Tony Burton
@tony4place.bsky.social
Chair @powertochange.org.uk Trustee @cprecountryside.bsky.social, @nationwidefdtn.bsky.social, @SMKcampaigners.bsky.social. V.Chair HS2 Design Panel. Convener Neighbourhood Planners.London. Chair Wandle Valley Forum. Founder @civicvoice.org.uk.
The LHG Nicky Gavron Memorial Award is open. Nicky championed sustainable places, children's play, nature access & public involvement in planning. Early career planners, researchers & campaigners: pitch an idea to win £1,000 & publication. Deadline: 4 Jan '27 Expression of interest: buff.ly/bbrLipH
The Civic High Street Collective has a new look 🎉 Join our LinkedIn community to share inspiration, learn from others and discover examples from mixed-use civic high streets across the country 👉 www.linkedin.com/groups/42479014/
To Birmingham for a get together of #neighbourhoodplanning Examiners - suggestions for a collective noun welcome!
More evidence if needed as to why @andyburnham.bsky.social devolution needs to look beyond Mayors and local government to put meaningful power directly into community hands www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
‘Devastating’: council rejects Frome residents’ bid for regeneration project
Locals raised £1m for Mayday Saxonvale scheme involving homes and park but Somerset officials agreed deal with London-based real estate company
theguardian.com
More evolution of Burnham's council house building pledge - now "biggest council housebuilding programme since the post-war boom *ended* in the early 1980s" (from Pennycook speech today)
Richard Hebditch@richard.hebditch.org · 3mo ago"working with local areas, No 10 North will oversee the biggest council housebuilding programme since the postwar period" - note "post-war period", by which Burnham presumably means the period of 30 years after WW2 because no way will that we get back to that level anytime soon
The two critical roles which will drive @cprecountryside.bsky.social campaigning - please share or apply! www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
We're hiring! Two new Head of Campaigns roles to help shape the national debate about how England uses its finite supply of land. 📍 London, hybrid (2 days a week in the office) 💰 £61,000 ⏰ Closing...
We're hiring! Two new Head of Campaigns roles to help shape the national debate about how England uses its finite supply of land. 📍 London, hybrid (2 days a week in the office) 💰 £61,000 ⏰ Closing dat...
linkedin.com
How is this car park at Airedale Hospital intended to work - check out the arrows!
Discovered this rather lovely exploration of my father's archive of clothes, films and writing from the first years of science in Antarctica in International Geophysical Year (1957-58) given to @royalsociety.org youtu.be/KpIttWCjyDc?...
Antarctic Outfits - Objectivity 302
YouTube video by Objectivity
youtu.be
A pleasure to see RSS Sir David Attenborough and understand a little of its research into Greenland glaciers when in Reykjavik @bas.ac.uk
The "regeneration of communities" will need to look beyond devolving powers to mayors and councils to put real power directly into community hands - @louisehaighmp.bsky.social's taskforce needs to be radical on shifting power as well as reforming policy
Jessica Elgot@jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 4w agoThe third taskforce will explore more radical ideas to revive crumbling high streets and impoverished districts, such as potential legislative options on HMOs, as well as devolving powers to mayors and councils to help them regenerate local high streets and eg areas around stadiums.
Who's been watching 'Buried' with Michael Sheen? We were glad to hear that WhatDoTheyKnow and #FOI had a major part to play, behind the scenes: www.mysociety.org/2026/09/01/b...
Buried with Michael Sheen: how FOI helped uncover a toxic waste scandal
Are you one of the many who has watched the BBC's two-parter Buried with Michael Sheen? If so, you may have experienced increasing levels of outrage as the actor helps to uncover the scandalous dumpin...
mysociety.org
As September begins we can start to speculate on when Storm Austen will hit www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...
Still thinking about "high streets"? It's time to start thinking "civic high street" to give these shared places at the heart of communities the confident future we all need www.powertochange.org.uk/evidence-and...
