Simon Jeffrey
@simonjeffrey.bsky.social
Personal opinions about transport and devolution policy.
Article and commentary seems to focus on end of *temporary* Covid-era business rates reliefs and ignore major rebalance from online to high streets. From same multiplier for sheds and big box shops vs high street commercial to 50.8p rate vs 43p. Small biz high street down 49.9p to 38.2p
January 11, 2026 at 8:17 PM
Article and commentary seems to focus on end of *temporary* Covid-era business rates reliefs and ignore major rebalance from online to high streets. From same multiplier for sheds and big box shops vs high street commercial to 50.8p rate vs 43p. Small biz high street down 49.9p to 38.2p
Can someone steel man this as not crass and weird? To use a murder as your hook to say ‘this is why mayors are good’. Would rather them to just say ‘we’re appalled’ than this. But probably prefer them to say nothing about foreign policy unless asked.
January 10, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Can someone steel man this as not crass and weird? To use a murder as your hook to say ‘this is why mayors are good’. Would rather them to just say ‘we’re appalled’ than this. But probably prefer them to say nothing about foreign policy unless asked.
Apparently £2bn in unspent developer contributions is earmarked for new/bigger schools but often held back for years/decades waiting for greenfield estates to complete, crowding existing classrooms. Meanwhile schools in cities where families forced out are crumbling and emptying.
January 5, 2026 at 1:07 PM
Apparently £2bn in unspent developer contributions is earmarked for new/bigger schools but often held back for years/decades waiting for greenfield estates to complete, crowding existing classrooms. Meanwhile schools in cities where families forced out are crumbling and emptying.
I hope you get help.
January 3, 2026 at 8:56 PM
I hope you get help.
Their calculation might be a bit toppy - non-CPZ areas e.g pay and display need enforcement too and raise cash - but CPZs definitely not treated as a cash cow. Meanwhile, try to get a space in a council bike hangar…
December 23, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Their calculation might be a bit toppy - non-CPZ areas e.g pay and display need enforcement too and raise cash - but CPZs definitely not treated as a cash cow. Meanwhile, try to get a space in a council bike hangar…
The choice was keep the target and carry on getting 35% of nothing or reduce to 20% to recognise additional regulations that have added to costs significantly and are sharpest in London with its taller developments or get 20% of tens of thousands of homes developers can build viably.
December 21, 2025 at 1:57 PM
The choice was keep the target and carry on getting 35% of nothing or reduce to 20% to recognise additional regulations that have added to costs significantly and are sharpest in London with its taller developments or get 20% of tens of thousands of homes developers can build viably.
This Labour Together paper which included ditching a lot of the crud in the employment rights act has some more crackers. Letting the South East fend for itself would be easy win North and South for any govt that could loosen its centralising grip
December 21, 2025 at 10:40 AM
This Labour Together paper which included ditching a lot of the crud in the employment rights act has some more crackers. Letting the South East fend for itself would be easy win North and South for any govt that could loosen its centralising grip
Package of measures doesn’t feel unconscious.
December 21, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Package of measures doesn’t feel unconscious.
Councils being forced to spend £100s of millions of precious central govt grant on this stuff - despite lots of councils not thinking it’s viable let alone viable - is one of the epic wastes of time and money. Complete capture by sector under last govt. I’ve been a hater for years!
December 17, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Councils being forced to spend £100s of millions of precious central govt grant on this stuff - despite lots of councils not thinking it’s viable let alone viable - is one of the epic wastes of time and money. Complete capture by sector under last govt. I’ve been a hater for years!
Lichfields make it clear that the biggest uplift to number of stations and developable land will require either lowering threshold of hourly rail services *or* getting to work on increasing frequencies to meet the threshold.
December 17, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Lichfields make it clear that the biggest uplift to number of stations and developable land will require either lowering threshold of hourly rail services *or* getting to work on increasing frequencies to meet the threshold.
NPPF talks about minimum 40 dwellings per hectare around all train stations and 50dph around those that are ‘well connected’. Will fit in very happily in Home Counties village/town typologies.
December 16, 2025 at 7:31 PM
NPPF talks about minimum 40 dwellings per hectare around all train stations and 50dph around those that are ‘well connected’. Will fit in very happily in Home Counties village/town typologies.
Hope so. Big chunk of people will feel that - get Martin Lewis recommending people getting onto the SVR rather than fixing. Always felt this ONS chart more useful for politicians than real wages (would love to have an own-outright/market rent/social rent lines there too).
