New Jobs – Barton Willmore, Turley, …
Driverless Urban Futures - Feature
Flooding – are there instances where we should build on floodplains?
Ecological Case for High Density Compact Cities How density makes people fitter
People projected to live longer and die sooner – confusion reigns on population forecasts !
New SUDS manual published by CIRIA – definitive guidance
Carless towns and cities – a global review of schemes
th
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Especially people using Hotmail accounts
http://www.udg.org.uk/udupdate/news/urban-update-18-December-2015
Dr Mike Wells and Dr Lincoln Garland
– Biodiversity by Design
There is a huge amount of evidence that demonstrates the importance of natural environments to people’s wellbeing. Unfortunately, for most developments, ecology is regarded as something that has to be dealt with: a problem, and an inconvenience. This is the wrong approach, and could be hugely damaging to public health as we try to build at higher densities, with the likelihood that people will be forced to live in treeless environments, devoid of greenspace. The UDG
Solent meeting heard from Mike Wells and Lincoln
Grant, that Biodiversity should be thought of in the development process as a benefit not a barrier.
They contended that there is scope to work-in
Driverless cars and smart mobility, for reasons this article explains, will change the landscape of our cities and countryside in a significant way and we place-makers should start thinking about what these changes could mean for planning and urban design.
Some sources are suggesting that owning a car could, in
20 years’ time, be a thing of the past¹. Realistically, such a change would require a transformation in our relationship with the car that could take decades, but with driverless cars already being trialled², there can be no doubt that driverless cars are destined to provide a realistic alternative to conventional cars and car ownership.
Driverless cars users will be able to use an app to book a vehicle, which picks and drops them off at their chosen destination for a competitive price. This journey can be


Practice Award - Francis Tibbalds £1000 Award
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Public Sector Award
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Book Award
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Student Award – Francis Tibbalds £500 Award
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Lifetime Achievement Award
Practitioner Tickets - 50 % discount £37.50
UDG, RICS, RIBA, ICE, CIHT, RTPI and other sister professions
Standard Tickets £75
Update on Garden Cities – David Rudlin – UDG meeting Savills Southampton, 4.00pm Thursday
21 st January 2016
David Rudlin from Urbed has kindly agreed to provide an update on his Wolfson Economics Prize winning work on delivering Garden Cities. This is currently planned for the 21 st January in Savills offices, 2
Charlotte Place Southampton. biodiversity into every square inch of a design, including buildings, walls, and surfaces. There are also clear economic benefits. The book “The
Economics of Biophillia – why Designing with nature makes financial sense ” claims a 20-30 percent improvement in productivity in offices where biophilia has been central to the design.
People, they argued, intuitively recognise the difference between environments that are rich in biodiversity and those that a ren’t. For example the presence of cormorants indicates rivers that are full of fish and have a healthy ecosystem. The aspiration need not be limited to plants and bees.
Careful design can provide habitats for high-order animals such as owls or bats. Dr Wells mentioned the potential there exists to create microcosmic habitats, such as recreated streams, rivers, and wetlands; but also cliffs – high-density living brings about cliff-like habitats.
Systems approach needed
Central to encouraging biodiversity is the use of systems approach. It is not a question of bolting on bits of greenspace, or green wall or roof. The components need to be linked and considered as part of an overall system. The Olympic Athletes village in London provided an excellent case study which had followed the systems approach: firstly the roofs of the buildings had been carefully designed, to mimic different types of habitats, with the soil composition and structure matching those of SSSIs in the hope of attracting and sustaining a wide range of species. (An example was given from Switzerland where a nature reserve had been created on a roof). The water from the green-roofs then flowed into a chain of ponds, marshes and wetlands and a balancing lake, and then used as a supply to provide water for flushing the toilers of adjacent buildings, neatly closing the water cycle.
One of the results has been the popularity of the development, with the quality of the landscape cited by new occupants as one of the main reasons for moving. shared with other users in an efficient way, thus making the journey even cheaper¹. This on-demand service could result in car ownership being reduced dramatically¹ as there will be no need to purchase a car and pay for expensive car insurance and services. Whilst there will always be people who will want to own their own car, there is also a growing number who care about the environment, and choose to walk, cycle and/or use public transports and don’t necessarily want to spend that much money on a car.
Instead the money they save can be spent in the local area, in restaurants and farmers markets creating thriving businesses and communities.
The constant sharing of information together with the efficiency of driverless vehicles could result in less congestion and much safer streets and highways – safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and children. The use of renewable energy in electric or fuel cell powered vehicles will be more efficient and widespread, reducing carbon emissions and noise in our cities. With the need for onstreet parking com pletely gone³ (a shared vehicle either relocates itself to a station or proceeds to collect another passenger), new shops and offices will face and interact directly with the street which will enable the active, lively streets urban designers aspire to create but often fail due to policy requirements. Moreover, if places are designed and planed in a holistic way, together with an expected reduction of now very efficient off-street car parking of
80%³, this could also increase land-use efficiency across all types of developments, redevelopment of existing land and reduce pressures on the greenbelt.
Impact on rural areas
In rural locations far away from a train station, where there is sufficient demand, driverless-cars could provide convenient mobility. Res idents won’t have to worry about expensive daily parking charges and parking availability at the station. Moreover commuting by car will no longer be a waste of time. Drivers don’t need their hands on the wheel, instead that time can be used to work, watch a movie, sleep and even exercise! However people will also be able to live further away from their place of work which in turn would place more demand for housing, infrastructure and services in the countryside, raising serious issues for sustainability. Good planning is needed to anticipate and

