.

.
Click above for what became the consented plan, plus Transport page.

2011-09-29

The Guardian: "Don't let nimbys pull up the housing ladder"


Link to The Guardian (15 September)

"Writing in the Sunday Times recently, Dominic Lawson had the honesty to express the truth behind a lot of the opposition to the current proposed planning changes: most of us are nimbys at heart. We want to solve the housing crisis in principle, but as soon as it means building in our neck of the woods our self-interest kicks in, and we start reaching for green arguments as a cover for the truer, but less altruistic ones.


"No planning reform, however smart or sensitive, will overcome this contradiction in what we want from the system – or our hypocrisy, as Lawson is brave enough to call it. And while the current proposals may not be perfect, their introduction signals a welcome commitment by the government to see more housing built – and yes, even in your backyard."

The Guardian: "Regeneration? What's happening in Sheffield's Park Hill is class cleansing"

Link to The Guardian

"There have been arguments about Park Hill ever since it was built in 1961. Its attempt to create 'streets in the sky' through wide, airy internal walkways has caused endless debate over whether they are real streets. But given that people congregate on them, there is public access to them and crimes sometimes happen in them, it would seem that they are as open-ended and tricky to police as the Victorian terraces they replaced.

"... It's all a microcosm of how public housing was treated during the boom. Property speculators became hungry for previously neglected spaces, going from regenerating derelict factories all the way to redeveloping dilapidated council estates. But in the latter case, there were people in the way, who first had to be decanted, or evicted as it used to be called, albeit with the promise of a 'right of return'. Yet already more former Park Hill tenants have registered their interest in returning than there will be 'social' units to accommodate them."

Link to previous 'The Observer' story.

Reuters: "Hammerson treasurer Duncan Beardsley to leave after shakeup -source"

 (pic: drei.dimensional)
Link to Reuters web site



"The group treasurer of retail developer Hammerson will leave the company as part of a cost-cutting drive at its finance division, a source close to the process told Reuters. 

"Duncan Beardsley is one of several employees who will leave the company, which owns the Bullring [sic] shopping centre in Birmingham and the Brent Cross mall in London." 


2011-09-28

Hammerson jolly for Espirito Santo Investment Bank, Panmure Gordon and Evolution Securities

"Downturn does little to dim Hammerson"

Link to web site

"Hammerson, the operator of retail and office space in the UK and France, was espousing an upbeat view on the sector, on an analyst trip to its retail assets in Reading, Didcot and Gloucester at the start of this week.

"The analysts at Espirito Santo Investment Bank, Panmure Gordon and Evolution Securities bought into the Hammerson pitch, with all reaffirming their 'buy' recommendations, with target prices ranging from 474p to 480p."

2011-09-27

[One year on...] Evening Standard: "London planners must embrace civilised living" - Simon Jenkins

Link to Evening Standard, Sept. 2010
"We are not correcting but replicating the mistakes of London's post-war renewal. We are ignoring the message of the streets. 

The issue is not density or modernity: there is plenty of space into which to cram London's booming population, without imitating Hong Kong."

2011-09-26

Good news Hammerson - No Barnet Planning, No Barnet Regeneration! All gone (soon)! Meet BT (or Capita) (or HCL Axon) (or Serco)


Barnet Planning and the public interest, RIP.
(Link above to 'Broken Barnet', and scroll down to 24 September report
on Barnet's four short-listed outsourcing companies)

Hammerson's Lawrence Hutchings explains 'the squeezed middle'

'Investor & Analyst Retail Site Visit'
(a jolly up the M4) 
Link to Hammerson PR Morgan Bone's press release

"Lawrence Hutchings, Managing Director UK Retail said:
"We are witnessing a number of trends in retail, which play to the strengths of our portfolio and our management expertise. Consumers are increasingly polarising in their requirements for either a full leisure experience or a simple, convenient transaction.

"Retailers are consequently focusing on both regionally-dominant centres, offering retail, catering, and leisure, and our accessible, well-located retail parks. The combination of high quality assets and retailer-focused asset management has allowed us to maintain consistent strong demand for space within our portfolio."


There's still nothing about Stuart's 'sudden' departure, by the way.


PLUS:
Link to web site

"UK retail developers eye safety, urge high st revamp"

"'The number of people now playing in our playground are becoming fewer and fewer,' Development Securities' head of retail, Paul Redstone, said of secondary retail property on the sidelines of the British Council of Shopping Centres (BCSC) conference in Manchester. 

"Developers such as Hammerson, Land Securities and fund manager Henderson Global Investors said their pipelines were centred on key regional cities, because of rental growth prospects and their affluent customer bases. 

"Redstone said:
"Britain is overshopped. The problem we have is that the number of financially-viable opportunities outside London in this country, which are going to provide (retail shop) accommodation that's in demand, are very few."



