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Conservation Covenants
Posted on: 4 April 2013
By: mackene
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A conservation covenant is a voluntary agreement between a landowner and responsible body (charity, public body or local/central Government) to do or not do something on their land for a conservation purpose. This might be, for example, an agreement to maintain a woodland and allow public access to it, or to refrain from using certain pesticides on native vegetation. These agreements are long lasting and continue after the landowner has parted with the land, ensuring that its conservation value is protected for the public benefit. Conservation covenants are used in many other jurisdictions, but do not exist in the law of England and Wales. Instead, landowners and responsible bodies are relying on complex and expensive legal workarounds, or the limited number of existing statutory covenants that enable certain covenants to be enforced by specified bodies (for example, the National Trust). The Law Commission has published a consultation document on this issue and welcomes comments by 21 June 2013.
Visit Britain Business Plan 2013-2014
Posted on: 4 April 2013
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Visit Britain has published its latest Business Plan, outlining its priorities for the year ahead.
Shared space project
Posted on: 4 April 2013
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The village of Poynton in the UK has undertaken one of the most ambitious experiments to date in this type of street design, whose most prominent advocate was the Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman. Variations on the shared-space model have been implemented in other European cities since the early 1990s, but never before at such a busy junction. A film is available, documenting conditions before and after the change.
NBS Videos from Ecobuild 2013
Posted on: 4 April 2013
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During Ecobuild 2013, NBS (National Building Specification) hosted a series of BITESized talks in its auditorium. These 15 minute talks were delivered by a host of leading authors and high profile guests, covering a wide range of topic areas such as the power of CPD, sustainable design, sustainable construction, BREEAM, careers advice, and a large number of items talks on BIM.
Mainstreaming Innovation
Posted on: 3 April 2013
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A consortium of nine Scottish universities, led by Glasgow Caledonian University, will deliver a joint one-year pilot project “Mainstreaming Innovation”. The project aims to reduce carbon emissions through research and application of integrated sustainable infrastructure in the existing built environment that could be replicated on existing and new building estates (e.g. housing, education, healthcare and other building estates). It is a follow-up of the project CIC Start Online whose focus was on sustainable building design and refurbishment. The ouptuts of the CIC Start Online project can be searched through Knowledge Base on the project website which will remain accessible. The project will support development, testing and application of innovative low carbon technologies for improving: landscaping and biodiversity; energy efficiency in existing buildings; energy generation from renewables, storage and decentralized systems; water harvesting, saving, recycling and flood prevention; waste reduction, reuse and waste-to energy; low and zero carbon transport; and ICT/BMS systems for monitoring, reporting and management of low carbon infrastructure.
Converting London’s offices to residential: housing solution or commercial disaster?
Posted on: 3 April 2013
By: mackene
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The UK Government wants to make it easier to convert offices to residential use without full planning permission to help solve London’s housing shortage. However, it runs the risk of simply turning valuable commercial space into more empty houses owned by foreign millionaires. The author of this article discusses these issues.
Localism at risk: Is the NPPF delivering planning for people?
Posted on: 3 April 2013
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This report from the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU), in association with the National Trust, considers whether the National Planning Policy Framework is delivering planning solutions that reflect the needs and concerns of local communities. The LGiU surveyed senior local government politicians and officials in 94 Local Planning Authorities and found that 60 per cent of respondents disagree or strongly disagree that the introduction of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) has had a positive impact on their ability to deliver a Local Plan that reflects local needs and priorities. Respondents expressed concern that the Planning Inspectorate, through the examination process, is prioritising development over the views of local people. The research found that housing land availability was the most common reason for Local Plans being rejected. In contrast, the research found that communities are most concerned about protection of the natural environment.
Europe Real Estate 2013
Posted on: 3 April 2013
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A pan-European reference guide to commercial property.
A 2030 framework for climate and energy policies
Posted on: 3 April 2013
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The European Commission adopted a Green Paper on “A 2030 framework for climate and energy policies”. This document launches a public consultation lasting until 2 July, allowing Member States, other EU institutions and stakeholders to express their views; for example on the type, nature and level of potential climate and energy targets for 2030, but also on other important aspects of EU energy policy in a 2030 perspective. Those views will feed into the Commission’s on-going preparations for more concrete proposals for the 2030 framework which will be tabled by the end of 2013.
Going nowhere fast
Posted on: 3 April 2013
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This report presents the findings of a survey carried out by the charity WRVS to determine the impact of inaccessible public transport on wellbeing and social connectedness of older people in Great Britain.
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