Film Night – Urban Agriculture
– Brooklyn Farmer
Followed by Q and A
Wednesday 13 January @ The Gallery http://www.udg.org.uk/events/london-and-south-east/urban-agriculture-%E2%80%93-brooklyn-farmer
Public Space led by Philip Cave
Wednesday 10 February
Latin America
Tuesday 15 March
Urban Design - From Process to Place
RTPI supported by UDG
16th March 2016 - @ Taunton http://rtpi.org.uk/media/1576329/draft_programme2_-_urban_design__16th_march_taunton.docx
http://rtpi.org.uk/the-rtpi-near-you/rtpi-south-west/events/
The site in East Kent was the home to Pfizer
Pharmaceuticals and the birth place of a wonder drug in the 1990s targeted principally at men. You can probably guess what that is.
Sadly, one wonder discovery does not make a legacy
The two presenters offered a decisive case for integrating biodiversity into the design process, and the prospect of creating urban environments that not only support a wide range of wildlife of all orders, but also reduce operating costs, and are genuinely engaging to human beings. The examples they offered demonstrate that it is possible to do this,
The presentation included a huge bibliography of reports published within the last 5 years,
- Bird Friendly Urban design guidelines – 2010
- Designing for Biodiversity, Productivity and
Profit – British Council for Offices 2011
- Green Design – from Theory to Practice – 2011
- UK Green Roof Code 2014
- Good Practice Guidance for Green
Infrastructure and biodiversity (2012)
- Susdrain – National guidance on Sustainable
Drainage
- Guidelines for Ecological Impact Assessment in the United Kingdom
- Green infrastructure valuation toolkit use guide
- Novel solutions for quieter and greener cities
- The Economic of Ecosystems and Biodiversity
– Mainstreaming the economics of nature
- UK National Ecosystem Assessment 2011
- UN Biodiversity Summit
- Biophilic Ciites – Timothy Beatley - Biophilic
Cities Network
Thanks go to Peter Frankum at Savills, for organising and hosting the event .
Of Books and Blogs http://alexandrinepress.co.uk/blogged-environment/updates-blogged-environment/books-and-blogs deal with the consequences.
Impact on urban areas
Despite the fact that some people will always prefer to live in the countryside, living in cities will become much more appealing. With cars no longer dominating our urban landscapes, silent and safe streets will be reclaimed as true public spaces with the added space used to provide with green and blue infrastructure, play space, orchards, cycle ways, etc. It will be much safer to cycle and to walk and roads will become decluttered, calmer and healthier environments, making active travel much more appealing, especially for short distances.
The potential for driverless cars to change our life, our cities and our environment is significant especially at high levels of market penetration ⁴ . Whilst there is little doubt that this technology could significantly increase network capacity there is also a large risk that if left unmanaged it could actually make congestion a lot worse - increasing capacity has shown in many cases to be an ineffective means of reducing congestion. Furthermore, in addition to making travelling very attractive as we’ve already discussed above, driverless vehicles will open up the possibility of travelling to people who wouldn’t normally be able to operate a vehicle. Add in ownership models and this situation it could become unmanageable.
It is at this early stage that we should research the different possible scenarios, act with leadership and take the necessary steps to ensure this technology actually delivers better towns and cities.
The type of service used (shared versus solo journeys) together with a high-capacity public transport system will determine the benefits. Behaviour change, which is already underway (uber pool is a good example) needs to be further encouraged.
In addition we will need to continually invest and develop the public transport infrastructure across the country.
We should also create well connected places which prioritise walking and cycling to an extent the UK has yet to implement. This could mean shifting the emphasis many developers and local authorities still place upon securing

