Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Private developers offer politicians a simple solution for bulldozing through this crisis – build more. But it won’t work Build baby, build. That’s about the intellectual limit of the government’s housing strategy. Millions are under-housed, so let’s “bulldoze” the planning system and build more homes. But it’s not nearly so simple. As soon as anyone challenges the policy, the government brands them a nimby – another of the crude truncations that pass for debate on this issue: nimbys versus yimbys. So before I go further, let me state that I want to see lots of new social and genuinely affordable housing built as part of a massive programme to solve the worst housing crisis of any wealthy country. I’ve been making similar calls for years, not least in the report I co-authored for the Labour party in 2019: Land for the Many. I oppose Labour’s current approach for a different reason. It will fail. George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Analysis by campaign group finds utility company had highest rate of ‘no-flow’ samples of any water and sewerage firm in 2024 The water firm Anglian Water passed thousands of pollution tests at its sewage plants that were never carried out. Operational data reveals how more than 6,000 pollution tests from 2015 to 2024 could not be carried out under a controversial self-monitoring regime because it was reported there was no outflow of treated sewage from the plants. Continue reading...

Steve Reed says plans for 1km curved structure to protect bats from high-speed railway are ‘batshit crazy’ A bat shelter costing more than £100m near HS2 has been described by the environment secretary as “batshit crazy”. HS2 Ltd is spending the sum on the protection structure in Buckinghamshire, it emerged last year. All bats are legally protected in the UK. The curved structure, which has been described by the HS2 Ltd chair, Sir Jon Thompson, as a “shed”, will run for about 1km alongside Sheephouse Wood to create a barrier allowing the creatures to cross above the high-speed railway without being affected by passing trains. But Steve Reed has criticised the plans and told the Fabian Society’s new year conference: “I mean, (to spend) that vast amount of money on a tunnel for bats when there were so many other public services crying out for funding – it’s batshit crazy. “And it happened because the previous government didn’t have a grip on the public finances, didn’t have a grip on infrastructure projects, and didn’t really have a grip on what was happening to nature either.” Asked about the potential for tension between prioritising wildlife and the environment and pushing through planning projects, as the government has promised to do to boost economic growth, Reed said both could be achieved. “It’s not either or, it’s not growth or nature or the environment. We can do the two together,” he said. Reed also suggested any plans to build a third runway at Heathrow airport would be subject to a “proper consultation” to ensure “mitigations” were in place to make it work. Asked about the prospect of expanding the airport, which reports suggest the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will back, the MP for Streatham and Croydon North in London said: “Of course, it’s speculation that you’re talking about … but if there were any proposal like that, then there would be a proper consultation, hopefully not lasting decades as it has done previously, because you don’t have to take that amount of time to get to good decisions. “But it would take into account all of those factors, mitigations, what we will need to do to make sure that it could work. “Since you mentioned my voting record on that one, I voted against expanding Heathrow last time because I was in favour of expanding Gatwick because it would provide economic growth that would benefit south London, where my constituency is. So I see the link.” Continue reading...

As chancellor Rachel Reeves’ plan to expand London airports gains traction, the party is accused of back-pedalling on its green commitments Labour is being warned it is hurtling towards a “powder keg” confrontation with environmentalists, green groups and a swathe of its own supporters in the next few weeks, amid its claims that “blockers” are standing in the way of economic growth. A flurry of pro-growth measures have been announced by ministers in recent days as part of a government fightback against claims that the economy is stalling. Continue reading...