On a Sunday afternoon – which at least gives people time to read it
You can read it here – I picked up on it because if the Government wants to announce something but not make a big deal out of it, it normally puts it in the form of a written ministerial statement last thing on a Friday, or as a short announcement on its main landing news page where it can get lost in all sorts of central government / state agencies’ announcements that it makes it hard for the untrained eye to know what to prioritise. If, however they want to know the public’s opinion on something (or a segment eg specialist group or interest area) they put them in the policy and consultations section here.
Above – Planning and Infrastructure informal consultations at the top on a Sunday evening
“Anything special?”
It says:
“This paper invites views on further action the Government could take through the planning system to streamline the development of critical infrastructure, in particular Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), across England”
Which is obviously of interest to Cambridgeshire people because of things like the Reservoir proposed for Chatteris and the Honey Hill Water Works proposals alongside the proposed GCP busways. What’s not clear is whether the processes will actually stop ‘poor infrastructure proposals – such as the busways that have appallingly low Benefit-Cost-Ratios that should have seen them thrown out ages ago.
Note that the consultation makes the case for infrastructure building:
“If we are serious about getting Britain building to drive greater economic growth, we must
first acknowledge that we perform poorly on infrastructure delivery against comparator
countries”
The document cites:
- Increased bills – in particular energy
- Increased commuting times – I lived that in my commuting-to-London days
- Increased risks of drought and to water supplies
Which might make you wonder what the Tories and their chums had been doing for the past 14 years.
“…the [planning] system’s performance has deteriorated in recent years. In 2021 it took on average 4.2 years for a [major infrastructure] project to secure development consent, compared to 2.6 years in 2012… …The documentation underpinning consents has been getting longer
and in too many instances now runs to tens of thousands of pages.”
It’s worth noting that the document states that it will continue with existing plans published in 2023 under the previous government on overhauling the system regarding major infrastructure projects. That action plan, published in 2023 can be read here.
Interestingly, that action plan, which has five strands to it, has a specific one on involving local communities – you can read it here. Yet as I have mentioned repeatedly, the lack of opportunities for the general public to learn the essentials of town planning in the adult education sector (eg this blogpost) through to the lack of any decent children’s books educating the younger generations about the essentials of town planning processes and who decides what gets built where, and why, shows that there is still a very long way to go.
A town planning book for children and younger teenagers
Above – I mentioned these books in my previous blogpost which are from Usborne, and have said that town planning needs to be added to the series. (See Usborne’s For Beginners series here)
Such books are also suitable for adults who don’t want to be hit by a wall of text – even if it’s the handbook-sized books. Part of the challenge from my viewpoint is taking the essential concepts out of the hands of specialists and into the wider public domain. That’s not the fault of the specialists – rather that’s a wider Political failing in the choices that successive ministers have made in de-prioritising the learning about our day-to-day living and also long term decisions made about our collective wellbeing. It remains to be seen whether any of the candidates for the Combined Authority Mayoralty will make the case for democracy education as part of an increased offer in adult education services. If any of you are organising public election debates with candidates (mayoral and county) – AKA Hustings, this is something you could put to the candidates. Noting that the election date is in just over three months time!
Want advice on how to organise a hustings or election/political debate?
See the guide Chris Rand wrote for Queen Edith’s ward in Cambridge back in 2016 where the Queen Edith’s Community Forum has one of these every year.
If you are interested in the longer term future of Cambridge, and on what happens at the local democracy meetings where decisions are made, feel free to:
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- Consider a small donation to help fund my continued research and reporting on local democracy in and around Cambridge. (Chronic illness means I am on Universal Credit)
Below – one of many old books about civic, political, and democracy education that I’ve bought second hand and digitised.
The Cambridge Town Owl 