and in 2011 Pfizer decided to cut their losses and move out. 3000 jobs disappeared – almost overnight, the site became a ghost-town, and the effect on the neighbouring town of Sandwich was pretty much the same.
As is the case when you rely on one major employer, the period following their exit is akin to that of mourning. Who comes to save the day? Will anyone?
What are the chances of another Pfizer waiting in the wings? Nil.
Wind the clock forward twelve months and a group of investors snapped up the entire campus for a song.
They spent the next year ‘repurposing’ and adapting the best buildings, demolishing those that were past their best – operations they had a pretty good track record in. But a site of this scale needs a big plan – and we have worked with Discovery Park Limited and
Dover District Council to craft it.
Our answer was been to introduce a host of new uses, including a significant number of new homes.
How Do the British Plan? http://alexandrinepress.co.uk/blogged-environment/reviews-blogged-environment/how-do-british-plan
The Gruesome Shambles that is the English
Housing System http://alexandrinepress.co.uk/blogged-environment/updates-blogged-environment/gruesome-shambles-englishhousing-system
From Vegetables to Megastructures http://alexandrinepress.co.uk/blogged-environment/reviews-blogged-environment/vegetables-megastructures
Fields of Yield: Beyond the Built Environment http://alexandrinepress.co.uk/blogged-environment/agendas-built-environment/fields-yield-beyond-builtenvironment
Associate Director, Urban Design, Turley
Bristol http://www.udg.org.uk/jobs/south-west/associate-director-urban-design-turley
Design Director, Turley
Southern England http://www.udg.org.uk/jobs/london-and-south-east/design-director-turley
Urban Designer – Edinburgh - Barton Willmore
Edinburgh http://www.udg.org.uk/jobs/urban-designer-%E2%80%93-edinburgh-barton-willmore
To advertise jobs in Urban Update – please email administration@udg.org.uk
generous parking levels and road widths in new developments towards the provision of flexible parking areas which can be easily retrofitted into other uses, the creation of good public transport links and well-connected places with excellent walking and cycle routes/facilities.
Finally we should develop a vision and be optimistic that if implemented and managed correctly, driverless cars could create healthier, happier and greener towns and cities.
¹Bridges, Rutt 2015, Driverless Car Revolution: Buy
Mobility, Not Metal [Kindle Edition]
²BBC 2015, Toyota promises driverless cars on roads by
2020
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34464450) accessed on 10.11.2015
³OECD 2015, International Transport Forum at the OECD -
Urban Mobility System Upgrade: How shared selfdriving cars could change city traffic.
⁴ CUTR http://www.automatedvehicleinstitute.org/pdf/TAVI_
8-CapacityPinjari.pdfaccessed on 17.12.2015
Will car free towns ever become a reality? A review of schemes around the world. http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/dec/09/car-free-city-oslo-helsinki-copenhagen