Welcome to the Civic High Street Collective - Power to Change
Across the country community, public and commercial actors are already demonstrating a successful civic model for high streets and town centres. The challen ...
powertochange.org.uk
Healthy challenges on the way local health is framed and delivered here from @wearenewlocal.bsky.social - moving the mindset from providing services to thinking about place www.newlocal.org.uk/wp-content/u...
newlocal.org.uk
What's the mood across the #communitybusiness sector right now? Explore the latest Pulse Survey results, from confidence levels to relationships with government and local impact. 👇 https://www.powertochange.org.uk/what-we-do/projects/pulse-survey/
Community Business Pulse Survey - Power to Change
Bringing partners together to champion a mixed-use, civic model where high streets are reimagined as places for local se
powertochange.org.uk
The risk to the Harry Simpson Memorial Library and the treasures it holds on the story of planning and housing municipaldreams.wordpress.com
Municipal Dreams
municipaldreams.wordpress.com
Important #neighbourhoodplanning detail in today's #NPPF Annex A “Neighbourhood plans that have been submitted to the local planning authority under Regulation 15, on or before, the date of publication of this Framework should be prepared in accordance with the Framework published in December 2024”
Whatever the merits or otherwise of today's new #NPPF it cannot be described as an act of devolution and runs counter to the @andyburnham.bsky.social narrative. Planning decisions need to be better informed by local priorities not less.
Lifting the lid on the myth of planning delays for new housing - fascinating timeline commissioned by @cprecountryside.bsky.social shows drainage, flood risk and highways take up most time when deciding on planning application along with builder changing plans stories.cpre.org.uk/mapping-the-...
Mapping the pipeline
Everyone has an opinion on why new homes take so long to build. Far fewer have actually looked. Academics at the University of Reading and Lyon CPT did, in a first-of-its-kind study tracking one devel...
stories.cpre.org.uk
And even where they do it can take decades to get local authorities to agree to fix the missing links - such as here on the Wandle Trail in SW London where every official planning and transport document supports a solution but no action yet on the ground www.change.org/p/fix-the-mi...
Sign the Petition
Fix the "Missing Link" in the Wandle Trail
change.org
Right to Roam@righttoroam.bsky.social · 2mo ago‼️Breaking: Almost three-quarters of English riverbanks have no right of access. Our new investigation has found that 71% of riverbanks in England have no right of access on either bank. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Protecting the countryside - the book of the story of the first 100 years of @cprecountryside.bsky.social www.littletoller.co.uk/shop/books/l...
Protecting the Countryside by Matthew Kelly - Little Toller Books
A new history of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, to mark its first century, by the countryside historian Matthew Kelly.
littletoller.co.uk
Logic would suggest @andyburnham.bsky.social's new "local first" principle applied to planning will bring fresh Government support for #neighbourhoodplanning and require a rewrite of the centralising draft #NPPF www.gov.uk/government/n...
PM hands mayors share of income tax to make lives better in every postcode
The Prime Minister will today launch the biggest transfer of power from Westminster in a generation, giving communities greater control over the decisions that shape jobs, transport, housing and publi...
gov.uk
The digital landscape is changing, and fast! If you are someone who understands this challenge 👉📢 we're hiring: Digital Marketing Manager. 🗓 Apply by Wednesday 26 August, 12 noon 🔗 Apply: https://smk.org.uk/get-involved/join-our-team/ #DigitalMarketing #MarketingJobs #CharityJobs
📢 The SMK is hiring an Operations & Systems Manager. A flexible, part-time role supporting our team with systems, operations, technology and organisational culture. ⏰ 18 hrs/week (term-time only) 💰 £34,000 FTE 🗓 Apply by 11 August, 12 noon 🔗 https://smk.org.uk/get-involved/join-our-team/
Which campaign training programme is right for you? ⭐ Open Training ⭐ Deep Dives ⭐ Campaign Carousel ⭐ NEW: Campaign Carousel Mini Find the right fit for you or your team: https://smk.org.uk/what-we-do/support/campaign-training/
Remind me again why we have created a housing and planning system that depends on commercial housebuilders to provide places to live in that everyone can afford when houses are traded as economic assets not homes? www.ft.com/content/2a63...
Investors snap up bundles of UK properties as housebuilders offer discounts
Bulk buyers win double-digit reductions while cautious consumers stay on sidelines
ft.com
The absurdities of trying to get profit motivated developers to solve our housing crisis just keep growing. We've now got thousands of new flats lying empty because they are so expensive and come with so many strings attached with their leaseholds, no one wants them.
Here's hoping the new Chancellor has a better understanding - the link between building homes and their affordability to those in housing need is virtually non-existent. That's what's simple!
Richard Hebditch@richard.hebditch.org · last yr."the simple law of supply and demand" hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025...
