Consultations
CLG: Coastal communities will get new planning powers to help their local economy & tourist industry. Temporary, cost effective recreation projects such as beach huts, cafes & car-parks that can boost the local economy will be considered by councils in areas at risk of coastal erosion for the first time.
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Under new planning policy, published for consultation (closes on 12 October 2009), all inappropriate residential development such as housing will continue to be banned in areas vulnerable to coastal erosion. But there will no longer be a blanket ban on temporary development that has wider economic benefits, an acceptable coastal use and could be relocated when required.
The Environment Agency is currently mapping coastal erosion rates for the next 100years giving communities a better idea of how the changing coastline will affect them. The erosion information is very closely linked to the Shoreline Management Plans and will be published alongside the SMPs between autumn 2009 & 2011.
Press release ~ Proposed new policy statement consultation ~ Shoreline Management Plans ~ Defra’s coastal change Policy Framework consultation (closes on 25 September 2009) ~ BBC Politics Show – Coastal Erosion ~ Defra - Appraisal of flood and coastal erosion risk management ~ Planning Policy Statement 25 ~ Making Space for Water
CLG/LSN: Reforms being proposed in a consultation (closes on 2 October 2009) by Government in the Strengthening Local Democracy Consultation are intended to result in a strengthening of local democracy by giving citizens a much bigger role in shaping the places in which they live and the public services they use.
A combination of the new measures being proposed, together with recent reforms will mean that councillors, as elected representatives acting on behalf of local people, would have local influence & accountability over more than £100bn of public money a year that is currently spent on key local public services, but sits outside elected councillors’ control.
In addition responsibility for commissioning education & training provision for 16-19 year olds (funding worth £7bn a year) is to be transferred from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to local authorities from 2010.
The LSN (Learning and Skills Network) have published a report advising local authorities to be careful with new powers of commissioning post-16 education & training – or risk jeopardising Government plans to keep teenagers in education to the age of 18. ‘The 14-19 shake-up’ report sets out some of the challenges local authorities face from April 2010
CLG press release ~ Strengthening Local Democracy Consultation ~ LSN press release ~ The 14-19 shake-up: Ensuring everyone can flourish
CLG: Housing Minister John Healey has unveiled plans for consultation (closes on 27 October 2009) to dismantle the current council housing finance system and replace it with what is claimed to be a ‘clearer, more transparent system that puts councils firmly in control and better able to respond to the needs of local tenants and residents’.
The proposals for a devolved self-financing alternative to the current system is claimed to ‘remove the need to redistribute revenue nationally, whilst continuing to ensure that all councils have sufficient resources. Councils will finance their own business from their own rents & revenues, in exchange for a one-off allocation of housing debt’.
Councils currently provide around 2m rented homes and, alongside, housing associations they provide decent, secure & affordable accommodation for over 8m people.
Press release ~ Reform of council housing finance: Consultation ~ Review of council housing finance (HRA Subsidy Review) ~ CLG – What is a Decent Home?
BIS: As the whole world celebrates the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landings in 1969, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is beginning a consultation (closes 14 October 2009) which aims to thrust the UK space sector forward for the next 40 years & beyond.
It will seek views on whether the current organisation which oversees space in the UK, the British National Space Centre (BNSC), is the best funding structure to meet the challenges of the future and deliver the greatest benefit to the country. The BNSC has helped the UK to build a successful sector which is second only to the USA in space science, contributes £6.5bn a year to the UK economy and supports 68,000 jobs.
The consultation is starting on the day the European Space Agency (ESA) ‘lands’ in Harwell, Oxfordshire – opening its first facility in the UK, which will focus on three areas:
* adapting space data & images to create new everyday applications
* climate change modelling that uses space data
* developing technologies such as novel power sources & innovative robotics which could be used to explore the Moon & Mars
Press release ~ Consultation document ~ Harwell Science and Innovation Campus ~ European Space Agency (ESA) ~ British National Space Centre (BNSC)
DH: Urban allotments, reading groups and computer training for the over 50s are just some of the good practice initiatives featured as part of a new approach to public mental health & well-being, announced for consultation (closes on 15 October 2009) by Care Services Minister Phil Hope. ‘New Horizons’ sets out a new approach to improving well-being for the whole population, aiming to create a powerful alliance that can target the root causes of poor mental health.
One in six of us experience a mental health problem at any one time. Poor mental health is already believed to cost the economy £77bn a year, with the King’s Fund predicting that the cost in terms of GDP will double to over 10% by 2026. The indirect costs of poor mental health include poor educational attainment, unemployment and increased crime & anti-social behaviour.
Press release ~
Defra: Defra Ministers are seeking people’s views (by 19 October 2009) on proposals to release the non-native psyllid Aphalara itadori to help control Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica). This plant has spread across Britain since being introduced as an ornamental plant in the early nineteenth century and costs the country millions of pounds in repairs to buildings, roads and railway lines.
The government is considering an application for a licence to release the psyllid to attack the plant to reduce its vigour, thus reducing the use of chemicals and the costs of control including weedkillers and physical removal. The cost of eradication nationally using conventional methods was estimated at £1.56bn in 2003.
If a licence is issued, it is expected that the psyllid would be released & monitored at a small number of sites initially, followed by wider release in England & Wales. The psyllid has been tested on 87 non-target types of plant including those closely related to Japanese knotweed, as well as ornamental plants and important crops, to determine whether it will feed on other plants. The findings suggest that only a few closely-related non-native knotweeds are potential hosts in Britain.
Press release ~
DfT: A wide ranging consultation (closes on 13 October 2009) has been launched on the hours many van, bus and other professional drivers can work. Drivers’ hours rules set daily driving & duty limits (and in some instances break & rest requirements) in order to improve road safety, promote good working conditions and ensure fair competition between operators.
The consultation published covers the UK domestic drivers' hours rules. As well as van & many bus drivers, these apply to refuse collection & breakdown vehicles and a range of other professional drivers. They do not apply to lorries or buses on longer routes, which come under the scope of European Union drivers’ hours rules.
HEFCE: The HEFCE is consulting (closes on Wednesday 14 October 2009) on proposed efficiency savings in teaching funding. The consultation specifically suggests savings among 'targeted allocations' outside the mainstream teaching grant.
This consultation follows the May 2009 letter to HEFCE from the then Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, which requested that HEFCE assume the need to make cashable efficiency savings of about £180m across recurrent resources for teaching & research in 2010-11 – See also ‘Revised annual grants & funding agreements to universities and colleges’ item in General News.
Press release ~ Review of teaching funding: Consultation on targeted allocations ~ Letter from the Secretary of State (May 2009)
ScotGov: Anyone attempting to bribe another individual will face up to 10 years in jail under anti-corruption proposals published by the Scottish Government. Bribing of a foreign public official would also become a separate offence under the plans – See ‘Legislation / Legal’ section for more information.
