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Reposted by Simon Jeffrey

Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 1d

Lime’s UK revenue from renting out e-bikes and scooters hit £111m last year. www.londoncentric.media/p/lime-is-ea...

Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 8d

This could have been a ‘bills falling’ story. But sodding social tariffs. If you want richer people to help poorer people pay their utility bills use the flipping tax and benefit system we have to do that fairly and efficiently. It’s like re-inventing council tax but much worse.

Suppliers want help for billpayers as energy prices rise

Companies call for an

www.bbc.co.uk

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Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 8d

Sounds like the parity of esteem Andy Burnham has long been pushing for.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 8d

New target of two-thirds of children/young adults to university or a gold standard apprenticeship. [Scraps 50% to university/HE target]. Invest in FE & job guarantee for those without work

Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 9d

British public does seem to be exceptionally keen to embrace all big sporting events held here in huge numbers. Set huge records for Paralympics, women’s Euros (fair play to Switzerland for beating it this summer) and now women’s Rugby World Cup

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Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 9d

The ‘revised’ offer seems to be the original offer on the table of 3.4% (RPI in Feb) this year and RPI for 2 more years. Nothing about 32-hr work week or fatigue. The Lime/Lizzie/login from home effect at work?

ianVisits @ianvisits.co.uk · 9d

There could be a breakthrough in the long-running tube strikes, as the RMT union says it has received a revised offer from Transport for London (TfL).

www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/bre...

Breakthrough looms in Tube strikes as RMT considers new pay offer

There could be a breakthrough in the long-running tube strikes, as the RMT union says it has received a revised offer from Transport for London (TfL).

www.ianvisits.co.uk

Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 9d

'This new online system might lead us to miss serious cases because there will be so many requests'

'When we get too many cases by phone now we just pull the plug out the wall...'

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 9d

Fund a few editors to create a BBC (Local) Monitoring but covering local media from papers to Substacks and newsletters. A budget of £41k per council could go a lot further than one journalist. Selling a few stories a year could top up subscription incomes for one-man-bands (and help sell more subs)

Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 9d

BBC’s Local Democracy Reporting Service seems to be a bung to Reach et al at the moment. Rather than directly fund journalists for them, flipping to act as a purchaser and cross-poster of any public interest local journalism. Would fund and help promote a wider (more deserving?) ecosystem.

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Reposted by Simon Jeffrey

Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 10d

And we should be having a proper debate about what the right level is for the personal allowance.
One that recognises the extent of the changes/fiscal vandalism (delete as appropriate) of the 2010s.

ifs.org.uk/taxlab/taxla...

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Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 10d

And said cash savings to protect against income shocks means test you out of even the meagre 'universal' credit support that is on offer. For plenty of people, the system takes them from 'wow that's not a lot of money, should be higher' to 'Oh I don't even get that?! fuck this' in <7 seconds.

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Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 10d

Focusing on restoring universalism a better start before jumping to contribution. Child benefit withdrawal bad enough but perverse
with household earnings permutations e.g. £80-20k vs £50-50k. UC asset limits - renting and saving madly for a deposit? No help. Huge mortgage and pension savings? Fine.

Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 11d

First time I’ve needed to catch one and was similarly a bit sceptical but genuinely quite a different thing. TfL needs to put all its bus routes on a serious bus stop diet. Way too much stopping.

Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 11d

Will take any opportunity to post this old blog on what a revised, rationalised and rapidified inner/central London bus network could look like. Also, bring back bendy buses.

London buses: The universal appeal of simplicity

This morning, I found myself mentioned on Jarrett Walker's excellent transport planning blog Human Transit , with reference to my though...

nqrw.blogspot.com

Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 11d

Took the chance to get catch the Bakerloop on launch day for lunch in Elephant Park. 20 mins from Lewisham through decent traffic. Excellent. Orbital Superloop is fine but London needs more of these arterial express buses.

