Comment UK July 2009

*New housing targets: a green light for urban sprawl, July 30 Campaign to Protect Rural England, July 30, 2009 topic
*Campaign for Better Transport welcomes the Government’s decision to abandon 21 road schemes around the country, July 29 Campaign for Better Transport, July 29, 2009 topic
*Regional transport spending announcement: Government avoiding difficult decisions, Campaign for Better Transport, July 22 Campaign for Better Transport, July 22 2009 "Many of these schemes are a terrible waste of money and cannot be delivered on time or on budget. Promising to spend £4 billion on road building just after announcing a carbon reduction strategy shows that this Government is still not taking its climate change commitments seriously." topic
*Joint call for trams to be treated fairly, Campaign for Better Transport and the Passenger Transport Executive Group ask the Transport Minister to put trams on a level playing field with buses and road schemes, July 20 Campaign for Better Transport, July 20, 2009 topic
*Eco-towns must be genuinely sustainable and the standards that are being proposed for them should be part of all urban development, Natural England, July 20 Natural England, July 20, 2009 topic, topic
*"This competition model is not the way forward, and is a huge missed opportunity. It does not ‘help communities to act together’, it means that community groups use huge amounts of time and energy going through a convoluted application process where they are pitched against other equally noble community groups, and the vast majority of them end up losing out and feeling embittered by the whole thing (that was certainly many peoples’ experience of Big Green Challenge). Something more like the Local Food Fund would have been a far better model. 2 out of 10." Rob Hopkins, The Role of Communities, A Transition Take on the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan, July 17 Transition Culture, July 17, 2009 topic, topic, topic
*Eco-towns locations welcome but standards fall far short of what is needed, CPRE, July 16 Campaign to Protect Rural England, July 16, 2009 
*Eco-towns planning policy welcomed but the planned eco-towns must have good public transport and not be designed around new roads, Campaign for Better Transport, July 16 Campaign for Better Transport, July 16, 2009 
*Fatal flaw at the heart of Nuclear non-proliferation announcement, "You simply can't spread nuclear power without spreading nuclear weapons technology." Greenpeace, July 16 Greenpeace, July 16, 2009 "Gordon Brown's nuclear obsession will damage not only the UK's renewable energy policy but international security. Safe, clean renewable technology exists today and could be rolled out globally to help power a more peaceful world." topic
*Low-carbon strategy "major step towards a cleaner, safer future", FoE, July 15 Friends of the Earth, July 15, 2009 topic
*Low Carbon Transition Plan a missed opportunity to involve all communities, as Local Agenda 21 offered, not just a few pilots, Philralph @sca21 17:58, 15 July 2009 (UTC) topic, topic
*Regional wish-lists (transport spending priorities) did not represent people’s wishes, Campaign for Better Transport, July 14 Campaign for Better Transport, July 14, 2009 Local people complained about a lack of transparency and stakeholders complained about being left out of the process. Where stakeholders were consulted, their priorities were not always reflected in the final list of schemes; for instance, a meeting of stakeholders in the South West suggested spending 60% on improving sustainable transport, but the final package asked for 64% of money for road building. The regional wish-lists overwhelmingly prioritised unsustainable, high-carbon transport. topic
*It's not fair!, July 2 Living with rats, July 2, 2009 topic
*19 ways to make the UK more sustainable. Sustainable Development Commission identifies 19 "Breakthrough ideas", including "Mobilising collective action – scaling up the active networks and organisations for change blossoming around the UK, including the Transition towns network, Green Voice, and South London’s Project Dirt", July 1 Sustainable Development Commission, July 1, 2009 topic
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