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Post by swl on Jan 11, 2009 0:10:36 GMT
Remember Norman Tebbit and his "on your bikes" comment? He was virtually depicted as the anti-Christ after that. So I wonder how the same people will react to this - "Blears tells unemployed to get off the sofa Long-term unemployed must change their attitudes, says the communities secretary Hazel Blears " TimesIs there an election on the horizon that Labour stooges start talking sense? I particularly liked "It doesn’t help that such people watch motivated immigrants doing well, and - just occasionally - being fast-tracked for social housing." And this comes after years of flat-out denials that this ever happens. |
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Post by Patrick on Jan 11, 2009 1:24:08 GMT
Ah! So that's why her picture was in the Inde today. I shall report back once I've come out of my coma. Not being rude, I have developed a cold - just over the course of last night and today - Yet! Unlike your usual "cold man" I went into town shopping this afternoon - in the freezing cold! I cooked my best beloved a steak meal! I made her cups of tea! See! Not all men are unequal! Sorry, going to have to go - there's two duvet's a blanket and a hot water bottle (all done by me!) awaiting - so, having had my Beechams - I'm going to make a cup of tea and go to beddies. I may be sometime. Well, until I have to get up and make myself a cup of tea that is! I'm not bitter. But I am a little delirious! & yes, definite tough talking  from our glorious leaders in the face of the - any forthcoming elections. Passing out now!  |
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Post by trubble on Jan 11, 2009 10:46:14 GMT
 Bless you Patrick.
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Post by trubble on Jan 11, 2009 10:47:09 GMT
Did she say that? Or did the paper say that? The way the article weaves in and out of quoting her is ambiguous.
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Post by Patrick on Jan 11, 2009 14:14:43 GMT
What's with this "Regeneration working"? The only details I've seen about regeneration is how "estates" are still as run down as they have been since the jobs cull of the 1980's. Like Prescott's "Big Plan" has left swathes of perfectly good terrace houses empty when they could be reinstated at a third of the cost of his big regeneration ideas. The only people who appear to be doing any regeneration are the Secret Millionaires on Channel 4! All over the country plans have fallen flat on their faces as no developer even when they've been sold land at a knock down price that was compulsorily purchased (with our money) by the council will touch these projects now. Even then, some of these projects have just been little more than shopping centres.
I was told this week that various redevelopments have started up around where I used to live.
A huge council depot has been sold off for flats, and it has cost the council about a quarter of the sale price more to develop land elsewhere in the town to replace this.
A long standing garage site, is being bulldozed for a nursing home - this, despite the fact that the town used to be full of nursing homes - they all got sold off for development into "Luxury apartments" in the recent property madness (Dread to think what happened to the little old ladies and gents,)
Just down the road - tucked between the domestic semis and the Victorian bay fronted flats was "COH Baines and Co "Rubber Mouldings and Extrusions" (Thought you'd like that) When I was researching the area, I noticed he'd been there for 40 year or more - carrying out his business, not doing harm to anyone. Last year he moved out and it's going to be flats too!
A number of pubs in the town (As anywhere else) have been demolished/converted. Nearly every piece of land within the town centre that was once industrial has now been sold for housing.
The net result is that here is a town that's now a burglars paradise - because everyone is out at work somewhere else! The traffic congestion is worse, because there are no longer the wide range of jobs - from industrial to mechanical to office to retail that there was thirty years ago! This hasn't been a regeneration project - this has just been incompetent town planning!!! It lends itself to one of the reasons why people can not always find work - because there is a tunnel vision thing going on when it comes to placing of business and the provision of a wide range of jobs.
In the North - the terrace housing might have been built around a mill or other place of work. Now, that might be putting all the eggs in one basket - but nevertheless - even when the mill (or whatever) closed down - turning it into houses (as so often happened) was just another example of short sightedness.
Across the river from me - one failed area of regeneration, was all industrial. The heart of it torn out when that company was bought out by a foreign company who (you guessed it) moved production to Europe!) Part of the compulsory purchase of this area included a huge ex-dockside building full of little businesses and industries - who had six months to get out. Most of them have had to either shut up shop, being unable to find premises at a similar price, or move out of the area altogether. The building they were in? It's going to be flats! The whole regeneration was simply going to be shops, bars, restaurants - oh, and some token offices. Like every other "regeneration project" across the country. Now it ain't going to happen anyway - but why would it have worked? when the core industrial area had been ripped out? and only the airy fairy jobs were left.
Now, even if someone came along with the vision to plan these areas properly - the NIMBY factor, inbred into every human these days would never allow their house to be backing on to the likes of Mr COH Baines and Co.
Ooh, think I need a little lie down now...........
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Post by trubble on Jan 12, 2009 16:29:53 GMT
I hope I get points for reading all that. My eyes...my eyes.... ;D  Town Planning is notoriously haphazard here, it sounds as if the same can be said for your set up. Part of the problem is the lengthy timescale of projects and the chance of the project folding before it gets off the ground. I'm not sure how you change that part unless you fast-track planning applications and, as you have said, that can lead to some dreadful decisions being made so it's not the solution. What I have taken from your points is that the (effectively) 're-zoning' of land is a problem. Given that we can't just stand still and have things as they are now forevermore, how do you contain the monotone-ing of areas? eg flats everywhere instead of varied businesses or housing. Is there any rule in town planning that requires there to be X per cent housing, X per cent services, X per cent local jobs? If there is I haven't heard of it. I would guess there's a rule that encourages 'areas of excellence' for want of a better word, something encouraging clustering of similar projects. Perhaps there are no bloody rules at all.  |
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Post by Patrick on Jan 12, 2009 18:22:47 GMT
Even simple games like "SimCity" point you towards having a balance between Industrial, commercial and residential zones, otherwise one or the other fails.
Back where I used to live (from which most of those examples were taken) they are championing the fact that more shops are to be added to the "Industrial Estate" One including an out of town M & S which is curious seeing how they're cutting back at the moment. The "Have your say" bit at the bottom of the article has wreaths of complaints about the traffic problems in that area - as they complained five years ago, and fifteen years ago when I was living nearby!
Too many councillors are just "career councillors" it gives 'em something to do. I don't think they contribute a lot to the building of a town at all, too many backhanders come from too many quarters - and if they refuse permission on something - chances are the developer will just go and pay off someone at county level to overturn the decision.
Democracy? Ha!
The main point is though, that the planning over the past twenty years - driven by the "money out of property" mantra has stamped all over sensible and proper town planning. It goes back further in fact. In the 1970's we were building houses and houses and houses, but unlike the developers of post war - we didn't even consider putting in the shops that people needed - or, for that matter any sort of "community" facilities to get the people together.
They built an estate on the outskirts of Norwich in the 90's - and the first folk who moved there began to shake the place up a bit, they demanded that the developer gave them somewhere to go - (community hall) - and later - they demanded a church (of all things) and it hit the headlines what a close community the place had become - purely because the people helped to develop the place as they wanted it to be. They also got shops too - something that hadn't even been written in to the original plans.
There's too much pigeon holing going on.
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Post by Patrick on Jan 12, 2009 18:41:36 GMT
I hope I get points for reading all that. My eyes...my eyes.... ;D Of course! Stub Crouch - In association with:  |
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