16 September 2014

An article in The Oxford Mail reports that “Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust was in a ‘very volatile position’ after it was revealed spending on bank and agency staff has risen 38 per cent”. There are several reasons for staff shortages in the Oxford NHS, including a general lack of qualified staff coming through the education…

4 September 2014

The day after URBED and collaborators won the Wolfson Economics Prize, Nicholas Falk was interviewed by Malcolm Boyden on BBC Radio Oxford. They discussed what impact the ideas in URBED’s Garden Cities proposals would have if they were applied to Oxford and Central Oxfordshire. You can listen to the interview here until Thursday 11 September….

22 July 2014

“The Oxford Green Belt was created in 1955. It cannot be right to claim that this 60-year old policy should never be reviewed to see if it is still appropriate for today and the next 60 years. How Green Belt policy will meet the challenges of the future at least needs looking at.

22 July 2014

Many of us involved in planning issues believe that we are in something of a Titanic situation in Oxfordshire. The course we have been following for the past few decades is heading for a number of environmental icebergs. These include energy availability and cost, climate change, air pollution, health issues, traffic congestion, social inequality and despoliation of the landscape we hold so dear.

To confine the debate to the arrangement of the deck chairs when what is desperately needed is a change of course, seems naive and complacent.

7 June 2014

HOW OUR GARDEN CITIES COULD YIELD SMARTER GROWTH by Nicholas Falk The announcement of the shortlist for the 2014 Wolfson Economics Prize will once more throw the spotlight on garden cities as a way of meeting housing needs. It also raises the issue of why the UK has found it so hard to build good…

25 April 2014

Oxfordshire County Council have announced the start of the process that will lead to a new transport plan for the county – LTP4. Consultations will be taking place during the course of the year. Their web page with more information and links is here.