News from Elsewhere

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and its local councils have approved the design of ten Active Neighbourhood schemes (also known as Low Traffic Neighbourhoods) across the Greater Manchester city region.
The project involves design and engineering agents Arup and active travel organisation Sustrans working closely with residents and other stakeholders to design an Active Neighbourhood scheme in each of the Greater Manchester local authority areas.

A cross party group of politicians in Wales have constructed a framework active travel manifesto that it has urged political parties to consider adopting ahead of this May’s local elections.
The Senedd Cross Party Group on the Active Travel Act has published the 11 point proposal document, which is guided by the latest evidence to support a wide range of issues. With the Senedd elections due on May 6th the parties have little time to integrate the policy ideas into their bid to win votes from the public.

Matthew Taylor
Tue 23 Feb 2021
The climate emergency is already hitting “worst case scenario” levels that if left unchecked will lead to the collapse of ecosystems, with dire consequences for humanity, according to the chief executive of the Environment Agency.
Warning that this is not “science fiction”, Sir James Bevan said on Tuesday that in recent years several of the “reasonable worst case scenarios” had happened in the UK, with more extreme weather and flooding. And he urged politicians to take action to reduce emissions and adapt to the “inevitable” impacts of the climate emergency.

Motorists face charges of up to £690 a year to park near their homes in an effort to cut pollution.
A London borough is planning to drive up fees for permits in controlled parking zones to what is believed to be the most expensive in the UK.
Permits for the most polluting cars will cost up to £540 in areas of Merton covered by round-the-clock controlled parking zones in addition to the existing £150 charge for all diesel vehicles and older petrol cars. All annual visitors’ permits will increase to £690.

A group of women from Manchester have won a legal battle with the city’s council, which wanted to build a 440-space car park next to the city centre’s only primary school.
Campaigners said the victory exposed the “hypocrisy” in the local authority’s approach to addressing air pollution and global heating.
It may also be viewed as a warning shot to other councils which, like Manchester, declare “climate emergencies” and then push through polluting development projects.
Manchester city council (MCC), which is running a public consultation on how to save £50m, spent an estimated £70,000 on some of England’s top planning barristers to fight a community group called Trees Not Cars.

What do you do when M&S, Debenhams and New Look are all gone? Knock down the shopping centre and replace it with a riverside oasis. Could the ‘visionary’ plan of Stockton-on-Tees spark a revolution?
An empty Debenhams, a shuttered Marks & Spencer, an abandoned New Look: the town centre of Stockton-on-Tees has suffered a similar fate to countless high streets up and down the UK, struggling to survive in the online shopping, Covid-stricken era. But, while some towns scramble to convert empty department stores into flats, or fill vacant shops with community pop-ups and urban farms, Stockton Council has come up with an altogether bolder proposition for the post-retail age. It plans to demolish half the high street and replace it with a park.

Feb 18, 2021,|1,074 views
Thousands of fake comments aiming to skew the results of a public consultation into the closure to motor vehicles of five Newcastle upon Tyne bridges have been discovered by the city council.
Discrepancies in an online engagement platform seeking views on the road changes led Newcastle City Council to call in digital forensics experts.
An investigation revealed the existence of 1,894 fake accounts, which, between them, had made 7,131 “malicious” comments.
The public consultation was powered by Commonplace, an online engagement platform that, says the company’s website, allows councils to “connect with the whole community, hear their voices and make better, more inclusive planning decisions.”