What is a ‘competitive return’ to a landowner? Parkhurst Road and the new UK planning policy environment

In the UK, contributions from landowners towards the provision of affordable housing are obtained through a process of negotiation that centres on the financial viability of each development proposal. National Planning Practice Guidance, first published in 2014 and recently revised in 2018 and 2019, provides the Government framework for these negotiations and sets parameters for the financial viability appraisals. Failure to achieve levels of affordable housing set out in local plans has been attributed to ‘gaming’ strategies employed by landowners and developers within viability negotiations. This paper examines how planning guidance has influenced financial viability appraisals. A key issue within these appraisals is the determination of a suitable return to the landowner, known as Benchmark Land Value. Using a case study approach to investigate two planning appeals and a subsequent High Court decision concerning a residential development site in London, this paper demonstrates how planning policy and practice guidance on viability can lead to reduced planning obligations being delivered. It identifies the technical concerns that need to be addressed to enable appraisals to determine land prices that are fair to landowners, whilst delivering policy-compliant levels of affordable housing, and discusses whether the revised National Planning Guidance has made those changes

Comparing freight transport strategies and measures in London and Paris

The paper compares the approach being taken to freight transport strategy and the specific policy measures being implemented in London and Paris. It highlights the serious consideration that has been given to freight transport by the Mayors of London and Paris in the last five years. These freight policy considerations are taking place against a background of growing levels of road freight activity, energy use and pollutant emissions in both cities. The key freight transport objectives being followed in London and Paris are similar and focus on improving the efficiency and reliability of freight transport while reducing the negative environmental impacts that it causes. The specific freight transport policy measures being followed show some differences in each city. However, attempts to address problems related to loading and unloading are taking place in both, albeit through different specific initiatives. These policy initiatives have important implications for companies concerned with urban logistics operations

London 2012: changing delivery patterns in response to the impact of the Games on traffic flows

The paper addresses road freight transport operations during the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. It presents work carried out prior to the Games to understand pre-Games patterns of freight deliveries in London (for both light and heavy goods vehicles) and the results of modelling work carried out to assess the likely impacts of the Games road restrictions on freight operations. The modelling results indicated that increases in total hours travelled carrying out collection and delivery work would range from 1.4% to 11.4% in the six sectors considered. The results suggested increases in hours travelled in excess of 3.5% in four of the six sectors modelled. The possible actions that could be taken by organizations to reduce these negative impacts were also modelled and the results indicated that such actions would help to mitigate the impact of the road restrictions imposed on operators during the Games. The actual impacts of the 2012 Games on transport both in general terms and specifically in terms of freight transport are also discussed, together with the success of the actions taken by Transport for London (TfL) to help the road freight industry. The potential freight transport legacy of the London 2012 Games in terms of achieving more sustainable urban freight transport is considered and the steps being taken by TfL to help ensure that such a legacy can be realized are discussed. Such steps include policy-makers continuing to collaborate closely with the freight industry through the ‘London Freight Forum’, and TfL's efforts to encourage and support companies revising their delivery and collection times to the off-peak; improving freight planning in the design and management of TfL-funded road schemes; electronic provision of traffic information by TfL to the freight industry, and the further development of freight journey planning tools

London's urban heat island: Impact on current and future energy consumption in office buildings

This article is available open access and shared under a Creative Commons license: (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Copyright @ 2011 Elsevier B.V.This paper presents the results of a computational study on the energy consumption and related CO2 emissions for heating and cooling of an office building within the Urban Heat Island of London, currently and in the future. The study developed twenty weather files in an East-West axis through London; the weather files were constructed according to future climate change scenario for 2050 suitable for the UK which have been modified to represent specific locations within the London UHI based on measurements and predictions from a program developed for this purpose (LSSAT). The study simulated an office with typical construction, heat gains and operational patterns with an advanced thermal simulation program (IESVE). The predictions confirm that heating load decreases, cooling load and overheating hours increase as the office location moves from rural to urban sites and from present to future years. It is shown that internal heat gains are an important factor affecting energy performance and that night cooling using natural ventilation will have a beneficial effect at rural and city locations. As overheating will increase in the future, more buildings will use cooling; it is shown that this might lead to a five-fold increase of CO2 emission for city centre offices in London in 2050. The paper presents detailed results of the typical office placed on the East-West axis of the city, arguing the necessity to consider using weather files based on climate projections and urbanheat island for the design of currentbuildings to safeguard their efficiency in the future.EPSR

The Regeneration Games: Commodities, Gifts and the Economics of London 2012

This paper considers contradictions between two concurrent and tacit conceptions of the Olympic ‘legacy’, setting out one conception that understands the games and their legacies as gifts alongside and as counterpoint to the prevailing discourse, which conceives Olympic assets as commodities. The paper critically examines press and governmental discussion of legacy, in order to locate these in the context of a wider perspective contrasting ‘gift’ and ‘commodity’ Olympics – setting anthropological conceptions of gift-based sociality as a necessary supplement to contractual and dis-embedded socioeconomic organizational assumptions underpinning the commodity Olympics. Costbenefit planning is central to modern city building and mega-event delivery. The paper considers the insufficiency of this approach as the exclusive paradigm within which to frame and manage a dynamic socio-economic and cultural legacy arising from the 2012 games

Can Fire and Rescue Services and the National Health Service work together to improve the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable older people? Design of a proof of concept study

