A little help from West Virginia

Whilst researching for the 'confused about renewables' strand APTSec came across an amateur blog called:

Allegheny Treasures

APTSec has corresponded with the author of the blog who has kindly provided some information:

"Allegheny Treasures began some weeks ago as a counter to the lack of balance in the reporting of issues surrounding proposed wind installations in the Appalachian mountains, of which the Alleghenies are a part. While focused on local issues I've discovered an excellent network of individuals very interested in distributing factual information expressing the unreliability, cost and environmental impact of industrial wind."

The author recommends :

A Conversation with Jon Boone – Toward a Better Understanding of Industrial Wind Technology

and A Conversation with Jon Boone – Industrial Wind and the Environment

You find them linked under his category on the blog.

Planning could be fun?

Just to lighten the load for a moment APTSec has been thinking up some planning related 'song titles' (a very loose description) and was hoping the that visitors to the site could do a much better job.

I came up with:

'Midnight Train to Dalcross' by The Aspirations

'I Can't Give You Anything but Love' by The Moneymen

'River Deep and Mountain Higher' by The Surveyors and Engineers

Using social networking sites for consultation

Intrigued by the numbers of responses that a post entitled:

"Planning 2.0 revisited"

Achieved on the Planning Daily' blog I have posted a comment of my own which at the time of composing this post is 'awaiting moderation'. I quote from the blog:

"Why not see this shift in the way we communicate as an opportunity to change the way planning is done? Why not publicise applications on Twitter, map the locations on Google StreetView and invite comments via Facebook? Don’t leave it for residents to find the information themselves but push it out there, and explore new ways to canvas opinion."

More information can be found here

Money for Highland

The latest from the Scottish Government web site:

A European cash injection of more than £34 million will be invested in programmes to develop Scotland's workforce and safeguard and create jobs.

Funding of £18 million will go towards 43 projects in the Highlands and Islands area which will provide more than 5,000 individuals with help and support to enter employment.

The allocations of European funding for projects in the Highlands and Islands are:

* Argyll & Bute - £200,000 from the European Regional Development Fund
* Highland - £1,280,000 from the European Social Fund and £2,441,000 European Regional Development Fund
* Moray - £287,000 from the European Social Fund and £53,000 European Regional Development Fund
* Orkney - £3.7 million from the European Social Fund and £176,000 European Regional Development Fund
* Shetland £2.7 million from the European Social Fund
* Eilean Siar (Western Isles) - £3.7 million from the European Social Fund and £1.1 million European Regional Development Fund

The funding will be used to assist Community Planning Partnerships (CPPS) ongoing work to support employability in their areas.

Convener of The Highland Council Councillor Sandy Park said:

"These latest approvals will greatly enhance the capacity of Highland based organisations to assist some of the region's most deprived and excluded communities to access support services and employment."

For the full item click here

Argyll and Bute council have produced a fairly straightforward description of this type of EU funding to access this click here

"One affordable home per church"

Planning Daily reports:

Up to 10,000 rural affordable homes could be built if churches sold land and buildings to housing associations, according to the National Housing Federation (NHF).

The article quotes Federation chief executive David Orr as saying:

"If rural parishes could deliver an average of one affordable home per church they would go a long way to helping us end the rural housing crisis."

For the full item click here

The National Housing Federation represents 1,200 not-for-profit housing associations in England and campaigns for better housing and neighbourhoods. for more information visit their web site here

Towards Carfree Cities

The World Carfree Network (WCN) has announced that:

"...the Towards Carfree Cities IX conference will be held in York, England, from Monday 28 June to Thursday 1 July 2010, followed by the World Carfree Network AGM on Friday 2 July. This will be the first time that the conference has come to the UK, and we are ready to make it a great one.

We invite you to join us for this global gathering. We’ll be promoting practical alternatives to car dependence and work to transform our towns and cities into human-scaled environments rich in public space and community life. The focus is on strategy, collaboration and exchange, assisting the practical work of conference participants – whether it be organising carfree days, promoting urban cycling or building the carfree cities of the future."

For more information click here

News on the Inverness City Vision?

One of the last entries on the Council's City Vision blog was:

"We can now confirm that the one-day visioning events, which will be facilitated by the British Council and attended by various community representatives, will take place on 20th, 21st and 22nd January 2010.

