Coalition government – Healthy Urbanism

The long awaited Housing Standards Review Consultation was published today and we are none the wiser as to how government will achieve its aims without compromising the quality of new housing in the UK. The consultation showed:

government’s continued tension between the localism agenda and the need to set (slash) policy at a national level to provide certainty to developers;
a lack of consideration for new homebuyers/occupants and the costs they will pay if standards are removed;
potential additional burdens for local plan preparation; and
a risk that our ability to achieve sustainable development will be significantly compromised. Continue reading “The Housing Standards Review will hinder the achievement of sustainable development”

A lot his been said about the Tory party bias for market-led solutions for just about any problem society can come up with. One recent example is the NHS reforms that Andrew Lansley and David Cameron seem to be prepared to go way out on a limb to push through parliament. Ed Miliband summed it up succinctly when he claimed that the bill “creates a free market free-for-all and threatens existing NHS services” (Guardian, 2010). When it comes to climate change, the Coalition government wants to be known as the ‘greenest government ever’. Afterall, green is the new black. Politically, it’s important to be seen to be green. Unfortunately, their admirable claim has become yet another one of this government’s unkept promises. Continue reading “The politicisation and marketisation of ‘green’ issues”

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