smartgrowthuk.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

"Why should the devil have all the best tunes?" - William Booth. Why indeed? (From "another" platform):-

submitted 7 hours ago • 1 comment

Morning! On my weekend food haul through Heaton & Jesmond and always struck by the beauty of the corner units in the terraces. Once butchers, corner shops and bakeries most of them are repurposed now. Not this one though, and I hope it finds a new use in the future.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Given how house builders moan about the shortage of land allowed them by the planning system, it's extraordinary how they keep squandering it with such ultra-low densities. But, of course, these are more profitable. Shame the Government has bought into their lies about planning being the problem.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

More on this now the new Marrakech Declaration has been adopted. This “…recognises road safety as an urgent public health and development priority, and that our efforts must be guided by the principles of equity, accessibility and sustainability” Declaration here: drive.google.com/file/d/1khEj...

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Active travel targets at risk as national strategy set for delay www.highwaysmagazine.co.uk/Active-trave...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

PM in the Metro this morning: "I think we can build the houses and infrastructure we need and protect the environment at the same time. For example, better roads reduce congestion." (responding to Qs from Metro readers). Some work to do on briefing him on induced traffic metro.co.uk/2025/02/20/k...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

“Over the last 10 years in England, the number of killed and seriously injured (KSI) casualties has increased in the most deprived decile, whereas in the least deprived decile rates have decreased. This deprivation-injury relationship is particularly prevalent among young pedestrians and cyclists”

submitted 2 days ago • 4 comments

Young people are often left behind by transport policy decisions, with transport affordability creating barriers to accessing education, work, public services and socialising. Welcome to see the Welsh government recognise this and put in place this national £1 a trip & £3 day ticket bus fare trial.

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

SUVs are the second-largest cause of the global rise in emissions over the past decade – more than the entire aviation industry. Great campaign from @cleancitiescampaign.org highlighting the many dangers of the growing appetite for bigger cars 👇

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Join us at the #FestivalOfTomorrow on Saturday to hear about our precious #pollinators and other invertebrates 🐝🦋 UKCEH ecologist Dr Claire Carvell will be on a panel chaired by science writer @peaseroland.bsky.social ℹ️ 12 noon, Egg Theatre, Deanery CE Academy, Swindon tinyurl.com/yvkdsbwd 🧪1/

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

"I honestly did not expect to see modern examples of the things that I had been reconstructing emerge so early in this process. We see the collapse of marine icesheets... we've got ocean circulation slowing down... we've got sea level rising faster than previously forecast"- Dr. Christina Riesselman

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Our Equity Summit aims to bring together industry leaders and practitioners who work to ensure that racial equity is a key priority in any smart growth approach. Get your tickets today!🎟️ smartgrowthamerica.org/equity-summit/

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

In this short report, Keith Buchan, a highly experienced transport planner, makes recommendations for safety improvements on the A66 which could be implemented now, at low cost, rather than waiting five years for the £1.5 billion A66 scheme to be built transportactionnetwork.org.uk/wp-content/u...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

"Who's going to live in these homes? Is it the 1.5 million people on social housing waiting lists? Probably not." @drabioconnor.bsky.social on BBC North West talking about the government's focus on 'affordable' housing over social homes

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

Just one more lane should ease this congestion, right? 😂 The real key to reducing automobile-dependent dependence is better land use that can support walking & better transit. But that's not easy, & at best takes time:

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

The 1st of the consultations on the new Mayoral authorities have been published. These will be key strategic authorities for planning and housing - well worth a look. www.gov.uk/government/n...

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Is this effectively the solution to the whole housing affordability crisis? i.e promote #BuyToLive? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Excellent thread from @shaunspiers1.bsky.social exposing how the attacks on #Nature & #Climate protections in the planning system come from the ultra free market think-tanks .. whether #Truss, #Osborne or #Starmer is the puppet, they are captured by fossil, nuclear, construction corporate lobbying

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

🎉 Success! Beam Park in East London has been named as one of 3 developments to receive support from the Govt's New Homes Accelerator Scheme which means it should finally get its railway station. Read our blog from 2024 on the curious case of Beam Park's missing station: https://buff.ly/3WWRYvi

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

Britain actually risks going seriously bust by failing to rise to the challenge of mitigating and adapting to climate risks. It does not risk going bust by a serious programme to address these issues and ignore populist media etc.. www.ft.com/content/66bc...