Events will take place at the following:

20th January 2010 - Ironworks, Inverness

21st January 2010 - Merkinch Community Centre, Inverness

22nd January 2010 - Spectrum Centre, Inverness

It is anticipated that the event on 20th January will be held primarily for youths to ensure that their opinions are considered, this will allow for the other two events on the 21st and 22nd January to be attended by other community representatives and professionals."

Does anyone know anyone who has been invited to attend?

The City Vision blog can be found here

A revised application for New Town Tornagrain?

A brief thought occurred to APTSec; if the applicants are proposing to develop the Inverness Airport Business Park over a 50 year period this takes us to 2061. The developments for the A96 Corridor were supposed to take place in several phases, with the 'last' being from 2036-2041 - well beyond any statutory plan period and set of reliable population statistics on which to assess need.
The current planning application for the New Town runs to 2046, with a few 'extra' houses thrown in.

What do you think are the odds that an updated application for the New Town could be submitted extending the development period (to about the same as that of the airport 2061) spreading out the build rate and/or increasing the numbers of units?

"People cannot beat Mother Nature"

"As the past few weeks' events show, our transport system remains vulnerable to bad weather. It does not take much to knock our networks out of action."

Huw Morris, Planning Daily

Full item here

Keep up to date with latest on salt supplies and school opening

APTSec has been checking The Highland Council web pages as regularly as possible.

For the latest news releases, particularly on schools and weather go to the bottom of their home page

17 days continous working...

Councillor John Laing, Chairman of the Transport Environmental and Community Services has been paying tribute to those who have worked hard over this period of difficult weather conditions, he said:

"... many snow clearing staff had worked 17 days continuously to tackle the disruption caused by a combination of heavy snow and sub-zero conditions, while many home care workers had gone beyond the call of duty to maintain services to older and vulnerable people by walking miles to get through to the homes of clients."

My father worked for 51 years for British Rail, firing steam engines or driving locomotives at all hours of the day and night, in all weathers. I don't think we should take for granted the people who, often times, work the unsocial hours to make sure that we can all get where we need to go. Of course this is not to forget the many other occupations where workers need to work unsocial hours such as heath service professionals and police officers.

(Please feel free to add to the list of those you feel need recognition.)

Mr Laing also recognised the role of members of the public who have cared for others. The full item is here.

An update on how the council is coping can be found here

Use land more efficiently says CPRE

Planning Daily reports that Fiona Howie, head of planning and regions for CPRE, said:

"With a population that is expected to continue to grow we have to use land more efficiently."

"We need to build more homes, especially affordable housing, but we also need to devote space on our densely populated island to producing food and energy, while still allowing people to access and enjoy open and unspoilt countryside.

"Planning for housing is fraught with uncertainties. Current projections fail to take adequate account of wider considerations, such as changing economic conditions and the effect these can have on migration levels."

TO read the item click here

Housing the Future: An analysis of the Government’s household projections and their use in planning for housing is available here.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England web site is here

'Just Space'

A new site from South of the Border called 'Just Space' which describes itself as:

"This site has been created to encourage and assist Londoners and their organisations – especially those working for a more just and sustainable London – in influencing the Plan. It contains summary information on what the Plan contains, the main concerns and how you can respond. You can see work in progress on responses, challenges and objections to the London Plan."

The 'one minute' key issue section looks at issues such as employment, housing and open space - with play areas.

Further information here

Yet another site dedicated to encouraging people to take an interest in the planning issues that will have such a huge impact on their lives.

Should economic objectives overide the social and environmental?

A View from 'south of the border':

"The Kate Barker review of land use planning in England will have a dramatic impact on the way we shape the future of our communities. Despite the radical restructuring of planning which began in 2005, her interim report heralds the beginning of a further major program of reform and deregulation. But the analysis in the report is based on a flawed understanding of the purpose of planning and lacks both a rigorous evidence base and a coherent analytical approach. Consequently, its key ideas threaten changes to planning which would damage the UK’s economy, environment and democratic process

Friends of the Earth is deeply concerned that the final Barker Report will form part of a calculated web of other policy documents, including the Energy Review and the Eddington Transport Study, whose proposals will prioritise narrow and short-term economic objectives, will marginalise the voice of communities and will compromise the planning system’s ability to deliver other vital public policy objectives."

For the full article click here

Land ownership; the SLP view - 1976

I wonder if 0.1 % of the population of the HIDB area + Perthshire stills owns 64% of the land.

Click here for the source material