Recent Interesting* Industry Stuff

And so to the Planning Committee once more this afternoon, its inexorable three-week cycle trundling on like some sort of built-environment-based menses.

I actually find this frequency and regularity very reassuring - sod the summer break (when everything at the Council more or less shuts down for a couple of weeks), never mind Christmas and Easter (ditto), nothing short of a nuclear war would prevent this vital piece of local democracy in action from occurring - which is a very good thing, given the fact that the Planning Committee is pretty much the only truly democratic voting forum for elected members remaining under the new arrangements at Brighton & Hove City Council. Hats off (pink, hard or otherwise - no laughing at the back there) to the officers for keeping the show on the road, and to such a punishing schedule.

Anyway, it was a mixed bag this week as usual - no major applications, but a plethora of minors which had been brought before the Committee thanks to calls from ward councillors and residents. The most frustrating application concerned a retrospective permission for Primark on Western Road (which Cllr Jason Kitcat has blogged about as ward cllr in his efforts to support residents in their objections) - not least because Primark's representative from mega property consultants Savills was clearly very inexperienced, very nervous, and, erm, couldn't actually answer any of the Committee's questions properly. Super. Very useful. To my mind this was indicative of Primark's generally dismissive attitude towards residents and the council, and to their responsibilities towards their neighbours as a whole. Sadly my arguments suggesting tougher conditions on deliveries and the service area didn't hold sway.

Still, I always enjoy my time at the Planning Committee even if I don't always agree with the decisions made in the meetings, because I *heart* the built environment (when it's designed properly); and with this in mind I thought I'd share some recent industry stories which have caught my eye:

• Birmingham Library denied Listed status (thanks to an entirely politically motivated decision by the (*ahem*) Culture Minister - see my earlier arguments re Technocracy)

• Tory councils 'less likely to grant planning permission' (o rly?)

• Biodiversity loss is Earth's 'immense and hidden' tragedy (yes - and I am so glad Prof Wilson is sticking his head over the parapet to say this at a time when the economic and climate crises have diverted global attention far, far away from protecting and conserving our natural environment)

• But happily... the TEEB Report calls for more ecosystem markets (a pioneering approach which has resonance with the tireless efforts of our City Ecologist in developing the recent draft SPD on Nature Conservation & Development, due for adoption next year)

• Three London councils win Housing funding freedoms (let's hope B&H are next)

• Taskforce to turn churches over to communities launched (good - *secular face*)

• CABE launches green infrastructure campaign (can somebody tell Cllr Geoffrey Theobald?)

• Brighton planners get industry props for winning Amex office changes (great coverage for officers in amidst recent local media controversies - well done all concerned)

• Woman ranked as one of UK's top Builders (excellent news :D)

and finally... [*Trevor McDonald face*]

• Architecture for Pets (I have not shown this to the guys in case they get jealous and start to form ideas above their station)

By the way, in my quest to locate the pink hard hat pic above, I was simultaneously amazed, amused and astonished (not to mention a little appalled) to discover that there is an entire website devoted to Lady Builders' Tools, Equipment and Accessories. OMG. Anyone for a cerise utility belt? If I ever find gainful employment within the industry again, you can bet I'm going to kit myself *RIGHT* out ;)

* interesting to planning, built environment & design spods, that is... I can hear my sister's voice saying "BARRING" lol

Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?

Just as I was about to switch the crackberry off on Wednesday night, I got an email from the Planning Inspectorate informing me that a recent appeal by a developer seeking to build on former allotment land adjacent to London Road station had been allowed.

I can't begin to say how gutted I am about this. This site has history - as does the developer.

I was approached by the Friends of London Road Allotments (FLORA) in autumn '07, when a previous application to build nine poky flats on this previously undeveloped site (which is an urban haven for wildlife including slow worms) was the subject of a planning appeal by informal hearing. We defended this appeal successfully, and residents and councillors alike started to brace themselves for the next application.

This latest application was for four three-bedroom dwellings. When this was again refused by Local Planning Authority officers, the developer decided to take it all the way to a Public Inquiry - no doubt flushed by the success earlier this year of the Highcroft Villas PI (a site which was also former railway allotments and owned by the same developer [hmm]). He even used the same barrister - one of the top Planning barristers in England & Wales.

All that money. For four tiny houses. At the expense of not only the public purse (the council did their absolute best to defend the refusal and hired an equally top-flight Planning barrister), but also at the expense of the considerable mental, physical and emotional energies of the residents involved with FLORA, and of course to the detriment (to the point of annihilation) of the wildlife on the site, and the fact that this is a much-loved patch of urban greenery in the midst of the city.

This bitterly disappointing decision comes after years of campaigning by FLORA, residents and councillors.

Despite the fact that FLORA amassed a huge body of evidence to demonstrate that the site had been used as allotments and had never been built on, the Planning Inspector still chose to allow the appeal by Kingsbury Estates Ltd.

