The first 100 days.

Like Maddyone, I doubt if there are a spare 6,500 teachers around. There will need to be a recruitment drive to encourage people to train. None of my five teenage grandchildren want to be teachers,and I doubt that they’re in the minority.

I will be very interested to see the detail in the Devolution Bill which is reportedly going to be in the King’s Speech. There is so much that could be achieved through decentralising power, if it’s done well.

I might be tempted to go back to work.

I’ve known several places where terraced houses have been boarded up for years waiting for something or other to happen which never did. I think Tescos bought some land next to Stirchley Working Men’s Club that included some beautiful little houses that remained unlived in for years and they never did anything with the area anyway.

growstuff

MayBee70

Was it Liverpool or Newcastle that renovated lots of terrace houses years ago?

It happened in Liverpool.

Stoke-on-Trent?

Unoccupied houses sold for a nominal sum and the Council gave loans, I think, for new owners to renovate them.

The Pathfinder Scheme in the North was different, caused upset and controversy and was abandoned in the end.

It’s worth noting that underused and derelict land and buildings in Scotland have a different planning regime to the rest of Britain.

www.gov.scot/policies/land-reform/community-right-to-buy-abandoned-neglected-or-detrimental-land/

Not sure if you are thinking of Granby 4 Streets?

www.granby4streetsclt.co.uk/

It’s in Liverpool, but is a result of a failed statutory sector regen programme - there’s a history if you scroll down the webpage. (I’ve posted recently about how badly implemented I found the Housing Market Renewal programme, and areas like this are why). It’s now a Community Land Trust, which means, amongst other things, that its properties are exempt from the Right to Buy.

MayBee70

Was it Liverpool or Newcastle that renovated lots of terrace houses years ago?

It happened in Liverpool.

So what happened in the past?

As a child, I remember slum clearances when whole streets were boarded up and demolished. Somebody must have compensated the owners.

Was it Liverpool or Newcastle that renovated lots of terrace houses years ago?

I don't think governments have any powers to do anything with private residential properties or such that have been transferred to small business properties.

The local authorities can issue public health notices on some neglected properties but cannot intervene to just compulsary purchase them, which is why there are so many neglected and unused properies in town centres. They are privately owned and it is impossible for the LAs to do anything. They just don't have the money to purchase them.

Meanwhile the properties fall into disrepair and are difficult to sell on the open market. No one wants to invest unfortunately.

Germanshepherdsmum

You would need compulsory purchase powers. I know from personal experience how long it takes for a CPO to be confirmed if there are objections - public enquiries …. You can’t just confiscate property.

I know - I told you it was fantasy, but seriously, some of our towns are in an appalling state. It would make sense to regenerate communities where there is already infrastructure in place.

PS. I come from Merseyside - quite a lot of the flattening of buildings had already been done in the early 1940s.

There

You would need compulsory purchase powers. I know from personal experience how long it takes for a CPO to be confirmed if there are objections - public enquiries …. You can’t just confiscate property.

If I were Housing Minister (and I never will be, so this isn't relevant - it's just a fantasy), I'd go on a tour of the towns and inner cities and just look at the state of some of them. There are some towns where there are whole streets with boarded up shops and small industrial units - and I know some of them have been like that for years. I'd flatten the lot and build decent housing on it, making sure that there is planning for communal spaces and infrastructure. The problem is, of course, that they tend to be in areas of high unemployment (which is why they're derelict in the first place), so some dots need joining and employment needs to be encouraged to the areas. Whether or not any government or regional mayor has the foresight to do that, I don't know.

The problems are well known at local level - parts of my area are subject to flooding and I’m thankful that I don’t live in those parts. Local authorities know where such problems exist and where further development without extensive, and expensive, infrastructure upgrades should not be permitted. And that’s before schools, doctors, transport are considered. Numbers might sound impressive but they are meaningless.

Because @Casdon at least the last governement allowed local objection from councils & residents whereas this new Chancellor has already stated that whilst you can object they "her" can overrule - so in other words you have no right to object even where you have a "local plan" that isn't being adhered to

Germanshepherdsmum

In my area new residential developments which include overnight stays have been suspended for some time in order to prevent sewage entering watercourses. This has been a huge problem as we all know. I well recall planning permissions being granted for residential development within flood plains which I advised clients not to proceed with, to no avail. Numbers of houses are not important. The necessary infrastructure is vital.

Yes. A lot of work has been done in this area over the last two years to upgrade water and electricity supply pipes, as a result of an ongoing new housing development, and that needs to happen wherever building is to take place. Councils will already know where they can proceed short, medium and long term though from their development plans. Flooding is not an issue for us fortunately, the rest of the UK will be underwater before that happens.

WWM the PM’s office have said that Dodds is the lead on this for all intents and purposes, and Phillipson has only been made part of the team for “constitutional purposes”. I have no idea what that means, except Starmer promised a while back the brief would go to a full Cabinet member.

In my area new residential developments which include overnight stays have been suspended for some time in order to prevent sewage entering watercourses. This has been a huge problem as we all know. I well recall planning permissions being granted for residential development within flood plains which I advised clients not to proceed with, to no avail. Numbers of houses are not important. The necessary infrastructure is vital.

siope

I do not like that the Women and Equalities brief has not been given to a Secretary of State, even though Dodds will sit at Cabinet

It has - Dodds shares the post with the Education secretary.

MayBee70

I do hope that new housing takes into account the flooding that can be caused if houses are built in the wrong places.

Near us, the planning application for over 200 houses (no facilities shown on the plan) is expected to go through for low-lying fields next to the Motorway, despite the fact that it is flooded every winter.

maddyone

^the current dental contacts were introduced in 2006 under Labour^

Indeed they were GG and I certainly hope this new Labour government will behave more honourably. The terms and conditions of the 2006 contracts caused a mass exodus of NHS dentists from NHS dentistry.

Yes, that's where the rot set in (sorry).

David49

Assuming the labour can be found, they would have to abandon all the environmental, infrastructure and sustainability targets. It is those that cause most of the existing planning delays, the high rate of building homes in the 1960s was achieved without the restrictions we have now.
It’s hard to see that rate building rate with current regulations.

That is quite a claim! Let’s wait and see shall we?

I do think that the target is very ambitious, but I see that as a positive thing.

Assuming the labour can be found, they would have to abandon all the environmental, infrastructure and sustainability targets. It is those that cause most of the existing planning delays, the high rate of building homes in the 1960s was achieved without the restrictions we have now.
It’s hard to see that rate building rate with current regulations.

MayBee70

Didn’t we lose a lot of dentists from the EU because of Brexit though?

Well I lost my rather lovely 😍😍😍 Portuguese NHS dentist.