Have you and Sam B found a way to have some discussions with relevant ministers or SPADs? It seems to me that Ed Miliband, Matthew Pennycook, and of course the treasury team, would be influence-able on policy direction, if you could get connected to them. Esp the point about estates renewal that you and he have made feels like it would very much align with their objectives and be politically tenable too. Getting a hearing feels like it might be the most challenging part, though
You put your finger firmly on the problem which dogs all politics these days- the fierce opinions and headline-grabbing soundbites which win elections make it much more difficult to implement sensible policies, even though they have majority support. Almost everybody wants an electrically-powered world but they don't want that power generated by dirty, carbon-based systems. And they don't want the country draped in powerlines and pylons. Part of answer is to place factory-built small nuclear reactors in to large conurbations. But from 99% agreement you suddenly get half the population up in arms. Will a massive parliamentary majority give the new Government the courage to crack on with sensible policies, or will they always be looking over their shoulder at the next election?
I don't think people care that much about power lines if there is some cash compensation and they are a bit flexible about the boundaries (i.e you don’t say no compensation because they are 251m away).
I thought this was an interesting set of extra info about what’s happening in London specifically. It suggested to me that there’s plenty more to fix beyond planning. https://open.substack.com/pub/davehillonlondon/p/permissions-exist-for-300000-new?r=21wahy&utm_medium=ios
Have you and Sam B found a way to have some discussions with relevant ministers or SPADs? It seems to me that Ed Miliband, Matthew Pennycook, and of course the treasury team, would be influence-able on policy direction, if you could get connected to them. Esp the point about estates renewal that you and he have made feels like it would very much align with their objectives and be politically tenable too. Getting a hearing feels like it might be the most challenging part, though
Big thing about Lille and the other French cities is that they actually have a metro system.
Only really Liverpool and Newcastle have a quarter decent metro in Britain.
Certainly Leeds, Glasgow and Manchester should have a full metro. And probably Liverpool and Newcastle should have a better system.
You put your finger firmly on the problem which dogs all politics these days- the fierce opinions and headline-grabbing soundbites which win elections make it much more difficult to implement sensible policies, even though they have majority support. Almost everybody wants an electrically-powered world but they don't want that power generated by dirty, carbon-based systems. And they don't want the country draped in powerlines and pylons. Part of answer is to place factory-built small nuclear reactors in to large conurbations. But from 99% agreement you suddenly get half the population up in arms. Will a massive parliamentary majority give the new Government the courage to crack on with sensible policies, or will they always be looking over their shoulder at the next election?
I don't think people care that much about power lines if there is some cash compensation and they are a bit flexible about the boundaries (i.e you don’t say no compensation because they are 251m away).