PLUS: 

Link to web site
"Foundations strong for retail property despite concerns at BCSC"

"Statistics produced by the BCSC for this year’s event show that 11 per cent of all retail units in the country will remain empty on a long-term basis, and the group’s Chairman Richard Akers has called for reform of rental rates and empty property charges to try and address this.

"... If anyone needed inspiration on how to manage and complete these huge projects they could have done worse than hear the presentation by Ardent’s Joint CEO Roger Madelin on Tuesday, about his company’s development of the huge King’s Cross site in central London.

"He explained how:
  • extensive research, 
  • active involvement in a community, 
  • the creation of something inspiring, and 
  • groundbreaking architecture 
should all preoccupy the mind of the modern property professional."

[enlarged for the benefit of Hammerson.]

2011-09-25

No fevered speculation over Sarah Booth replacing Stuart "I'm off!" Haydon as Hammerson Company Secretary

Link to web site

"23 Sept: Stuart Haydon has resigned as company secretary of Hammerson."


Hammerson's David Atkins: Brent Cross is no longer the flagship? (it's Bullring [sic])

Link to 'More Vision 2'
(can enlarge to full-screen)

"How can retailers and urban developers reach out and engage with [the] influential yet fickle urban tribe?

"... David Atkins, CEO of Hammerson [says] that developers and investors need to be aware of the changing needs of Citysumers [sic]. In Birmingham, the company's flagship Bullring [sic] centre had six restaurants when it opened:
"At Aberdeen, which is half the size, we started with 26."

The Observer: "Park Hill estate, Sheffield's notorious landmark, gets £100m revamp"

Link to The Observer/Guardian

"Developers take gamble on formerly run-down housing estate, with first renovated apartments going on sale in October.

"For many people in Sheffield over recent decades, Park Hill was the last place you would want to end up living as a social tenant. It thus sounds little short of a miracle that around 1,000 people have expressed an interest in buying a flat in the vast postwar housing estate, a fortnight before the homes even go on sale."

Link to later 'The Guardian' comment.

2011-09-21

Dept. for Transport new report: "Green Light for Light Rail"

Report design in 2011 Austerity Britain
Link to DfT summary web page

"Whether it is labelled light rapid transit, light rail or tram, this mode of transport is popular with passengers. It is also good for economic growth and good for reducing carbon, both key objectives of the Coalition Government.

"During more than a century of development, light rail has proved itself an effective and efficient means of taking large numbers of passengers directly into and around the heart of a city, connecting communities and supporting businesses. The fact that, even against a uniquely difficult financial backdrop, we have announced since May 2010 our financial support for a number of light rail extensions in England demonstrates very clearly our belief in the benefits that light rail can provide."

BBC: "Car fumes 'raise heart attack risk for six-hour window' "

Link to BBC web site

"Breathing in heavy traffic fumes can trigger a heart attack, say UK experts. Heart attack risk is raised for about six hours post-exposure, and goes down again after that, researchers found.

"They say in the British Medical Journal that pollution probably hastens rather than directly cause attacks. But repeated exposure is still bad for health, they say, substantially shortening life expectancy, and so the advice to people remains the same - avoid as far as is possible."

Evening Standard: "More than a million visit Westfield in first week" (Tumbleweed blows across Brent Cross)

Link to Evening Standard

"The huge new Westfield mall in Stratford has smashed all records in its first week, by attracting more than one million shoppers. 

"The crowds have been so enormous that the main entrance to the £1.45 billion centre next to the Olympic Park had to be shut for an hour on Saturday. 

"The million mark was reached in seven and a half days, easily beating the ten days it took sister-mall Westfield London, in White City, to reach the same milestone."


Link to the 'Brent Cross Coalition' map for

2011-09-16

"Shopping Centre developers prune project plans" (it's not about prunes)

Link to web site

" A lot of schemes in the pipeline that were planned to be very large are now coming down in size, ... Risk-averse developers are casting a wary eye to looming UK economic headwinds, in the form of stunted growth, a bleak retail environment, and weak consumer confidence.

"Many are revising down their mall development budgets and plans, as well as reworking tenant mixes, to add more restaurants, and replacing highly incentivised anchor tenants with clusters of smaller tenants, that may provide a better rental income."

"Developers who have retained their original project plans have taken steps to hedge against the weak retail environment, by seeking adequate prelets before restarting construction."

David Atkins, European Public Real Estate Association Chairman, and CEO of Hammerson



"Hammerson CEO David Atkins, recently appointed as Chairman of the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA), shares his views on his company's market segment outlook, as well as his new role, and priorities within EPRA.

"The interview takes place at the occasion of the EPRA annual conference, held on 1-2 September 2011 in London."