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

So wait a minute - the Government is against investing in climate-friendly things like rail electrification or light-rail, because it would increase borrowing, but supports investing in airport infrastructure, even though it would would increase borrowing. actionnetwork.org/letters/dont...

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Today's reminder for world leaders.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Precisely. Labour, with a lot of Conservative enthusiasm, wd expect to whip its Mayors into submission and the Tories wd love to do the same. Democracy, decentralization and the idea of local govt being local are not present in the Orwellian 'devolution' Govt proposes.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Not just in Britain. US drivers go as fast & recklessly as they think they can get away with, ignoring legal speed limits. Need better roadway design & better enforcement to slow them down:

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

NEW: What makes BLUESKY the new “IT” place for Urbanists? It’s pretty significant that the American Planning Association is putting this out there to its huge membership. I was interviewed for it, as was @mitchellsilver.bsky.social & others. Please share! @bsky.app www.planning.org/planning/202...

submitted 9 days ago • 11 comments

NEW – Mapped: How extreme weather is destroying crops around the world | @orladwyer.carbonbrief.org w/ comment from Andy Challinor, Prof Elena Piedra-Bonilla, Dr Monica Ortiz, Ananta Prakash Subedi Read here ➡️ https://buff.ly/42Rqf2D

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

🧱 | NEW REPORT: Instead of stripping back planning regulations to 'get Britain building,' this new report from @msingerhobbs.bsky.social argues we need a stronger, better resourced, planning system.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

One of our supporters shared this with us—people are getting creative tonight!

submitted 9 days ago • 792 comments

🚨BULLY ALERT🚨 To launch his planning "reforms", Keir Starmer attacked me as an individual environmentalist. It was a deeply low bullying attack. ❓As farmers blow horns over his shallow rhetoric, is he starting to "get" that his attack on planning protections for nature is hugely unpopular

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Repeat after me - induced demand is real:

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Heathrow is betting on business travel that doesn't exist, to make the case for a third runway. NEF's Dr Alex Chapman spoke to the transport select committee yesterday, as reported in @Telegraph 1/3

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

If they plan a start on works in 4 years, presumably these will just be so-called "garden towns" rebadged as "new towns". The problem is, many of those aren't recognisable towns at all. www.gov.uk/government/n...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Anything to feather-bed house builders.

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Schedule 3 of the 2010 Flood & Water Act has never been enacted. It would mean larger property developments had to include SuDS to reduce flood risk. Why, asks @floodmary.bsky.social has this simple measure to protect people's homes still not been implemented? 👇🏾 floodmary.com/2025/02/10/b...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

We got a message from the university to remove any use of the "DEI", "diversity", "equity", or "inclusion" from all public-facing documents. They said that even "biodiversity" is being flagged by the federal government. We live in the dumbest timeline.

submitted 12 days ago • 935 comments

News of Santander's low cost mortgage & role of cash ISAs in providing affordable mortgages shows once again how availability of finance and not land central to fixing the "housing crisis" www.theguardian.com/money/2025/f... www.theguardian.com/money/2025/f...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Climate worry starts at an early age:

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

So true. We need to think of housing & transportation costs together, not separately. Location in particular is a huge factor. The Center for Neighborhood Technology has done outstanding work on this issue:

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

Today's reminder to protect and enhance the urban landscape.

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Houston we have a problem with land ownership - what should we do? www.cornwallecon.com/post/land-we...

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

Given how our government is trying to erode or destroy planning and regulationn (particularly environmental regulators), it's hard to disagree. We urgently need to persuade politicians there are alternatives that better meet their objectives.

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

If you know anyone who is into ecological economics + model making + doughnuts then this may well be their ideal next project. Do check it out, or pass it on - the outcomes of this work will be really valuable in remaking economic futures...

submitted 13 days ago • 2 comments

BLOG It's not as if the Government isn't aware that climate change is making much of our drainage and flood control infrastructure no longer fit for purpose. So why are they trying to accelerate house building in high-risk flood zones? smartgrowthuk.org/uncategorize...

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments