Jon Reeds' letter about "Gilston New Town". tinyurl.com/5x3c9tzd

#BuildBabyBuild tinyurl.com/mte6wdha

Cities like Bradford have thousands of run down homes and huge mills ripe for conversion. Yet building is still being focused on green fields in the suburbs. When did Labour stop believing in urban renewal and start backing wealthy building developers? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

In the 53rd of this long-running (over 2 years) series of blogs Nick MacKinnon leads further technical criticism of this windfarm proposal now on its 3rd (hopeless) iteration markavery.info/2026/02/16/g... #wind #turbine #peat #SAC/SPA #wildlife

Great Channel 4 News report on the latest #AMOC monitoring. "Trouble is: there is now growing scientific consensus that the AMOC is weakening." @noc.ac.uk youtu.be/JpOpsMOBsL4?...

This is why electrification means more energy security: In 2024, ~81% of EU electricity came from locally sourced fuels (57% excluding nuclear). Just 19% relied on imported fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are mostly imported. Source @ember-energy.org

Having spent most of my working life in transport policy, this is the essential truth that so many people - including politicians with responsibility for transport decisions - don’t or won’t get. To reduce congestion, you reduce capacity and reduce speed. The empirical evidence is overwhelming.

Meanwhile we're beating ourselves up over low growth rates at a time we need alternatives to traditional neoliberal economics. Why is anyone still listening to those "lobbying for greed"? tinyurl.com/2akmfmc9

Has your MP joined the Parliamentary Call for a televised emergency briefing on the #climate and #nature crisis? www.nebriefing.org/parliamentar... If not please ask them to watch the expert briefings. www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... #NEB2025 #TimeToStepUp #NationalEmergencyBriefing

The definition of sustainable transport modes should not continue to include “ultra low emission vehicles”. Sustainability cannot be reduced to tailpipe emissions, as even electric cars have huge environmental and social consequences. actionnetwork.org/letters/dema...

BLOG The sudden collapse of Neoliberal Labour follows years of working with the Tufton St gang and its influence operations to secure more wealth for the wealthy. We need to make sure it marks a genuine turning point in government policy. tinyurl.com/mt2zbh9d

"Regulation that helps address challenges to humankind, that is timely, effective, efficient, fair and proportionate, as well as participatory, transparent and duly evidence-based. This means that evidence-based decision-making should never be foregone, and neither should democratic participation

A hitherto unappreciated benefit of low traffic neighbourhoods.

Jane Jacobs' thinking continues to enlighten us about living cities. She identified four critical ingredients for a vibrant urbanism: ❇️ The need for (1) density, (2) varied buildings, (3) mixed uses, and (4) short blocks. - Read at Southern Urbanism 💫 - www.southernurbanism.org/p/jane-jacob...

Looks like the flood of lies about climate change and net zero, unleashed by the oil industry, especially on social media, is starting to undermine the action we urgently need.

Finally the DfT has published the much delayed 16 'smart' motorway reports These show what a colossal waste of time and money these have been and harm they've caused the economy. Justified on basis of National Highways' dodgy traffic models www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Today's reminder for conspiracy theorists - traffic restraint is quite different to the coercive social control that sinister lobbyists try to persuade you it is. Reducing accidents, congestion & pollution + safer town centres are benefits, not threats. tinyurl.com/2evwxaja

Important new @annualreviews.bsky.social review on #AMOC collapse. 🌊⚠️ 🔗 www.annualreviews.org/content/jour... Here are 8 key takeaways from Dijkstra & van Westen (2026) on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and its risks. 👇🧵

Know of a local community faced with a challenging issue to do with walking, cycling or public transport, or facing a damaging new road? Share our latest blog post with them and encourage them to get in touch. We will do our best to help. transportactionnetwork.org.uk/lighting-the...

Looking forward to the results.

How important is preserving the Green Belt to you? 4% not very important or not important at all 85% very important or quite important (More in Common, CPRE research published today)

Year's worth of British bread lost this decade as extreme weather bites Extreme weather so far in the 2020s has played a major role in creating a total deficit in wheat production of over 7M tonnes - enough wheat to bake over 4BN loaves of bread eciu.net/media/press...

To what extent would you trust the following party leaders to protect Britain’s nature and countryside? @zackpolanski.bsky.social & @eddavey.libdems.org.uk top, Starmer not so much. From CPRE poll in www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Ok, let’s do this🙄 We’ll start with an explainer covering: 🕒What is a 15-minute city 🏫What on Earth is going on with Oxford 👽Where the conspiracy theories have come from And then we’ll look at the Telegraph article 🧵 1/25

"We're facing the potential of an ungovernable state unless Government takes this seriously." We can rise to this challenge, but first we need to face it. 👉 Please ask your MP to join the Parliamentary Call for a televised emergency briefing to the nation. www.nebriefing.org/parliamentar...

Good things are happening in Wales, "partly because it passed a Wellbeing Act that set goals which were not solely based on 'growth' but rather on wider societal aims such as equality and health." An inspiring guest blog by @christianwolmar.bsky.social:

BLOG Populist influencers have been busy this month, debunking climate science & trying to persuade the gullible that 15-minute cities are some bizarre, Orwellian conspiracy. tinyurl.com/3mxx53f4

How much of Scotland’s emissions plan is riding on electric vehicles? The answer: too much. Scottish Government's latest Draft Climate Change Plan predicates up to 95%(!) of the total transport emissions reduction on rapid EV uptake. Read our response to the Plan: transform.scot/2026/01/29/h...

This is beyond satire. Steve Reed: If you seek views from the largest house builders & infrastructure contractors, you will end up pursuing policies which benefit their shareholders & directors. As you already are. tinyurl.com/4n6th95r 1/⬇️

The best cycle lanes are wide, beautiful and completely separate from other roads. This type of infrastructure is common here in the Netherlands. They often connect cities and offer a great alternative for driving.

I am still stunned that this sort of lying calumny is not illegal. One of the biggest disappointments of this feeble “Labour” govt is Lisa Nandy. #Leveson2 please.

Dangerous, grotesque and unnecessary. Get them out of our cities and towns. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Good question. The Addendum to the Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS): Proposal 24.1 was signed off by the @londonassembly.bsky.social in Nov 2022. It was clear that traffic reduction was critical to meet his transport and climate objectives. www.london.gov.uk/sites/defaul...

ScottishPower looking to build a 3GW floating offshore wind farm. 75km away. No it's not going to be visible from Trumps golf courses, it won't be visible from any coast. 🔌💡 www.offshorewind.biz/2026/01/26/s...

🔴 NEW: Amsterdam Defies Last-Minute Lobbying to Become First Capital City to Ban Fossil Fuel Ads www.desmog.com/2026/01/23/a... 📝 @ellen-ormesher.bsky.social

Breaking: removing Tower Hamlets LTNs declared unlawful at court of appeal. Huge congrats to the residents who campaigned on this. www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

Presumably the Government thought an international crisis would be a good time to slip out its own delayed intelligence briefing on global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security. It actually makes it all the more urgent. tinyurl.com/bderhscc

Yes, Greg Pollock and I also made this argument for Project Syndicate. www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/e...

I'm deep in DfT travel statistics right now. Here's another that's blown my mind: Wales saw 3.5 billion miles of driving on minor urban roads in 2024 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/684964... Great Britain as a whole had 67.6 billion miles *driven* on *minor urban roads*!

BLOG It'd be easier to accept @ed-miliband.bsky.social 's justified complaints over neoliberal social media attacks on clean energy if his government weren't working with them to destroy planning, environmental regulation etc.. tinyurl.com/ydf33ybb

Politicians: don't use AI to make your maps.

The reason I go on about self-driving cars is that it's like watching somebody spend 20 minutes using a thimble to fill a kettle and them saying "I can't wait for the glorious day when I'll have a robot to carry this thimble for me"

We've long been saying HS2 Birmingham-Crewe should be redesigned as a WCML relief line - 300km/h passenger or freight. (So HS2 wasn't perfect, despite all the enthusiasts.) But really? It'd take decades? How about scrapping some road schemes? e.g. the Lower Thames Crossing. tinyurl.com/5b8ft3kp

This should be required reading for ministers, most especially those involved in smashing up the planning system. But while too many deer in some areas is a problem, it's hard to see how shooting them would fill the gap.

Ever since the Treasury's "Barker reviews" in the early 2000s, it's forced successive governments to erode or destroy the planning system, claiming this would raise house building numbers. It's never worked. Builders build as many houses as suits their commercial purposes. tinyurl.com/e4u45r7w

Odd, there wasn't this level of complaint every time tens of thousands of pounds were spent every time a rail company changed its name in the private sector. tinyurl.com/y3y2z5kb

“Someone with a 1-hr car commute needs to earn 40% more to be as happy as someone with a short walk to work. On the other hand, if someone shifts from a long commute to a walk, their happiness increases as much as if they’d fallen in love.” #CityMakingMath www.fastcompany.com/3062989/50-r...

Exactly...politicians have been far too eager to endorse this te h

This is an @cam.ac.uk study. Perhaps the researchers could mention it to those college chiefs who hope to make money out of trashing the environment in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc/Corridor. tinyurl.com/2rjwy8rf

Today's reminder to protect and enhance the rural landscape.