The vision is to see Sandwich and Discovery Park as one ‘Total Place’ – driven by new forms of innovation that have defined it over the last century.
Despite the whole site being in the flood plain, and internationally protected Water Voles pretty much everywhere, the plan is universally supported – from the town council to DCLG, everyone wants to see
Discovery Park flourish.
Read more http://www.urbandesigndirectory.com/practices/planit-ie
http://www.academyofurbanism.org.uk/events/
Rethinking the Urban Landscape Exhibition
Leeds, Sheffield – see website for dates http://www.landscapeinstitute.co.uk/events/
Build your own - Wolverhampton Arts & Heritage
Competition deadline 8th Jan
City Builder Academy
July 2016 http://made.org.uk/events
Next events 2016
Regional Urbanism in the Era of Globalisation
3-5 Feb – University of Huddersfield
New
Amy Burbidge is Design Action Manager at North
Northamptonshire Joint Planning Unit. http://www.urbannous.org.uk/housing-quality.htm
http://www.ads.org.uk/category/news/
Several workshops on the use of traditional materials coming up. No one should attempt architecture or urban design in Scotland without a knowledge of Ballachulish slate!
http://ihbc.org.uk/events/
Culture. Capital. Cities. UK City of Culture 2021 /
European Capital of Culture 2023
11 February 2016 - Manchester
Cities Outlook 2016 Launch
25 January 2016 | 12.30pm | CIty Hall, London http://www.centreforcities.org/events/
http://bobmk.org.uk/our-programme/
Future of Transport and Innovation
February 2016
@ Milton Keynes

http://www.hud.ac.uk/schools/artdesignandarchitecture/research/conferences/regional-urbanism/
Neighbourhood Planning Network Event
19 th January https://www.engageliverpool.com/events/
Dash or Dawdle – Clerkenwell Pubs
Any day until the 10 January 2016 http://www.museumofwalking.org.uk/events/
Events coming up – extensive programme some free, some charged/ £175+VAT (Free for UDL subscribers)
Cultural Interventions
14th January 2016 (Full Day)
PiP – Design, Quality and Technical Consents
Workshop
20 th January
Challenging Practice: Street Design
26th January http://www.urbandesignlondon.com/events-listing/
http://www.kentdesign.org/events/
Event Calendar http://www.kentdesign.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Event-Calendar-2015-16-edited-14.4.15.pdf
Garden City II Eastgate, Springhead Park
February
Designing our Highways
10 February
Andy von Bradsky is former Chairman of PRP,
Chair of the RIBA Housing Group, Board Member of the Housing Forum and recent chair of the
Government appointed Challenge Panel for the
Housing Standards Review that advised on UK standards for housing of all tenures. http://www.urbannous.org.uk/housing-affordable.htm
A better future for high streets and town centres.
Julian Dobson, Urban Pollinators http://www.urbannous.org.uk/from-agora-to-polis.htm
Towns and cities: Function in form
Julian Hart, Lancefield Consulting http://www.urbannous.org.uk/cities-function-in-form.htm
Designing the business model: Sharing land uplift and unlocking long term value.
Yolande Barnes, Director of the World Research team at Savills http://www.urbannous.org.uk/development-economics.htm
Weather in the City – How Design Shapes the
Urban Climate
Sanda Lenzholzer http://www.urbannous.org.uk/climate-and-city-design.htm
All urban designers, architects, planners, and highway engineers should have a knowledge of this subject.
www.urbannous.org.uk
Urban Nous is produced and operated by Fergus
Carnegie for the benefit of practitioners worldwide.
Transport Practitioners Meeting 2016 – Nottingham
29-30 June 2016 | Nottingham
Call for papers open. https://www.ptrc-training.co.uk/Events/TPM2016.aspx

Top Six Actions to Keep Our Cities Liveable https://sourceable.net/top-6-actions-new-cities-minister-can-take-to-keep-our-cities-liveable/#
Public Works: A Flood Wall With Artistry and Environmentalism http://torontoist.com/2015/12/public-works-a-flood-wall-with-artistry-and-environmentalism/
Berkeley Walks’ book exposes different facets of the city http://www.berkeleyside.com/2015/12/16/berkeley-walks-opens-eyes-to-different-facets-of-the-city/
India and Japan in agreement over construction of Shinkansen train network http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Shinkansen-will-transform-India-the-way-it-transformed-Japan/articleshow/46139274.cms
Please can we have somewhere to sit down in the city? http://dublininquirer.com/2015/12/16/please-can-we-have-somewhere-to-sit-down-in-the-city/
Rotterdam's Grand Experiment With Architecture That Mutates Over Time http://www.fastcodesign.com/3054370/in-rotterdam-a-wild-experiment-in-architecture-that-adapts-with-the-times
NPPF Consultation
 affordable housing

Increasing the density of development around commuter hubs

Supporting sustainable new settlements, development on brownfield land and small sites, and