The Council fought hard against this, but sadly all our efforts weren’t enough to protect this site. Now this urban oasis, which is a haven for slow worms and other wildlife, will be lost forever, and I have profound concerns for the preservation of other cherished open spaces in our city.

The Inspector cited the Highcroft Villas PI and the recent granting of permission for development on a greenfield site at Princes Road as precedents for allowing the London Road station appeal.

This decision comes as Local Planning Authority officers are hard at work on the new Local Development Framework (LDF), which will replace the current Local Plan in 2010. The LDF contains an Open Spaces Study which seeks to protect urban green spaces, whether publically accessible or not.

But now I'm genuinely fearful that the Open Spaces Study will be severely weakened by this latest decision from the Planning Inspectorate, and that it will become virtually impossible for the Council to fight development proposals affecting inner-city green land.

It is deeply depressing to think that all the hard work that officers have put in to developing robust policies to protect urban open spaces has been totally undermined by the Planning Inspectorate. As a city, we are hemmed in by the sea and the South Downs, and these valuable pockets of wildlife habitat are quite rightly much-loved by the residents who live nearby.

Sadly it may now become impossible for us to protect these sites, despite the best efforts of officers, councillors and residents alike. This is a grim day for the Planning system in Brighton & Hove.

Blog Assessment; Bee Amazement; Bong Amusement

Blog Assessment

I'm now almost five weeks into starting this blog (yes, I know it feels like longer ;)), and this evening I started to worry slightly that I've been doing it wrong.

Yes, I've been making some punchy political points about both local and national government policy issues, and yes, I've tried to give my, erm, dozens of readers a flavour of the work I carry out on a day-to-day basis on behalf of the residents of Preston Park ward. I've also blogged at length about the recent European elections, and the current local by-election in Goldsmid.

But equally I've also been wittering on about things I like (art, architecture, food, horticulture etc) and things that amuse me (smoking fish, Morrissey heads), which aren't necessarily directly connected to my work as an elected Green, or to my efforts as an activist (although to me, the personal is always political).

It feels like a dilemma: should I scale back on the fripperies and observational stuff to concentrate only on being a Politics Robot? Or should I leave out the campaigns and the elections, and just content myself with musings about urban meadows and street art (etc)?

Ideally, I'd like to keep on doing both, but I don't want to appear inconsistent and/or (*ahem*) 'random'.

This ISN'T an official Green Party of England & Wales blog, but I am a Green councillor, and I'm very mindful of the potential for tension in including both my personal musings and my political mutterings in the same blog (*eyes P&P imprint to right*).

Answers on a postcard please (or via the 'post a comment' button), but in the meantime, here's a bit of both:

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Bee Amazement

(Charlie Brandts, a White House carpenter as well as beekeeper, collects the first batch of honey from the beehives on the South Lawn of the White House, June 10, 2009. Official White House Photographer: Lawrence Jackson)

So we all love Obama (yes, we do!). But this week I started to love him even more when I learnt that he's keeping bees at the White House. I am so thrilled by this! - it's amazing, visionary, and totally leading by example.

I have, erm, a bee in my bonnet about bees: some readers may be aware that the escalating demise of the honey bee is a serious cause for concern, and potentially a catastrophe for agriculture and ergo humankind.

Bees are also a symbol of industry, and the symbol of my hometown (see right for a snap of the beautiful mosaic floor in Manchester Town Hall): I love the little fellas, and I'm hoping to do some work on (or even with) them soon (now fuelled by Obama-spiration).

Here are a couple of pix of some apian chums closer to home (well, Bowdon, last weekend) to be going on with:

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Bong Amusement

Last Sunday my family and I went for a walk at Lymm Dam - an area of rural fringe land abutting the M56 which has been beautifully restored in recent years by a regional agency and community partnership project.

Pastoral beauty and tranquillity notwithstanding (and somewhat regrettably, given the fact that we're now both in our thirties), it doesn't take much to reduce me and my brother into Beavis & Butthead-like fits of the giggles:
Lol etc ;) (Etymologists might like to know that "bongs" is derived from the mediaeval (old French) word "bancs", meaning "wooded banks".)

After a lovely walk (during which we saw chaffinches and goldfinches), we ate some delicious cakes provided by the Lymm Brownies. At 30p for a big fat slice, it seemed churlish not to. Ah, Mysterious Cheshire!

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So there you go - tit and tat. Like I say, answers on a postcard or via 'comments' please... I enjoy blogging about the incidentals as much as I enjoy blogging about hardcore politics/industry stuff. Maybe I need two seperate blogs (*brain melts at prospect of moar difficult coding*). All advice and constructive criticism much appreciated.

Urban Meadow

I was out leafleting for the Goldsmid by-election this evening, and I spotted this urban meadow in the front garden of one of the houses in Hove Park Villas:



Brilliant! I don't know if this was the result of accident or design, but it's really beautiful and no doubt wonderful for wildlife. Lots of birdsong in the evening air too. All very good for the soul.