December 16, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Hope so. Big chunk of people will feel that - get Martin Lewis recommending people getting onto the SVR rather than fixing. Always felt this ONS chart more useful for politicians than real wages (would love to have an own-outright/market rent/social rent lines there too).
Now that the DfT connectivity tool is open to all, it’s the perfect time for MHCLG to drop the forthcoming NDMPs to say something like ‘on sites where accessibility is greater than x/y/x, any post 1930s buildings can be redeveloped up to 4/5/6 storeys according to local design guides’.
December 13, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Now that the DfT connectivity tool is open to all, it’s the perfect time for MHCLG to drop the forthcoming NDMPs to say something like ‘on sites where accessibility is greater than x/y/x, any post 1930s buildings can be redeveloped up to 4/5/6 storeys according to local design guides’.
Waymo already in London. Going to be an endless source of stories local journalism/news sites for the next couple of years. Suspect there'll be at least one *grasping hands meme* moment of Black Cab drivers and cyclists at the barricades together.
December 9, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Waymo already in London. Going to be an endless source of stories local journalism/news sites for the next couple of years. Suspect there'll be at least one *grasping hands meme* moment of Black Cab drivers and cyclists at the barricades together.
Absolutely joyless.
December 3, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Absolutely joyless.
Surprised Zipcar revenues fell last year - would have assumed growth.
December 1, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Surprised Zipcar revenues fell last year - would have assumed growth.
And if you did need a big youth mobility scheme cap to open up the potential for CU membership then you probably need to push for continued falls in non-EU migration to make the political space. A big open question is whether UK is attractive for EU to fill a high cap.
December 1, 2025 at 9:37 AM
And if you did need a big youth mobility scheme cap to open up the potential for CU membership then you probably need to push for continued falls in non-EU migration to make the political space. A big open question is whether UK is attractive for EU to fill a high cap.
Such an odd proposal from Lancashire county council. How do you end up going for N-S rather than E-W? Splitting Preston from South Ribble is bizarre, but not as much as uniting Ormskirk and Nelson (West Lancs should be a borough of Liverpool City Region tbf)
November 28, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Such an odd proposal from Lancashire county council. How do you end up going for N-S rather than E-W? Splitting Preston from South Ribble is bizarre, but not as much as uniting Ormskirk and Nelson (West Lancs should be a borough of Liverpool City Region tbf)
Abolishing stamp duty + council tax for a proportional property tax would be right up there. Would do much more good for fairness and growth too.
November 27, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Abolishing stamp duty + council tax for a proportional property tax would be right up there. Would do much more good for fairness and growth too.
Yep, not data I’m well versed in but looks right for the big Syria wave in 2015 at 1.2million and post-covid catch up of 1m
November 27, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Yep, not data I’m well versed in but looks right for the big Syria wave in 2015 at 1.2million and post-covid catch up of 1m
This data could be all wrong but Eurostat on asylum applications and World Bank data on net migration makes asylum>net migration seem fairly standard in W Europe in 2024. But obviously a surface net figure doesn't really tell you much about the actual flows beneath
November 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM
This data could be all wrong but Eurostat on asylum applications and World Bank data on net migration makes asylum>net migration seem fairly standard in W Europe in 2024. But obviously a surface net figure doesn't really tell you much about the actual flows beneath
Glad I don't need to watch now
November 26, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Glad I don't need to watch now
Very special new (or at least newly visible) line on the latest DfT buses data:
November 26, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Very special new (or at least newly visible) line on the latest DfT buses data:
Research commissioned by Lime suggests that under optimum conditions it could reach a fleet of 88,000 shared e-bikes in London getting 4x rides per day. That's 128m rides a year, equivalent to half a Victoria Line or two Circle Lines. steergroup.com/sites/defaul...
November 25, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Research commissioned by Lime suggests that under optimum conditions it could reach a fleet of 88,000 shared e-bikes in London getting 4x rides per day. That's 128m rides a year, equivalent to half a Victoria Line or two Circle Lines. steergroup.com/sites/defaul...
Incredible work by Birmingham City making Man Utd's big top proposal look sober and refined in comparison. (It has actually grown on me tbf). A nod to heritage is nice but this is an unprovoked headbutt.
November 20, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Incredible work by Birmingham City making Man Utd's big top proposal look sober and refined in comparison. (It has actually grown on me tbf). A nod to heritage is nice but this is an unprovoked headbutt.