Ensuring housing is delivered on land allocated in local plans
https://www.newscientist.com/article/live-blog-from-the-paris-climate-summit/
There is no action, just promises. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/13/paris-climate-deal-reaction-experts
US Town bans solar panels over fears they may “suck up” the sun’s energy http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-town-rejects-solar-panels-amid-fears-they-suck-up-all-the-energy-from-the-sun-a6771526.html
Global warming: Thousands flee Pacific islands on front line of climate change http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/global-warming-thousands-flee-pacific-islands-on-front-line-of-climate-change-a6757796.html
Storm Desmond causes the Malham Cove Waterfall to flow for the first time in hundreds of years http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/storm-desmond-brings-malham-cove-waterfall-back-to-life-for-the-first-time-in-hundreds-of-yearsa6763131.html
With record breaking meteorological apparently occurring year after year, the arguments made by climate change denialists look increasingly tenuous.
Is there an answer to increased flood risk
340mm of rain falling in a 24 hour period is a UK record. Most UK rainfall records occur in the summer and autumn when slow-moving, localised thunderstorms drop a great deal of rain over a small area in a very short period of time leading to localised pluvial flooding.. The recent Cumbria record rainfall however was due to a large
Atlantic weather system forced upwards by mountains, leading to large volumes of water being deposited over a relatively large area, and the flooding of main rivers.
What could have been done to reduce the flooding? In the Lake District, the lakes themselves act as enormous retention ponds – natural sustainable drainage features, and yet flooding still occurred. Other catchment scale measures that have been considered in similar areas include
 interrupting floodplains to retain more water upstream by building field walls, planting hedges or woodland strips;
 restoring upland wetlands (over the past 200 years there has been extensive work to improve drainage of upland areas to improve grass yield, at the expense of increasing the risk of downstream flooding;
 changing agricultural practice to prevent soil compaction – thought to be


Supporting delivery of starter homes. – including Unviable and underused commercial and employment land https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/national-planning-policy-consultation-on-proposed-changes https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/482889/ConsultationNPPF_fin.pdf
Place Standard Launched in Scotland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3d55p2G_Ac
Two new garden towns are set to provide up to 50,000 new homes thanks to over £1m of Government funding. – yes that’s £22 per house! http://www.localgov.co.uk/Two-new-garden-towns-to-provide-up-to-50000-new-homes/39969
Historic England – New Advice on Tall Buildings https://historicengland.org.uk/news-and-features/news/new-advice-tall-buildings
A tortured heap of towers': the London skyline of tomorrow - Graphics and fly-throughs explaining London’s (for want of a better term) tall building’s policy http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/dec/11/city-of-london-skyline-of-tomorrow-interactive
Here’s how we can learn to fall in love with shocking buildings http://theconversation.com/heres-how-we-can-learn-to-fall-in-love-with-shocking-buildings-49723
Brixton regeneration scheme given approval http://www.theplanner.co.uk/news/brixton-regeneration-scheme-given-approval
"Blow up revolting art": The disappearing public artworks Historic England wants the public to help find http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/art543148-historic-england-lost-destroyed-public-art
Designing the future of Yorkshire http://www.bqlive.co.uk/2015/12/16/designing-the-future-of-yorkshire/
Report: up-to-date local plans key to managing tall building impacts http://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1376673/report-up-to-date-local-plans-key-managing-tall-building-impacts
In Downtown Revitalization, Equity Can Equal Authenticity https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/equity-made-explicit-in-new-downtown-revitalization-guidebook
AN's third annual design award program celebrates some of the most exciting and innovative American architecture to be completed in 2015. http://www.archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=8376#.VnHnDPmLS00
The street grid imposed on New York in 1811 flattened hills —and literally levelled the social playing field. http://www.wsj.com/articles/design-for-living-1449865422 responsible for increases in run off rates in the order of tens of percent in some catchments; and
 restoring rivers by removing artificial straightening and restoring natural profiles including riffles and meanders,
Would such measures have had much effect? Ordinarily one would say yes. The question is whether climate change is taking the planet into unknown territory.
There will be renewed calls to raise river embankments; but these will tend to move away from the well landscaped, towards brute concrete, that comes at the expense of ruining river-side urban environments. River deepening or dredging is advocated by some, but the problem here is that a river bed is something continuous from source to sea, trying to lower a section will result in it filling with gravel and sediment from upstream.
There will also be renewed calls to prohibit development on floodplains. Yet there are reasons why we should develop on flood plains. The land is flat, easing cycling and walking. Water-side environments are naturally attractive. And there will be instances where developing on a flood plain enables a town to develop in a circle around its centre, maximising the number of people who can walk. What must not be done, and has so often happened in the past, is to ignore the fact that these are floodplain and that flooding will occur repeatedly: infrastructure including electricity supplies must be protected, and buildings and key highways kept well above maximum flood levels.
The capacity of the floodplain to store water must also be protected to avoid transferring flood risk downstream.
People who attended the Urban Design Fest event were given a view of a form of development that could cope with extreme rainfall. It is available to view….
Building a floodable city…
Water-Land-Scape: A Scenario- Dao-Ming CHANG
Featured at the Urban DesignFest London http://www.udg.org.uk/content/urban-designfest-2015-london
N ew SUDS Manual published by CIRIA Free to download
This 800 page free to download guidance represents the state of the art in
Sustainable Drainage Systems. It contains of scores of examples and design ideas that can be used to
A Introduction
B Philosophy and Approach
C Applying the approach - - the design process
D Technical Detail – detailed descriptions of different types of SuDs components
E Supporting guidance http://www.ciria.org/Memberships/The_SuDs_Manual_C753_Chapters.aspx
What the guidance does leave is the job of putting everything together. There is

