Head of Policy & Campaigns at @CreateStreetsFN ๐Ÿก Views my own.

Skegness โžก๏ธ London
Joined April 2021
Allow me to introduce you to... Paradise Regained: The conservative case for restoring English nature ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ๐ŸŒณ This new paper is the first step towards a distinctly conservative approach to restoring our green and pleasant land, rooted in our philosophical tradition. ๐Ÿงต๐Ÿ‘‡
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Replying to @kittyraethomp
As do mayoral candidates ๐Ÿ’ช
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โ€œ56. Make pavement dining licences automatic and permanentโ€ Reform wants to #ScrapTheTableTax - wahay!!
Britain is broke. And to fix it, we need to start growing again. Thatโ€™s why Reformโ€™s Economic Rescue Plan includes these 64 pro-growth measures Iโ€™d take if I were Chancellor: ๐—จ๐—ป๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ 1. Approve Rosebank 2. Restart oil and gas licensing 3. Legalise onshore exploration 4. Abolish the Energy Profits Levy 5. Restore maximum economic extraction as the North Sea regulator's objective ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป 6. Abolish the Emissions Trading Scheme 7. Halt the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism 8. Repudiate AR7 contracts for difference and scrap AR8 9. Implement the Fingleton Review on nuclear in full 10. Automatically approve French and South Korean nuclear designs ๐—š๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—›๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ข๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—–๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ 11. Cut affordable housing requirements on brownfield sites 12. Permitted Development Right for brownfield housing 13. Repeal Biodiversity Net Gain 14. Exit the Aarhus Convention 15. Repeal and reform the Habitats Regulations, including Nutrient Neutrality 16. End the boiler ban 17. Legalise air conditioning to meet overheating rules 18. Remove mandatory EPC improvements 19. Revoke the Future Homes Standard 20. Repeal the Renters' Rights Act ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—–๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ 21. Legislate approval for new runways at Heathrow and Gatwick 22. Auction airport landing slots 23. End 'target-consistent' carbon pricing in project evaluation 24. Ban carbon emissions considerations in planning applications 25. Fast-track all water reservoirs as nationally significant projects 26. Make Development Consent Orders a true one-stop shop 27. Restrict judicial review of ministerial planning decisions 28. Scrap Net Zero construction rules 29. Scrap the social value test in procurement 30. Lift launch limits at SaxaVord Spaceport 31. Open completed sections of East-West Rail ๐—๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—œ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜‚๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป 32. Review regulatory barriers to AI adoption 33. Permit on-site gas generation for data centres and industry ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—›๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ต ๐—ช๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ 34. Cut Employer NI back to 13.8% 35. Introduce a migrant worker levy 36. Repeal the Employment Rights Act 37. Clarify that workplace rights don't require mandatory training courses 38. Let experienced tradesmen work on government contracts without CSCS qualifications ๐—จ๐—ป๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—˜๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐˜† 39. Review bank capital requirements to boost lending 40. Rule out Net Zero in financial regulators' remits 41. Repeal climate-related financial disclosure rules ๐—š๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐˜€ ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด 42. Scrap airport 'surface access strategies' 43. Abolish the electric vehicle mandates 44. Apply domestic GB hours to all UK HGV trips 45. Ban Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods 46. Back the M4 Relief Road 47. Move a new car's first MOT to four years 48. Abolish the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation ๐—จ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—บ๐˜€ 49. Replace GDPR with a New Zealand-style Privacy Act 50. Fully re-legalise Imperial units 51. Review all unchanged EU law 52. Automatically repeal remaining EU law in 5 years unless retained ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐——๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€ 53. Make quarterly Making Tax Digital reporting voluntary 54. Reduce legal obligations on SME Non-Executive Directors 55. Double permission-free event days from 28 to 56 56. Make pavement dining licences automatic and permanent 57. Let shops open until 10pm, except Sundays 58. Repeal board diversity and inclusion rules 59. Remove the Sustainable Aviation Fuel mandate 60. Abolish the packaging tax 61. Scrap BBC and Channel 4 priority on streaming platforms 62. Remove the Public Sector Equality Duty 63. Five-year sunset on all QUANGOs 64. Five-year sunset clause on all new regulations And there are more to come! Britainโ€™s full potential is waiting to be unleashed ๐Ÿš€
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Come rain or shine, trees serve the street โ˜”๏ธ
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No function, not one, not ever, is an excuse for loveless design. Create harmonious detail & coherent & biomorphic complexity for better places & happier people.
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No, weโ€™d have a sovereign wealth fund worth zero pounds because it had been raided every election time to increase funding for state pensions and the NHS
โ€˜We'd have a British sovereign wealth fund now that will be worth probably a trillion poundsโ€™ Chancellor @JohnHealey_MP suggests what Britain could have gained if it had set up an energy wealth fund like Norwayโ€™s back in the 1980s #Peston
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๐ŸŒŠThe ultimate water explainer video ๐ŸŒŠ I have redone the water video. It now includes many more topics and more data. It covers all aspects and there should be something here for everyone from bathing water, to tap water and river testing. All with sources.