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Reposted by Simon Jeffrey

Ant Breach @antbreach.bsky.social · 12d

Great news to hear Aarhus' cap on legal costs is under review - a whopping subsidy to comedy legal cases from Nimbys, funded by you, the taxpayer

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 12d

Starmer asks Conservative peer to write planning bill to block judicial reviews

Exclusive: One option could be to leave treaty that allows legal claims against projects such as Heathrow expansion Keir Starmer has tasked a Conservative peer with writing a new planning bill to remove the ability for environmental groups to delay projects such as Heathrow’s third runway with judicial reviews. The Guardian understands that leaving the Aarhus convention is being discussed as an option. This is an international treaty signed up to by the EU and other countries in Europe, which protects the right for campaigners to bring legal claims against large infrastructure projects such as waste plants, nuclear power stations and motorways. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Simon Jeffrey

Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 12d

The Stockton and Darlington Railway, the world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, opened on this day 1825. Its first line linked collieries near Shildon with Darlington and Stockton. (Painting of opening day by Terence Cuneo, 1949, National Railway Museum.)

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Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 12d

Lots of things that might not score as highly as child poverty metric but contribute to that and wider goals. But they’ve put themselves in a horrible political management position to do that now.

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Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 12d

Despite reports I really struggle to see govt abolishing this, at least not fully. Set a child poverty target and aim for it in the way that matches whole of govt strategy. That’s boosting growth, helping working people and, more recently, fairness. This is not most people’s view of fairness.

YouGov @yougov.co.uk · 13d

With Labour MPs putting pressure on Keir Starmer to scrap the 2 child benefit cap, our poll shows 59% of Britons want to keep it - including 53% of Labour voters

yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...

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Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 13d

It’s a scandal/case study in policy failure in its own right. Must be in the 10s (100s?) of billions of pounds of cost by now. And yet still no one has gone to prison over the fire. Not going to find many better summaries of the failures of British state today. Unserious when it matters.

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Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 13d

Govt reaction to Grenfell has combined unforeseen rank incompetence at Building Safety Regulator with completely predictable knackering of resi viability in London via cripplingly expensive yet meretricious regulations. Plus the vast financial and mental toll on flat-owners with cladding too.

Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 13d

Christ. This is even worse than I expected before looking.

www.moliorlondon.com/media/molior...

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Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 13d

Brighton Gasworks is major project and would always go to planning cttee. But opposition and pressures similar all the way down. Minister is probably going to be writing a lot of these letters for sites of 10-49 units in next few years. Cut out the 2yr delay by raising threshold for call-in to 50.

Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 13d

Loud objectors will use every tool available to pile on pressure on cllrs to call in/go against advice/their own LP/lose on appeal/pay costs. Minister should do much more to protect cllrs and Local Plans by making schemes <50 units on allocated sites delegated to professional planning officers.

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Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 13d

All good from the minister. But makes the proposed changes to planning cttees stranger: anything >9 units even on an allocated site could be called in by cllrs. Barely empowers ‘plan-led system’ or local democracy vs loud objectors dragging cllrs into site-by-site mini-refs.

Catriona Riddell @catrionariddell.bsky.social · 13d

Following approval of recovered appeal on Brighton Gasworks by @matthewpennycookmp.bsky.social the council has had full costs awarded against them. The letter from PINs is v robust & makes clear that no. of objections is not a planning consideration-it's the substance of the objection that matters

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Reposted by Simon Jeffrey

Catriona Riddell @catrionariddell.bsky.social · 13d

Following approval of recovered appeal on Brighton Gasworks by @matthewpennycookmp.bsky.social the council has had full costs awarded against them. The letter from PINs is v robust & makes clear that no. of objections is not a planning consideration-it's the substance of the objection that matters

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Reposted by Simon Jeffrey

jacktshaw.bsky.social @jacktshaw.bsky.social · 13d

The Pride in Place Programme - announced today - has published its allocations.

At first glance, I think £3.5 billion of the £5 billion is new - mooted in the Spending Review - and £1.5 billion is from the Long-Term Plan for Towns that has been previously announced.
www.gov.uk/government/p...

Pride in Place Programme phase 2: methodology note

www.gov.uk

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