Builders and developers back simplified planning process to boost jobs and growth but conservationists predict mass revolt London’s green belt could be sacrificed to Los Angeles-style urban sprawl in the name of economic growth under sweeping reforms to the planning system unveiled by the government this week, the National Trust has warned. The 3.6 million-member organisation voiced “grave concerns” on Tuesday over government proposals to slash 1,000 pages of planning policy to just 52 pages in a move that has won the ringing endorsement of property developers. Opponents claim the new draft policy effectively removes the national target for recycling brownfield land and allows local communities to support building on the green belt. It is set to be the biggest change to the planning system in more than 60 years and scraps detailed planning guidance notes and circulars. Instead, the government insists there should be a presumption in favour of “sustainable development” to house a rising population. The national planning policy framework (NPPF) is intended to speed up and simplify often complex laws at the same time as encouraging economic growth. In a foreword to the new policy, Greg Clark, the minister for decentralisation, said: “We must accommodate the new ways by which we will earn our living in a competitive world … Development that is sustainable should go ahead, without delay.” Fiona Reynolds, director general of the National Trust, warned the policy could lead to unchecked sprawl in the countryside on a scale not seen since the 1930s. “The government’s proposals allow financial considerations to dominate and with this comes huge risk to our countryside, historic environment and the precious local places that people value,” she said. “This finally sounds the death knell to the principle established in the 1940s that the planning system should be used to protect what is most special in the landscape.” The new policy was drawn up with the help of a “practitioners advisory group”, members of which included a Conservative councillor, a director of the housebuilding firm Taylor Wimpey, a planning consultant who represents major developers at government level and an official from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. “By replacing over a thousand pages of national policy with around 50, written simply and clearly, we are allowing people and communities back into planning,” said Clark. But the changes to planning appear likely to produce a popular backlash, according to conservationists. The National Trust is asking its members to sign a petition urging ministers to reconsider. Shaun Spiers, chief executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said the government appeared to have declared “open season” on countryside not designated as green belt or an area of outstanding natural beauty. “The new framework will make the countryside and local character much less safe from damaging and unnecessary development,” he said. “If it is not amended, there will be battles against development across the country that will make the public revolt against the sale of the forests look like a tea party.” The Campaign for Better Transport and Friends of the Earth have also attacked the plans. Campaigners said if the proposals were not amended they could backfire on the government in the same way that plans to sell off the forestry estate in England earlier this year resulted in an embarrassing U-turn. Ominously for the government, many of the same groups who opposed the sale of the forests are at the forefront of the criticism of the draft NPPF, published on Monday by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Most of the groups objecting have strong representation in Tory-held constituencies. Britain’s biggest property companies welcomed the proposals, saying they would help boost economic growth and create jobs. “It’s refreshing to have a concise national planning framework which supports and encourages growth, and at same time protects our heritage,” said Francis Salway, chief executive of Land Securities. “The focus on economic growth is very welcome, while also acknowledging the important role that planning has in protecting the environment,” said Chris Grigg, chief executive of British Land. “We particularly welcome the presumption in favour of sustainable development.” Planning policy Rural affairs Conservation Housing Construction industry Communities Building and town and country planning Housing market Robert Booth John Vidal guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Chancellor’s meetings – including five with Rebekah Brooks – show full extent of government’s links to News International George Osborne met Rebekah Brooks on five occasions in the year following the 2010 general election, according to figures released on Tuesday afternoon, that show how the chancellor cultivated relationships with senior figures at News International. The chancellor, who expressed regret on Monday for recommending Andy Coulson as the Tories’ communications chief, met James Murdoch on four occasions, and Rupert Murdoch twice. In total, he attended 16 meetings at which News International executives were present. The figures show the full extent of the government’s links with News International: • Michael Gove, the former Times journalist who is now education secretary, met Rupert Murdoch six times after the election, more often than any other member of the cabinet. They first met for