Are roads for cars or kids? A tale from Enfield and a mini-Holland bid http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2015/dec/14/roads-cars-kids-fight-streets-cycling-mini-holland
Should…Could London’s Oxford Street be pedestrianised? http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/dec/15/oxford-street-london-pedestrianise-shopping-air-pollution-death-urban-nightmare
British Social Attitudes Towards Transport Survey 2014 - published

In 2014, 64% of respondents agreed that it is too dangerous for them to cycle on the road, the highest level recorded since the question was introduced in
2011

For journeys of less than two miles travelled by car, 41% of respondents said they could just as easily cycle, walk (39%), and take the bus (32%).

Half of respondents considered exhaust fumes in towns and cities to be a serious problem

88 percent thought drivers should drive within the speed limit

62% of respondents indicated that they were concerned about damage to the countryside from road building https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/british-social-attitudes-survey-2014
UK’s first tram train unveiled in Sheffield - BR Type 399 class tram permitted to run on railway tracks shared with conventional trains. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/milestone-for-northern-powerhouse-as-uks-first-tram-train-unveiled-in-sheffield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_399
Differences of degree in the way men and women navigate
Men seem to rely more on a sense of north and south , women rely more on local detail, according to this research. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/nuos-mhb120415.php
The paper asserts that men are “better at navigation”, but this may be more about what men and women are expecting to achieve. Some theories suggest that men and women have evolved to fulfil hunter and gatherer roles, in which case there would be every reason to follow these strategies. A compass based navigational strategy would not be very helpful for gathering, where instead a very detailed knowledge of the local environment is the key. How would you translate this information into designing a network of streets that would ease navigation?
Your car is spying on you. guidance for every aspect of the urban environment (apart from utilities where the guidance and legislation is deficient). The need for drainage in urban areas is often dictated by the demand for car parking; the demand for car parking is dictated by development density, the provision of public transport, cycling and walking infrastructure, and the presence of shops and community facilities that can be reached without the use of a car. It is not immediately obvious that local shops reduce urban runoff…But they do.
Storm Desmond: How a toxic brew of cuts to flood defences and empty rhetoric made Cumbria's floods worse
Professor Ashley of Sheffield University http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/storm-desmond-how-a-toxic-brew-of-cuts-to-flood-defences-and-empty-rhetoric-made-cumbrias-floods-a6770921.html
Mnisters bow to anger over floods – two reviews set up.
A major review of Britain’s plans for coping with “worst case” floods; and a separate
“National Flood Resilience Review” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/weather/12047796/Ministers-bow-to-anger-over-flood-defences.html
Poorer children nearly 3 times as likely to be obese - study by University
College London and London School of Economics
At age 5, poor children were almost twice as likely to be obese compared with their better off peers
By the age of 11 the gap has widened, nearly tripling to 7.9% of the poorest fifth are obese; for the best-off, the figure is 2.9%.
Risk factors