"We could see a further divergence of prime and secondary real estate."

[In which category do you place Brent Cross, David?
And other local shopping areas?
(By the way, you really must learn to smile more.)]

Hammerson's Timon Drakesmith Shares the Pain

Link to web site

"Timon Drakesmith, Hammerson's Financial Director, bought 50,000 shares in the company on the 14th September." 




"Drakesmith will be glad he didn't rush into buying the shares following his appointment in June. They they were sitting close to 500p at that time, before taking a sharp dive in line with broader markets amid worries over the state of the global economy."

Friend of the Earth: "Help stop the planning free-for-all"

Link to Friends of the Earth

"The Government claims that the existing rules don't work because developers need a free rein to 'build what they like, where they like, when they like'.

"But its proposed changes could derail the planning of new green industries and decent affordable homes - and push through short-sighted developments, like supermarkets and incinerators."

2011-09-15

Saracens's new web site promotes Copthall Plan

(The Broken Barnet web site discusses punctuation of plural possessive, but Saracens is singular, so it's please yourself, Mrs Angry.)

Link to web site

"The stadium, currently home to Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, is proposed to become an international level athletics venue as well as being an outstanding community sports hub and Premiership rugby ground.

"The scheme will refurbish and improve an existing sports venue, whilst keeping essentially the same footprint. Our team and supporters will only be at Barnet Copthall for up to 16 days per year, with the planned all-weather pitch being available to local clubs and schools throughout the year."

Barnet Times



(Click on image to enlarge, and usually again to magnify)

2011-09-14

The Guardian: "Call this planning reform? It's a recipe for civil war"

Link to The Guardian

"The government's great planning reform has veered way off course, and needs steering back to sanity. It responds to no national calamity, and there is no public gain to the reform itself. An updating of the system in the local government department was hijacked by a group of 'practitioners', mostly builders and developers, and slid into print.

"The problem now is that the chancellor, George Osborne, and his planning secretary, Eric Pickles, have pinned their colours to this dreadful document in the Financial Times, of all places, as a 'battle for young people's future prosperity and quality of life'."




Link to article
Plus: "We need more homes, not baffling desperation"

"England not only needs to build more it has to build better. The danger is that the government will unleash a free-for-all, says Peter Hetherington.

In desperation, Eric Pickles's beleaguered department for communities and local government has produced a dismal attempt at rebuttal seemingly at odds with its own  national planning policy framework (NPPF). Unbelievably, it claimed that the framework 'puts local people in the driving seat of decision-making ... communities will have the power to decide the areas they wish to see developed'."

[Updated] The Independent: "Architects slam 'shameful shoe-box homes' "

Link to web site

"Architects have criticised the "shameful shoe-box homes" being built in Britain today, saying many are too small for family life.

"In reports published today, Riba chief executive Harry Rich said:
"Our homes should be places that enhance our lives and well-being.

However, as our new research confirms, thousands of cramped houses - shameful shoe-box homes - are being churned out all over the country, depriving households of the space they need to live comfortably and cohesively."



BBC: "Architects say new houses are 'shameful shoebox homes' "

Link to report and video

The Independent: "Mall stories: Lost in floorspace"

Link to web site

"Service corridors in every centre, whether it's a tired Eighties construction or a Westfield-style mega mall, are similar: bare breezeblock walls, strip fluorescent lighting, industrial sized rodent traps and occasional foul exhaust wafts from the ventilation system. The transition from the airy atriums, softly-lit galleries and water features of the main centre to its backstage area can be a jarring experience. Shopping centre workers are constantly reminded that they are the below stairs personnel.

"[But] I'm not sure there is anything very edifying about sneering at those who choose to spend their leisure time in shopping centres. I couldn't definitively say that marvelling over the textiles in a National Trust property, or installing garden decking is necessarily a better way to pass the afternoon.

"I think the problem with shopping centres is that despite, or perhaps because of, their size and ubiquity they escape or beguile our gaze. They present themselves as welcoming, democratic and fun experiences, but anyone who looks closely will see that the reality is far more complex and fascinating."

BBC: "Government to 'speed up infrastructure spending'."

Link to BBC web site

"Investment in 40 major infrastructure projects, such as Crossrail and new broadband networks, is to be speeded up by the government, Nick Clegg is expected to announce later.

"Mr Clegg will say that faster investment in infrastructure improvements will lay 'the foundations for long-term growth', but that the government had to be 'ruthless' in what projects it identified."

"Mr Clegg will add: 
"[It will be] roads and rail, so manufacturers can transfer goods, better broadband, so small high-tech companies can flourish, and renewable energy, so low-carbon industry can too."


We say: All Hammerson offers north London is a grab for short-term profits, abandonment of the no-public-subsidy promise, and lots and lots of road congestion!

