News & Comment
Inverness up for ugly award
The Highland capital is on a shortlist of the UK’s worst eyesores
Inverness has emerged as a surprise contender to be shamed as the country’s most dismal city in the inaugural UK Carbuncle awards.
The Highland capital could earn the dubious honour after a panel of UK architects and designers singled it out [...]
Willy Roe is chairman of both HIE and consultancy firm Rocket Science
The chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has resigned from a consultancy firm at the centre of controversy over contract awards.
William Roe chairs both HIE and Rocket Science UK, which was awarded £150,000 of contracts by the enterprise body.
An internal review [...]
TROUBLED business development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) must review its procedures if an internal investigation finds rules were broken when approving £100,000 of work to its chairman’s own company, according to an SNP politician.
Rob Gibson has called for a meeting with HIE bosses as soon as possible to discuss the controversy surrounding the [...]
Eco-towns of up to 20,000 people each are proposed
The government’s approach to delivering up to 10 eco-towns could be “unlawful”, councils have warned.
Ministers are to publish a planning policy statement to set out standards and potential locations in England.
But the Local Government Association said the proposals went against the principle of development through [...]
BBC Survey shows flood toll a year on
By Mike Chilvers
BBC News, South Yorkshire
Much of the village of Catcliffe was left under water for several days
The human cost of last summer’s floods in South Yorkshire has been revealed in a survey of the worst-hit communities.
More than eight out of [...]
MP demands end to ‘landbanking’
A Liberal Democrat MP is calling for the introduction of new laws to stop companies selling plots of agricultural land at inflated prices.
By Paul Lewis – BBC Radio 4’s Money Box
The land is sold on the hope that planning permission will be granted and the investors will make [...]
Quangos: The Unseen Government of the UK
The most comprehensive picture ever of the UK’s 1,162 Quangos
The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) presents the full list of the UK’s vast quango industry, a detailed run-down of the staff and cost of the 1,162 bodies, boards and agencies that make up Britain’s Unseen Government. It is now five years [...]
Another year gone by and little or nothing has been done by government to address the flooding problems
The following two BBC articles illustrate the extent of the problem:
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has rejected claims by a committee of MPs that Britain’s flood preparations are in a “chaotic state”.
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee said [...]