 maternal smoking during pregnancy and a mother's BMI
Risk reducing factors
 doing sport more than three times a week played an important role, as did an
 earlier bedtime and
 regular fruit consumption
Overall, the study found that markers of 'unhealthy' lifestyle here could mean as much as a 20% additional risk of obesity for a child http://www.science20.com/news_articles/whos_hungry_poor_children_3_times_as_likely_to_be_obese-161715
Obese men found to pass on thousands of modified genes to their children –
New Scientist report http://bit.ly/1QeYQg2
Obesity 'biggest health threat to women' and should be treated as 'national threat' - like terrorism and cyber attacks – UK Chief Medical Officer http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/obesity-biggest-health-threat-to-women-and-should-be-treated-as-national-threat-like-terrorism-and-a6768831.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/motoring-news/your-car-your-spy-warnings-over-how-much-personal-information-it-may-hold-a6766931.html
The article, and indeed the so-called security expert quoted, fails to mention that anyone who has their mobile phone switched on and registered on the network can be located to within 400 metres or so in urban areas (if this were not possible your calls could not be directed to your phone) . Anyone who uses their smart phone’s sat nav can be located to within around 10 metres. Some apps involve sharing gps data, including apps that enable the phone to act as a torch. If there has been no moral panic over this, why should there be over sharing that data on the speed and location of a car?
Women caught after hit and run when her car calls police http://bit.ly/1O4CA8l
The average family in Britain now lives 77 minutes apart
By 2064, cohort life expectancy at birth for females in England is projected to reach 100 years, 99 in the UK, Wales, and Northern Ireland and 98 in Scotland. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lifetables/past-and-projected-data-from-the-period-and-cohort-life-tables/2014-based/stb-2014-past-and-projected.html
Projections are obtained simply by extending an existing trend into the future. They assume that the factors that are causing the increase will continue, and that no other factors will intervene. Experts warn of a fall in life expectancy should rates inactive lifestyles and poor diet continue to gain an ever increasing hold over the population.
So on the one hand the ONS is projecting an increase in life expectancy, whilst the
UK Government’s chief medical officer is warning of an impending obesity driven health crisis. Planning requires reasonably robust population forecasts. It is not clear whether what is on offer at the moment is fit for purpose.
Britain is that a third of families (33%) live too far away to keep up with daily care needs, such as dressing, cooking or shopping. The average family now lives 77 minutes apart making it harder to drop in and help out. Juggling work (28%) and childcare (9%) also adds pressure, and one in five (21%) feel guilty about not being able to do more to assist.
http://www.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/news-and-events/news/family-networks-struggle-to-support-older-people-leaving-hospital
The consequence is that the state is having to pick up the bill for adult social care, and to a degree child social care.
WEBTAG – updates announced on the valuation of transport noise impact, modal transfer from road to rail, Air Quality Valuation and Greenhouse
Gases workbooks https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/481809/webtag-forthcoming-changes.pdf
Council leaders urged to become ‘champions’ of self and custom build housing
Council Leaders have been urged to become 'champions' of self and custom build housing at a high-level summit held at Downing Street.
New research undertaken by the National Custom & Self Build Association (NaCSBA) has found that supportive council leaders can help to boost initiatives that enable more people, including those on low incomes, to build their own homes. Etc…. http://www.localgov.co.uk/Council-leaders-urged-to-become-champions-of-self-and-custom-build-housing/39987
Most expensive streets in Britain http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/these-are-the-10-most-expensive-streets-around-britain--ZyHBTOU65x?utm_source=indy&utm_medium=top5&utm_campaign=i100
Towns v cities: how satellite towns compare with their big city neighbours http://www.theguardian.com/cities/datablog/2015/dec/15/towns-v-cities-how-satellite-towns-compare-city-neighbours
Full report…- apparently can’t be downloaded from….. http://www.demos.co.uk/press-release/talk-of-the-town/
This is a quite confusing exercise. There is no clear definition of satellite town. West
Bridgford is identified as a satellite town of Nottingham, when it is actually a suburb.
Havant is described as a satellite of Portsmouth, whereas it functions as one of a cluster of towns along the M27 corridor.
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