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I have very exciting news. Thanks to a generous gift from @patrickc, the Crรฆft Prize is growing to ยฃ110,000. My March open call for artisan-innovators fusing the wisdom of craft with cutting-edge technology sparked a flood of excellent submissions. In early 2027, we will host an awards ceremony, exhibition, and conference exploring how craft can breathe soul and beauty into the machine. Read all about it ๐Ÿ‘‡
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Maybe building our entire economy around services wasnโ€™t a good idea. But at least we can pivot to physical AI in manufacturing & data centre buildout with our cheap energy and permissive planning system
๐ŸšจNEW: Barclays is to cut 5,000 jobs that will be replaced by AI, saving almost 60% of its costs in supporting roles
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Escalation in the think tank pivot to video wars, with the @CPSThinkTank now deploying drones
Replying to @rcolvile
For this paper, @CPSThinkTank & @createstreets carried out the most detailed survey of Englandโ€™s green belts in years. We trawled the data. We flew drones. And we found there is an awful lot of beautiful, valuable land. But there is an awful lot that isn't.
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The subjectivity embedded within the English planning system makes applications too costly, lengthy, and unpredictable, no matter their size and potential impact. Small but telling case studies show the value of a more rules-based approach. Croydon versus South Tottenham, for example, illustrates why design expectations must be codified too. Read more...
By-right permitting, taking planning powers off local councils, removing requirements e.g. around parking, removing (rather than adding!) subjective reviews.
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Interestingly, this is precisely the case for more popularly beautiful development. The current system in UK does have a view on design but does so subjectively, unpredictably & normally in a way non-aligned with public preferences. Bring the democracy forward, set popular ..
By-right permitting, taking planning powers off local councils, removing requirements e.g. around parking, removing (rather than adding!) subjective reviews.
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โ€œEverything changed when that container full of Barbour jackets washed up on the island. Completely changed the social hierarchy.โ€
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We have installed new carpet in our woodland I think you will agree it is most fetching
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100 years ago, England embarked on one of the most successful urban expansion projects in history: the creation of Metroland, beautiful suburbs and towns, strung along the railway lines out of London. Today, @SCP_Hughes, @createstreets and I set out how we can do it again. (1/?)
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A compliment. I think we need a lot more childish awe, imagination and wonder in a built environment which has become ugly, harsh, grey and dull.
You have a childโ€™s sense of aesthetics. The heterogeneity on the left is what makes it interesting and gives it character. If every city in Japan looked like that oft-photographed stretch in Narai, it wouldnโ€™t be interesting at all.
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Britainโ€™s nature is in crisis. We are one one of the most nature depleted countries in the world, with more than 200 species at risk of extinction. If you just followed debates online or in parliament you would assume that the biggest issue for nature is building. Discussion of nature restoration revolves around planning policy for buildings, not payments to farmers to protect and restore nature. Yet just 7% of Britainโ€™s land is built on. 69% is agricultural land. Nearly a quarter of agricultural land is upland sheep farms. In most recent years the price of wool does not even cover the cost of shearing a sheep. Just 1% of our calories come from lamb. But these farming businesses have been kept on life support by public money: most upland hill farming income now comes from subsidies rather than food production. Britainโ€™s uplands are stark, open spaces. This is not โ€˜naturalโ€™. Many of these landscapes were once forests. Some were even โ€˜temperate rainforestsโ€™ a landscape once widespread, now almost entirely destroyed. We should restore at least some of these landscapes. And, as the sheep farmer James Rebanks has put it. โ€œThere is a simple mechanism for transitioning farming to create landscapes you want โ€“ pay farmers to do it, pay them fairly at an appropriate rate, and ensure that the payments are guaranteed for long enough for them to be viable.โ€ In Scotland and Wales we still mostly do the opposite. We subsidise farmers to keep grazing the hills. In England, on paper, things have changed. But things are happening far too slowly. Three years ago 56 โ€˜Landscape Recoveryโ€™ projects were announced. Just 3 have moved from planning to delivery. Every project must be over 500 hectares (the size of a small town) requiring many farmers to work together and the creation of new legal entities. To convince government that they are ready to begin work, farmers have founded they need to hire project managers, stakeholder consultation specialists, green finance consultants, solicitors, and accountants. So far so projects have spent ยฃ37 million of taxpayer money on design work. Government has also inserted a โ€˜ โ€˜termination for convenienceโ€™ clause which they can exercise at any time . Farmers who have committed to multi decade projects can have the rug pulled from under them. If we want to restore nature, instead of arguing about building on car parks in big cities we should instead focus on getting the right deal for farmers. Government needs to make an offer to farmers on nature that is credible and does not need an army of consultants to access. Until then, sheep farmers are going to keep trying to make their money from sheep. Read more here: britishprogress.substack.comโ€ฆ All credit to @TomGegg and Ted Theisinger (who is too sensible to be on here).
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Introducing tiny.london A massive isometric pixel map of London, based on amazing NYC demo by @_coenen from 9 months ago My agent created the dataset, finetuned qwen image LoRA adapter, did a multiday inference run and built an efficient tile viewer!
I wanted to share something I built over the last few weeks: isometric.nyc is a massive isometric pixel art map of NYC, built with nano banana and coding agents. I didn't write a single line of code.
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Let me get this straight. Work all your life building a business. Sell that business to a rando - charged at 24%. Try to pass it on to your family - charged at 45%. Genuinely insane telegraph.co.uk/politics/202โ€ฆ
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The plans to rebuild Parliament are indeed indefensible, outrageous, unnecessary. The most wasteful scope creep I have ever seen. Hereโ€™s whatโ€™s wrong with them, why and how to fix it: thecritic.co.uk/call-for-theโ€ฆ
Cliveden House burnt down in 1849. The architect behind Parliament rebuilt it in two years. Now, Parliament has spent over a decade just planning its own repairs. What happened to the country that built things? ๐Ÿ‘‡
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