dinner, along with Brooks, on 19 May last year. Gove and Murdoch had dinner twice in the space of 10 days last month – on 16 and 26 June. • Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, met James Murdoch on two occasions in January this year to discuss the News Corp bid to take full control of BSkyB. Hunt was handed control of media takeovers in December after Vince Cable was stripped of his powers in the wake of the disclosure of a recording in which he told undercover journalists that he had “declared war” on Murdoch. The culture department said Hunt’s discussions with Murdoch “set out the process around the proposed BSkyB/News Corp takeover”. Hunt has mentioned before that he met Murdoch. The figures show how Osborne’s maintenance of contacts with NI figures, following his appointment as shadow chancellor by Michael Howard in 2005, paid off when the Conservatives came to power as part of the coalition. Osborne, who became particularly close to James Murdoch because they have children of a similar age, first met him after the election at a meeting also attended by Brooks. Murdoch and Brooks had another joint meeting in April this year. Osborne’s other meetings with Brooks and Murdoch were a mixture of social engagements and what are termed as general discussions. Osborne met Rupert Murdoch in May last year, the first of two meetings during the year. They also met for dinner in New York on 17 December last year, four days before Cable was stripped of his responsibility for media takeovers. The chancellor’s aides said that only 30% of his meetings with media executives were with executives from NI, a similar proportion recorded by Ed Miliband. But the chancellor appears to have kept this figure down by including public meetings, such as the Spectator’s Parliamentarian of the Year awards, that were beyond the formal requirements to register private meetings with proprietors and editors. Gove has used the same tactics to dilute his meetings with NI executives. Government sources said he had gone way beyond the formal requirements by naming working journalists in addition to proprietors and executives. A spokesman for Gove said: “Michael worked for the BBC and News International and his wife works for News International now. He’s known Rupert Murdoch for over a decade. He did not discuss the BSkyB deal with the Murdochs and isn’t at all embarrassed about his meetings, most of which have been about education, which is his job.” John Mann, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw, said: “Whilst we now have a list of meetings that George Osborne has had with News International, it is not enough. We now need full access, including the publishing of the minutes from these meetings. “In particular, we need to know the details of his December 2010 meetings and exactly what was said about the BSkyB bid. This information is particularly important because George Osborne was the person who initiated the Andy Coulson appointment.” George Osborne News International Rebekah Brooks Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Michael Gove News Corporation Rupert Murdoch Andy Coulson Media business Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
enlarge In Maine, it’s a burgeoning industry. I’m beginning to understand the whole private jet/private plane protection racket a little better now. You see, we can’t have the little darlings take a bus to camp, or drive, now can we? Gov. Paul LePage of Maine happened to be waiting for his flight at Augusta State Airport on a recent Saturday when the weekend crush began. A turboprop Pilatus PC-12 carrying Melissa Thomas, her daughter, her daughter’s friend and a pile of lacrosse equipment took off for their home in Connecticut, following the girls’ three-week stay at Camp All-Star in nearby Kents Hill, Me. Shortly after, a Cessna Citation Excel arrived, and a mother, a father and their 13-year-old daughter emerged carrying a pink sleeping bag and two large duffel bags, all headed to Camp Vega in Fayette. “Love it, love it, love it,” Mr. LePage said of the private-plane traffic generated by summer camps. “I wish they’d stay a week while they’re here. This is a big business.” For decades, parents in the Northeast who sent their children to summer camp faced the same arduous logistics of traveling long distances to remote towns in Maine, New Hampshire and upstate New York to pick up their children or to attend parents’ visiting day. Awww, but fear not. Now those same parents can send little Janie and Johnny off to camp on a private plane, while nattering with each other about how bourgeois those who drive are. But some parents have already tired of this private-plane status infiltrating the simpler world of summer camp. Nancy Chemtob, a divorce lawyer, made several summer trips to Maine in the past decade, where her children attended camp. She once managed to get on a charter plane from the airport in East Hampton, N.Y., for $750 (her husband had hung a sign in the airport seeking a ride). After listening to enough banter among parents about “who is flying, who is flying private, who they can get a lift home with,” she decided she “was done with Maine and the planes and all of the people.” “It’s a crazy world out there,” she added. She now sends her children to camp in Europe. Welcome to the lives of the anonymous, nouveau riche living in banal-land. God forbid they’d have to fork over any more taxes. What would happen to little Janie and Johnny?
Continue reading …
Click here to view this media Karoli reported on this Sunday , but the details are even more disturbing as they come in … After Signing Law Disenfranchising ID-less Voters, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Closes 10 DMV Offices : Earlier this year, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker became one of the many GOP governors to sign a law disenfranchising voters who do not have a photo ID — a law that disproportionately affects elderly voters, young voters, students, minorities and low-income voters. Having disenfranchised tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters, Walker is now making it harder for many of these voters to obtain the ID they need to regain their right to participate in the next election : Gov. Scott Walker’s administration is working on finalizing a plan to close as many as 10 offices where people can obtain driver’s licenses in order to expand hours elsewhere and come into compliance with new requirements that voters show photo IDs at the polls . Lest there be any doubt, there is absolutely no legitimate purpose behind Walker’s voter ID law. Although Republicans justify these voter disenfranchising laws by claiming that they are necessary to combat voter fraud, a recent study by the Brennan Center for Justice found that only 44 one-millionths of one percent of votes are cast by people who commit voter fraud. The day I see this guy recalled can’t come soon enough. Let’s hope they get rid of some of their Senators in the mean time in the upcoming recall elections.
Continue reading …With a post entitled “When Christianity becomes lethal,” liberal theologian and Center for American Progress senior fellow Susan Brooks Thislethwaite took to the Washington Post's “On Faith” blog yesterday to indict conservative Christian theology as a catalyst for the terror espoused by Norwegian bomber/shooter Anders Behring Breivik: Breivik’s chosen targets were political in nature, emblematic of his hatred of “multiculturalism” and “left-wing political ideology.” This does not mean that the Christian element in his ultra-nationalist views is irrelevant. The religious and political views in right-wing ideologies are mutually reinforcing, and ignoring or dismissing the role played by certain kinds of Christian theology in such extremism is distorting. What exactly are the religious views that reinforce Breivik's radical theology? Thislethwaite laid out a list of views that she believes lead to violence, some of which are orthodox Christian belief or informed by orthodox Christian teaching: When I consider the theological perspectives that “tempt” some Christians to justify hatred and even violence against others, such as, in this case in Norway, the following perspectives seem especially prevalent: 1) making supremacist claims that Christianity is the “only” truth; 2) holding the related view that other religions are not merely wrong, but “evil” and “of the devil”; 3) being highly selective in the use of biblical literalism, for example ignoring the justice claims of the prophets and using biblical texts that seem to justify violence; 4) identifying Christianity with a dominant race and/or nation; 5) believing that violence is divinely justified to “cleanse” or “purify” as in a “holy war”; and 6) believing the end of the world is at hand. Such theological views, I have found, are more accurate predictors of where political extremism and certain interpretations of Christian theology will mutually contribute to justifying lethal violence. This kind of specificity is more helpful, in my view, than the term “Christian fundamentalism.” Fundamentalism is a more historical term, dating from the “fundamentalist-modernist” controversy in the early part of the 20th century in the United States, and I find it is less helpful today in understanding right-wing Christianity. Jesus himself held that his was the only way to be made right with God and preached that no one knows the day or the hour when he would return to judge the living and the dead. But he and his apostles eschewed violence. Thislethwaite, a United Church of Christ minister, certainly knows this: historic, orthodox Christianity is peaceful and nonviolent, leaving wrath and judgment to a holy God who is also merciful. But more importantly, a review of Behring Breivik's manifesto reveals he's not exactly the devout fundamentalist Christian the media are making him out to be or whom Brooks Thislethwaite seems to believe him to be. Evangelical blogger Denny Burk today highlighted the relevant portion of the Oslo bomber's manifesto in which Behring Breivik made abundantly clear that he sees himself as a “cultural Christian” not a religious one (emphasis mine): Contrary to early reports, Anders Behring Breivik is not a Christian. In fact in his 1,518 page manifesto, the perpetrator of the atrocities in Norway has specifically disavowed any real commitment to Christ. In his own words: A majority of so called agnostics and atheists in Europe are cultural conservative Christians without even knowing it. So what is the difference between cultural Christians and religious Christians? If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God then you are a religious Christian. Myself and many more like me do not necessarily have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God. We do however believe in Christianity as a cultural, social, identity and moral platform. This makes us Christian (p. 1307). Behring Breivik himself went to the pains to insist he's not a religious Christian. He's not engaged in a theologically or eschatalogically-inspired view of spiritual warfare that involves the use of physical violence to attain religious ends. The Oslo bomber's manifesto undermines Brooks Thislethwaite's argument. Hopefully the Chicago Theological Seminary professor will issue a mea culpa, although if she doesn't, it's probably because it was too tempting to attack American evangelicals as potential terrorists: The religious element in terrorist extremism cannot either be ignored or overblown. It is an important part of the whole equation. In this Norwegian case, conservative Christianity and right-wing, nationalist political ideologies mutually reinforced and tempted each other, and the acts of a person like Anders Behring Breivik were apparently the result. Looking closely at theological interpretations can illuminate how the mass killing of people to accomplish a political end can be justified as right and even a moral imperative in the eyes of individuals and groups wanting to impose their political views through violence. It is absolutely critical that Christians not turn away from the Christian theological elements in such religiously inspired terrorism. We must acknowledge these elements in Christianity and forthrightly reject these extremist interpretations of our religion. How can we ask Muslims to do the same with Islam, if we won’t confront extremists distorting Christianity?
Continue reading …Driver spends night teetering on cliff face after car plunges 300ft from road
July 26, 2011 No Comment
Woman, 56, lost control of car in thick sea mist near St Agnes in Cornwall and was found by jogger next morning A driver spent a terrifying night stuck in her car as it teetered on the face of a Cornish cliff. The woman, who was injured but conscious, was eventually winched to safety after a jogger chanced upon the vehicle at St Agnes, seven miles north-west of Truro, and raised the alarm. It is thought the 56-year-old woman swerved off the road on Monday afternoon. The car is believed to have bumped down the 90-metre (300ft) cliff, which is steep but not sheer, and somehow come to a stop. Nobody saw the car and the woman because the cliff was cloaked in sea mist. She spent the night stranded. The jogger who raised the alarm, holidaymaker Ben Stafford, told how he slid down the slope on Tuesday morning to get to the injured woman. He said: “I just tried to keep her calm, and told her help was on the way.” The woman had been driving along the road at around 4pm on Monday when it was really misty. “She missed the road and started tumbling down the cliff. It is only by the grace of God that the car stopped by the cliff edge,” said Stafford. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: “Coastguard rescue officers on scene were able to establish that the 56-year-old woman inside the car was injured but conscious and that the vehicle had gone over the cliff the previous day. “The car was secured in place by the coastguards and fire and rescue officers and the woman was then extracted from the vehicle. “The coastguard rescue team winched the casualty up the cliff and she was transferred to Treliske hospital, Truro, by RAF helicopter.” Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
The draft national planning policy framework risks ushering in a level of roadbuilding not seen since the 1930s, say campaigners Proposed planning laws risk destroying the character of many towns, and ushering in a level of countryside destruction and roadbuilding not seen since the 1930s, environment, transport and development groups warned on Tuesday. Four powerful organisations, including the National Trust, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) and Friends of the Earth individually lambasted the proposals, saying that if they were not amended they could backfire on the government in the same way that proposals to sell off the forestry estate in England this year forced the government into an embarrassing U-turn . Ominously for the government, many of the same groups that opposed the sale of the forests are at the forefront of the criticism of the draft national planning policy framework (NPPF) , published on Monday by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Most of the groups objecting have strong representation in Tory-held constituencies. “Planning is for people, not for profit,’ Dame Fiona Reynolds, director of the 3 million-strong National Trust, wrote in a statement . “This finally sounds the death-knell to the principle established in the 1940s that the planning system should be used to protect what is most special in the landscape, creating a tool to promote economic growth in its stead … Weakening protection now risks a return to the threat of sprawl and uncontrolled development that so dominated public debate in the 1930s.” A spokesman for the DCLG said the National Trust was wrong, telling Press Association: “The draft policy framework fulfils the commitment in the coalition agreement to protect the green belt and areas of outstanding natural beauty. There are similarly strong protections for the historic environment, which have been welcomed by heritage bodies. These protections are crystal clear in the document.” Shaun Spiers, director of CPRE, said : “This will make the countryside and local character much less safe from damaging and unnecessary development. If it is not amended, there will be battles against development across the country that will make the public revolt against the sale of the forests look like a tea party.” . Richard Hebditch , campaigns director for CBT, said: “It removes the ability of local communities to stop damaging out-of-town retail or office development. It will add to traffic on already congested roads and streets.” Paul de Zylva, of Friends of the Earth, said: “Ministers have come up with a developers’ charter which puts the interests of business ahead of people and the environment. Behind some nice buzz words the planning system is now so loaded in favour of building projects that it puts local communities and environmental protection in jeopardy.”