Monthly Archives: August 2011

Easing of Planning Regulations

Lord Oakshott (LibDem peer) recently raised concern in a TV interview about the apparent dismissal by some Government Ministers of the comments/opposition by the National Trust to the easing of planning regulations and referring to the organisation as left-leaning. The National Trust is completely independent of Government and has more members than any of the political parties. It represents what most of us love about our countryside and national heritage and is a voice that needs to be heard when it comes to the beliefs of its 3.6 million members.

To find out more about the concerns of the National Trust on the “presumed right to build” issue and to decide whether you wish to complete the petition asking the government to reconsider proposals please follow this link.

Similar concerns have been raised by the CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England). See their website.

If you agree with the petition please do act and also let your friends and family know. Don’t assume that others will do it. That happened with the HS2 on line questionnaire when only 44,000 households out of 26 million in the UK objected to the HS2 project and the Government then assumed that 99.8% of households must have no objection.

Opposition to HS2

The consultation period for HS2 closed on July 29th. The Government has said that the outcome will be announced ‘before the end of 2011’. See the Department for Transport website for more details.

Interesting to note that there has been a flurry of negative comment about the proposal in the press following the end of the consultation. On July 31st, the Sunday Telegraph argued “HS2? Just give us a decent train service”. On August 2nd the FT called HS2 a “vanity project unfit for an austere age”. And on August 3rd the Evening Standard called it “the fastest way to waste billions”.

Also on August 3rd, HS2 Action Alliance placed a half-page ad in the Times with a summary of HS2 opinion poll results. And finally here is a compilation of what various MPs, councils, and other bodies have said ‘on the record’ in opposition to HS2 .

Bryants Bottom Road Re-surfacing

Bucks Highways have scheduled the long-awaited re-surfacing of Bryants Bottom Road for 30th August to 16th September. The work will be from the junction with Warrandene Road to the Speen/Hampden crossroads.