Older adults are at increased risk both of falling and of experiencing accidental domestic fire. In addition to advanced age, these adverse events share the risk factors of balance or mobility problems, cognitive impairment and socioeconomic deprivation. For both events, the consequences include significant injury and death, and considerable socioeconomic costs for the individual and informal carers, as well as for emergency services, health and social care agencies.Secondary prevention services for older people who have fallen or who are identifiable as being at high risk of falling include NHS Falls clinics, where a multidisciplinary team offers an individualised multifactorial targeted intervention including strength and balance exercise programmes, medication changes and home hazard modification. A similar preventative approach is employed by most Fire and Rescue Services who conduct Home Fire Safety Visits to assess and, if necessary, remedy domestic fire risk, fit free smoke alarms with instruction for use and maintenance, and plan an escape route. We propose that the similarity of population at risk, location, specific risk factors and the commonality of preventative approaches employed could offer net gains in terms of feasibility, effectiveness and acceptability if activities within these two preventative approaches were to be combined

Summertime temperatures and thermal comfort in UK homes

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Building Research and Information [copyright Taylor & Francis], available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09613218.2013.757886Internal summertime temperatures measured in 268 homes in the UK city of Leicester are reported. The hourly data was collected from living rooms and bedrooms during the summer of 2009, which was generally cool but with a short hot spell. Some household interviews were conducted. The sample of homes is statistically representative of the socio-technical characteristics of the city’s housing stock. The data provides insight into the influence of house construction, energy system usage and occupant characteristics on the incidence of elevated temperatures and thermal discomfort. The warmest homes were amongst the 13% that were heated. Significantly more of these were occupied by those over 70 who are particularly vulnerable to high temperatures. The national heatwave plan might usefully caution against summertime heating. Temperatures in the 230 free-running homes were analysed using both static criteria and criteria associated with the BSEN15251 adaptive thermal comfort model. These indicated that that flats tended to be significantly warmer than other house types. Solid wall homes and detached houses tended to be significantly cooler. It is argued that adaptive criteria provide a valuable and credible framework for assessing internal temperatures in free-running UK homes. However, the temperatures in the Leicester homes were much lower than anticipated by the BSEN15251 model. Numerous possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed

Interoperability optimisation for shared equity housing model development and FTB homeownership in the UK

Purpose – This paper assessed financial interoperability implications associated with First Time Buyers (FTB) in housing development and the role of the Community Land Trust Shared Equity Housing Model (CLT SEHM). Design/Methodology/Approach – The Interoperability optimisation process adopted by this study involved triangulated findings from literature, semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys. The text analysis of interview responses was actualised with Nvivo 9.0. This process informed the validation of themes through a questionnaire survey (purposive sampling), of which findings were subsequently analysed with statistical methods including binary logistic regression to validate interoperability rational and implications. Findings – The study identified positive financial interoperability outcomes for a successful synergy between the CLT SEHM and FTBs. From the analysis, there were sustainable results for average income multiple and property transfer/resale value for the CLT SEHM compared to conventional models. However, for the most at risk FTB groups, recommendations included increased concessions for CLT SEHM developments to incentivise bespoke rent purchase hybrid schemes. Originality/value – This research provided a good starting point for achieving improved level of efficiency necessary for the introduction of emerging/renewed alternative housing models into mainstream operational capabilities in housing and local development policies. Keywords – UK Housing Development, First Time Buyers (FTB), Interoperability, Community Land Trust, Shared Equity Housing Model, Binary Logistic Regression mode

Unravelling legacy: a triadic actor-network theory approach to understanding the outcomes of mega events

Mega events have recently attracted the attention of social scientists due to their important role for festival capitalism, urban regeneration and political propaganda. Their planning stage often produces elaborate strategies for maximising the benefits before, during and after the actual event, which has given rise to interdisciplinary studies of event legacy and leveraging. This paper aims to advance ongoing debates on the outcomes of sports mega events by bringing together the literatures on mega event legacy, leveraging and actor-network theory. Drawing on a case study on the usage of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the main legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games, the paper develops a novel conceptual framework for researching the multi-scalar outcomes of mega events and locating respective studies within the resulting wider research agenda. The proposed concept extends Preuss’ (2007) legacy cube in two ways by visualising its five research dimensions in the legacy rings and using three rather than two sub-dimensions per ring, thereby replacing the restrictive dyads of dualistic thinking through more comprehensive but still manageable triads of triadic thought (Jöns, 2006)

Technological frames and the politics of automated electric light rail rapid transit in Poland and the United Kingdom

Light Rapid Transit (LRT) systems are often backed not only because they satisfy basic mobility functions, but because they can revitalize urban centers, affirm the legitimacy of state planners, support innovation and even cultivate an image of a city or region as progressive and modern. In this study, we argue that electrified, automated LRT systems can fulfill private functional frames, private symbolic frames, societal functional frames, and societal symbolic frames. In particular, we argue that light rail can fulfill private functional frames (making passengers feel safe, offering a cheap and efficient mode of transport), private symbolic frames (signifying political identity or exclusionary planning), societal functional frames (environmental stewardship), and societal symbolic frames (such as modernism or innovativeness). Essentially, these frames encompass not only what light rail is and does, but what it means and represents, and even some of its failures and challenges. The article then identifies ten specific frames associated with two case studies of automated light rail systems, the established Docklands Light Rail (DLR) in the United Kingdom, and the emerging Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) in Poland. We find that the DLR is not only a vital part of meeting (functional) demand for mobility, it is innovative and exciting to ride, legitimation of a conservative approach to project development, a social injustice (to some), an environmentally friendly alternative to cars, and a perceived magnet for global investment into the greater Docklands area. Similarly, the PRT is not only a reliable and safe mode of transit, but also a technical marvel, a monopoly breaking symbol, a clean and sustainable form of mobility, and a reflection of progressive Polish innovation and entrepreneurship (or enduring failure)