. The NPPF, put out for consultation yesterday, is intended to speed up and simplify often complex laws at the same time as encouraging economic growth. It will replace 1,000 pages of national planning guidance with a 52-page document, whose key new criteria will be to presume in favour of development. The planning minister, Greg Clark, said on Monday : “Today’s proposals set out national planning policy more concisely, and in doing so make clearer the importance of planning to safeguarding our extraordinary environment and meeting the needs of communities, now and in the future.” The environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, added that the draft proposals “will give local communities the power to protect green spaces that mean so much to them”. The groups, who all support the principle of planning law reform and economic growth, argue that economic development must not come “at any price”. Their main arguments are: • It will focus developers’ and local authorities’ attention on the narrow grounds of short-term financial gain, rather than delivering the wider public benefit that good planning can deliver. • The NPPF’s idea of sustainable development puts too little weight on benefiting people and the environment. • Developers will only need to show that their proposals will deliver growth. Other considerations, such as impact on communities, nature and landscape, will be pushed aside.• Town centres will be further eroded as developers get easier permission to build on out-of-town greenfield sites rather than more expensive brownfield sites. There is also strong concern that communities will have to rely on a development plan to protect what they treasure and shape where development should go. Yet only some local authorities have plans in place and many local authorities and neighbourhood groups do not have the resources or specialist skills to create plans that integrate social, environmental and economic considerations. “Existing local plans will have to prove that they are in conformity with the new NPPF. Many areas have also not yet formally adopted existing local plans, so this could mean that the bulk of planning applications have to be assessed against the weak NPPF,” said Hebditch. The National Trust said: “If there is no up to date development plan, planning applications will automatically get consent.” Planning policy Travel and transport Green politics Rural affairs John Vidal guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
In news conference for Arab media, Peres voices respect for Syrian demonstrators ‘fighting for peace’ The president of Israel called on Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to resign in a message directed towards to the Arab world in his first news conference for Arab media. Shimon Peres also voiced respect for Syrian demonstrators, who he said “are fighting for peace and who want to live like human beings”. On the peace process, Peres said Israel was “closer than ever” to peace with the Palestinians and insisted gaps between the two sides could be bridged by September, when Palestinians say they will seek a vote on statehood at the UN. Peace talks have stalled since 2008 over issues such as borders, Palestinian refugees and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Peres has hosted Arab journalists before, but Tuesday’s event was his first official news conference aimed at many Arabic outlets. Israel Syria Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …In news conference for Arab media, Peres voices respect for Syrian demonstrators ‘fighting for peace’ The president of Israel called on Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to resign in a message directed towards to the Arab world in his first news conference for Arab media. Shimon Peres also voiced respect for Syrian demonstrators, who he said “are fighting for peace and who want to live like human beings”. On the peace process, Peres said Israel was “closer than ever” to peace with the Palestinians and insisted gaps between the two sides could be bridged by September, when Palestinians say they will seek a vote on statehood at the UN. Peace talks have stalled since 2008 over issues such as borders, Palestinian refugees and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Peres has hosted Arab journalists before, but Tuesday’s event was his first official news conference aimed at many Arabic outlets. Israel Syria Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Morocco’s worst air accident in years believed to have claimed lives of 78 of 81 people on board Seventy-eight of the 81 people aboard a Moroccan C-130 military transport plane are believed to have died when it crashed into a mountain on Tuesday in bad weather. The aeroplane was preparing to land at Guelmim military air base in southern Morocco, near the disputed Western Sahara. The remains of 42 people have been found so far, and the Moroccan information minister, Khalid Naciri, said searches for bodies were continuing. The national MAP news agency said the three survivors were seriously injured. It said the aircraft was carrying 60 members of the military, 12 civilians and nine crew. MAP said the Morocco’s worst air crash in years was due to bad weather. Naciri said the aeroplane was due to make a stop at Guelmim en route from Dakhla, in the Western Sahara, to Kinitra, in northern Morocco. Guelmim is more than 600km (373 miles) southwest of the capital, Rabat, just north of the Western Sahara. Morocco took over the mineral-rich Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1979. The Saharawi people want to establish the region as an independent state. UN peacekeepers have been there since 1991. The UN has demanded a referendum but Morocco has instead proposed wide-ranging autonomy for the estimated 500,000 people who live in the sparsely populated desert flatland. Morocco Africa Air transport Western Sahara guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …