It’s far too early to rule out Angela Merkel, despite the Berlin results
Six lessons from the weekend’s state election
Search Results for "Ed Turner"
Budget: On housing this was about as bad as it gets
The chancellor is setting up an even bleaker future when it comes to housing
Can the British left learn anything from the German SPD?
Although Germany is unlikely to slide into the ‘red column’ of Europe on Sunday night, there are still reasons for this election to be of more than passing interest to the British left.
Confusion reigns over government rent policy for social housing
The chancellor’s recent Spending Review announcement and a subsequent letter from a civil servant to council housing authorities confirm that the government has got itself in a real muddle over policy towards rents in social housing.
For local government to be meaningful, it needs to have the power to make a difference over things that people care about
Labour’s announcement that it would give councils more control over “use classes” is extremely welcome. In England, any “development” requires planning permission, unless it is “permitted development”. However, under current legislation, many changes in the use of a building count as “permitted development”, and many more (specifically, changes within a certain “use class”) do not count as development at all.
Council tax freeze is a tax cut for the rich
Pete Challis explains how much more the rich benefit from a council tax freeze than the poor do.
Pickles’s bribe to councils is a white elephant
Rupert Read discusses the flaws, in both aim and execution, of Eric Pickles’s plan to return to weekly bin collections.
Pickles’s failed attempt to reduce complexity risks a planning free-for-all
Under the guise of reducing complexity in the planning system, the government devolves crucial decisions to under-funded councils in a failed attempt at growth.
How Pickles’s brutal council tax benefit reforms will pulverise the working-age poor
Pickles’ council tax benefit reform will disproportionaly affect the working-age population, incentivise local authorities to push poor people out to neighbouring boroughs, will penalise councils of poorer areas and create a patchwork of inconsistent systems.
Budget 2011: Planning changes: A hidden job killer?
Ed Turner, lecturer in politics at the Aston Centre for Europe, and deputy leader of Oxford City Council, looks at the impact of the changes to planning announced in yesterday’s budget.