[The Weeping Angel]

Oh no. Not 6 storey blocks of flats on obsolete retail sites, in London.

Perish the thought.

[The Weeping Angel]

The Green Party's solution the the housing crisis.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0vr5wd3q7do

Green councillors on Thanet District Council have proposed a temporary pause to major housebuilding, over fears that local infrastructure is “overwhelmed”.

The group wants a moratorium for applications of developments of more than 10 homes.

But the Labour-led administration does not think the authority has legal powers to be able to enact the move.

The council voted to discuss the proposal in more depth in October.

Thanet District Council has 1,600 households on its housing waiting list, and last year the number of households in emergency accommodation in the district doubled.

The authority plans to build 400 homes over the next four years.

The idea of a pause on larger developments was proposed at a meeting of the full council on 13 July.

After the meeting Green councillor Mike Garner said: “We’re not saying there shouldn’t be developments of more than 10 homes, just while we do this review we pause them.[/

[Tubby Isaacs]

Not exactly one for this thread, perhaps. but elements of it.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... ranquility

An international heritage body has condemned plans for an underground zip wire attraction in the Lake District as a “theme park” that imperils the area’s “tranquil and contemplative” quality.

The owners of Elterwater slate quarry in the Langdale valley want to create an immersive heritage attraction by opening up caverns, some of which are inaccessible or were once mined.

Sounds like quite an imaginative attraction to me. They have zipwires (overground) in Snowdonia and Cynon Vallley. The wire is the "theme park". People visit, ride the wire, watch their friends riding the wire, and that's it. Nobody expects a Nemesis Inferno or ferris wheel.

I don't know this precise spot, but the Lake District is pretty large and not short of contemplative bits when you move on from Ambleside and Windermere. Is the road round there particularly bad? Why not improve it? Is there no spot that cars can't park a bit out of sight? My guess is that a contemplative bit can be found round the next corner.

[Killer Whale]

God forbid that a [checks notes] slate quarry be industrialised.

[Bones McCoy]

Many attractions in the Lake District are industrial, whether the heritage railway, the "original first steamer on the lake" the transport museum with its bluebird exhibition or various other heritage or converted workshops.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Obviously I wouldn’t want a Port Talbot steelworks on the site but an underground zip wire?

The preservationists are the ones creating a « theme park ».

[Andy McDandy]

Ambleside, Windermere and parts of Ullswater are awful - rolling traffic jams and not much that appeals. Rydal Mount and the rest of the Wordsworth trail are pretty much the same. Get off the beaten track and you get your quiet and contemplative bits. Ullswater, away from Patterdale and Glenridding, is great.

Thing to remember though is that the lakes aren't a theme park. They're a living, breathing area where people work and things happen. And important as tourism is, that's 5 months of the year.

This is very reminiscent of Bill Bloody Bryson, with his "Why can't everything be nice and twee and old fashioned, but with all the conveniences of the modern world (at least for me because while those people are messing around on their phones, I need to be in constant communication with my agent), because my preferences trump everyone else's".

[Killer Whale]

Thing to remember though is that the lakes aren't a theme park. They're a living, breathing area where people work and things happen. And important as tourism is, that's 5 months of the year.

This. Add on a layer of language/culture and you have the issues facing large swathes of Wales.

This is compounded by the fact that large numbers of people settle here (as, I imagine they do in Cumbria) because of their experience as tourists. Many will be retirees with time on their hands, and a few others will want to set up tourist-orientated businesses. To these people the tourist 'industry' is basically all there is to their experience of their new home, and they will lobby and campaign to ensure that the landscape and community reflects this.

In many senses, this is no-one's 'fault', but it is a huge fault-line that causes friction in communities, with any kind of economic development facing the kind of opposition that local people who want meaningful employment and economic growth just can't get their heads around. Imagine being called 'anti-English' or even 'racist' because you favour the opening of a wind turbine maintenence depot on the outskirts of your town!

[Tubby Isaacs]

People who've retired to an area because they liked the quiet sounds like a particularly obnoxious part of the house price preservation society.

I'm finding (from my safe distance) some heritage bodies even more annoying than them, like in this case. The language ("theme park") isn't at all professional, that's what a pub bore writing to the local paper says. Very little sense how they're doing work for house price nimbies and the fossil fuel industry, when they raise objections to railways.

[Andy McDandy]

When I worked in Monmouth, we had plenty of people in the summer months saying that they were going to sell up their home counties property and move to the delightful Wye valley. I always thought "give it one winter with the town flooded and the shops all closed on Sundays and see if you're as in love with the place then".

[Killer Whale]

When I worked in Monmouth, we had plenty of people in the summer months saying that they were going to sell up their home counties property and move to the delightful Wye valley. I always thought "give it one winter with the town flooded and the shops all closed on Sundays and see if you're as in love with the place then".

'S OK. They'll buy a trophy 4x4 with their property cash-in profits so they can drive to the Bristol peripheral trading estates when they need provisions.

[The Weeping Angel]

[Youngian]

Are the Greens in favour of shorter pylons?

[Boiler]

Well, there's always this:

https://www.nationalgrid.com/electricit ... ls-project

Just don't ask the cost.

[Bones McCoy]

Well, there's always this:

https://www.nationalgrid.com/electricit ... ls-project

Just don't ask the cost.

Stuff only costs when it's outside the M25.
I've learned this through 50 years headlines about "Unaffordable" projects.

[Youngian]

It does look like an area of outstanding natural beauty that has a tourist industry so maybe underground cables are justified.

Pylons look very majestic around here but any feature on the Fenland landscape is a bonus.

[Boiler]

I dunno... it's the sheer emptiness of the Fens that appeals to me.

[Tubby Isaacs]

My worry is that Sunak decide the game is up and start running against pylons. Dump all the extra hassle and cost on Labour.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Thanks, South Cambridgeshire and the CPRE.

[Killer Whale]

These twats have no idea how 'spoilt' the UK countryside is, from Caithness to Cornwall. Idiots.