freiburg, the poster child city of sustainability and inclusivity, is twinned with…Guildford.
It’s also an element of siloisation. Several years ago I was in a planning meeting with leisure colleagues. Who asked for formal pitches with dedicated parking. Saying it met their ‘play quota.’
The idea that kids could play football in the street or on the green was alien to them.
I highly recommend reading the book And The Sun Shines Now. Which links this and other changes to wider social changes which has ripped the heart out of modern football. So much rings true. www.goodreads.com/book/show/18...
Cars driving through and around Westgate in Canterbury.
Bluesky, show me an image that perfectly encapsulates car centricity in old English cities…
Not been on here in ages because, well, I’ve had a life.
I understand someone said something like lots of planes are good for the economy. Here are some words I wrote that say “mmm…more complicated than that.”
mobilitymatters.io/2025/01/31/%...
The front cover of the book Not The End of The World by Hannah Ritchie.
Starting my 43rd year on this God-forsaken rock by reading this bit of brilliance by @hannahritchie.bsky.social. A timely reminder that while things are a bit rubbish, they are a lot better than they have been.
Here’s to the stubborn optimists of the world, whose work make life less shit. 🍻
Two Jags from the top rope.
I don’t make predictions, but here is mine:
This will be a one-term Labour Government. And it has felt like it since Day 1.
The one area where some good was happening (transport) had the SoS binned off.
Jimmy Carter was a brilliant reminder that public service is not just for people who get elected or work for the public sector. It’s about devoting your life to helping others.
There have been better Presidents. But no better men have been President.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...
This is good news.
This happens so much its depressing.
1. People warn about thing breaking.
2. Thing breaks. Politicians ride in to sort it.
3. A bodge job is made because Treasury says so.
4. Politicians say "this must never happen again."
5. Nothing gets done to prevent it happening again.
6. Go back to 1.
I'm not saying that this means that those on the left need to go full tory to win elections. Far from it. They just need to be better in selling what they are offering in clear, simple language that cuts through to people.
There is a lot of truth here. In my political experience, the left wins the argument, but the right wins the politics. And in politics, doing the latter means you win.
It never ceases to amaze me how those on the left do popular, correct things, but still lose elections.
A zombie walking through a field in 28 Years Later
BREAKING NEWS: Department for Transport sensationally reverses the decision to cancel the Stonehenge Tunnel project.
A new artist's impression has been released showcasing a brand new design for the controversial scheme.
There has been lots on the (English?) planning system and how bad and slow it is.
My tuppence worth as someone who worked in a consultative department for over a decade and left in 2019 was that staffing was hollowed out even then, with high turnover, and that's the main problem.
Do the consultation meaningfully as part of the Local Plan process. Focus it on placemaking and community creation. Then once the Local Plan is adopted, major sites have outline consent automatically for 5 years, and they go into details of reserved matters and developer contributions.
We have an endless consultation cycle where strategic planning is thrown out at a later stage, and each major application is a fight to get through both the Local Plan process and the Development Control process. Which gums everything up and leads to poor consultation.
Largely agree. Though meaningful reform to the process can reduce the burden on officers while speeding up development consent on sites where the planning principles are established in the local plan. So that they just work on detail once the plan is adopted.
The challenge is, we don't really know what the modal shift of e-scooters is.
The UK Government's assessment of the e-scooter trial estimated some modal shift towards car using survey and Google Directions API data. But 42% of e-scooter trips would have been walked.
www.gov.uk/government/p...
In research that will probably shock nobody, you exert less physical effort riding an e-scooter compared to walking and cycling. And its not even close really.
So if you are in an area where people are subbing walking for e-scootering, that's not a good thing.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
There could be a limit with the consent - say 5 years. But it allows councillors to focus on meaningful engagement in a coordinated manner, accelerates the consent process, and could help ensure its planned in a coordinated way and not just at the whims of the application process.
Here is a meaningful planning reform that could have a big impact.
Have councillors focus on Local Plan development foremost. But the second the Local Plan is adopted, outline consent is granted for major sites within it. Then goes straight to talk of developer contributions and reserved matters.
Honestly? The entire system is stacked in favour of developers getting permission. It may not be a fast process, but they usually get the result at the end.
People remember the stories about a controversial application getting refused by committee in a feisty meeting. But this is the exception and not the rule. Most get approved and pass without incident.
But boring things like policy reform and more planning officers don't generate headlines.
This is one of those things that sounds good, but makes little difference.
Most applications don't get approved by committee. If they go to committee, there is little delay in the process, and committees usually go with the officer recommendation.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