2011-09-13

BBC: "Urbanisation's varying impacts on ecosystem services"

Link to BBC web site
(access to other sites there)

"Our two scenarios - 'densification' and 'sprawl' - were based on classifications used in the 'UK Land Cover Map', in which urban areas were divided into either 'dense urban' or 'suburban' housing.

"Dr Eigenbrod told BBC News:
"We assumed under the 'sprawl' scenario that, in order to accommodate the growing population, the majority of people would want to live within an area of suburban housing densities, rather than dense urban conditions.

Then it was possible to calculate how much extra land was required, in order to accommodate the increase in people."

"Under the 'densification' scenario, this process was reversed.

"The team figured that densification policies would firstly try to increase the density of existing cities, meaning that suburban areas would become locations with dense urban housing.

"Dr Eigenbrod suggested:
"This would mean that there would be less or no green space, but the cities would not expand in order to accommodate the population growth,

The challenge is to have smart cities that are quite dense so they do not take up too much space, and do not have the disadvantages of sprawls (longer commuting distances, etc.), but still have enough green spaces that give all these benefits for people living there, including flood mitigation services.

There is an opportunity here, with clever planning, to try and maximise the benefits identified from both scenarios."

BBC: "Westfield: Crowds rush as 'mega mall' opens near Olympic park"

Link to BBC web site

"Shoppers ran towards the stores as the doors to Westfield Stratford City, located next to the Olympic Park in east London, were opened.

"The £1.45bn complex houses more than 300 shops, 70 restaurants, a 14-screen cinema, three hotels, a bowling alley and the UK's largest casino."

See also: 
and:

Tuesday 13th: Westfield Stratford opens today, with excellent public transport links! (on Planet Hammerson, an angel sheds a little tear)

All lines lead to Stratford
 (and to White City/Shepherds Bush)
Click on the image to enlarge

Hammerson should avoid trying to contact Barnet Planning and Regeneration today
- in the morning, there's a possible lockout,
and in the afternoon, a strike!

Latest: Barnet Times:
"Council tells strikers to go home"

2011-09-12

Planning minister's in pact with developers ("Sainsbury's, Grosvenor Estates, Quintain Estates, Land Securities") over reforms

"Greg Clark, the planning minister, privately has urged property developers to lobby David Cameron, amid concerns that his planning reforms will be blocked, according to a leaked email seen by The Telegraph."
 
(Link to Daily Telegraph)

"A leaked email will add to growing fears that the minister has become too close to the property industry, and is working alongside developers to force through reforms, which establish a 'presumption in favour of sustainable development'. 

"Developers who were sent the email include Sue Willcox, head of planning at Sainsbury's; Niall Tipping from Grosvenor Estates; Nigel Hawkey, head of planning at Quintain Estates; and Emma Cariaga, head of strategic projects at Land Securities.

"Disclosure of the message comes after The Telegraph revealed that the Conservatives had accepted millions of pounds from developers – and a special club had been set up that allowed developers to effectively buy places at meetings with ministers and senior Tories."

2011-09-11

Land Securities, Hammerson, Westfield, Lend Lease and Grosvenor ask Clegg for "help to revive town centres" (Tom Lehrer: "It was at that moment that satire died")

Link to web site

"The UK's top property companies have called on the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, to introduce a tax scheme to start development in deteriorating town centres. 

"Alistair Parker, a partner in development and planning at property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, said:
"In the current climate, the investment value of schemes is often insufficient for the private sector to fund both the costs of the schemes themselves and the associated public infrastructure works, either through investment capital funding, or short-term debt."
"Some retail experts have blamed new developments for blighting existing shopping areas, but property companies argue that older buildings are often not the right size or in the right location for retailers and are impossible to let in their current state."



Plus: "Osborne signals U-turn on economy with growth plan"

Link to article

"George Osborne is drawing up plans for a major growth package to boost the British economy, in what critics will say is a significant shift from his Plan A of austerity and spending cuts.

"One cabinet minister said: "You do what you can to really move along infrastructure investment. There's vast infrastructure needs, transport, energy, broadband, all the rest of it."

The Observer: "Stratford's Westfield shopping mall chiefs pin hopes on euro tourists"

Link to The Observer

"The massive new Westfield Stratford City mall – with its 300 shops, 70 restaurants and bars, a 17-screen cinema and 1.9m sq feet of retail space – opens on Tuesday in Stratford at the site of next year's Olympic Games, at a time when one in seven shops in Britain are boarded up as retailers struggle. 

"Richard Dodd of the British Retail Consortium said:  
"Any retailer or developer would want to be able to choose a time to open, and we wouldn't choose the conditions we have now. But that doesn't mean that if they knew in the past what it would be like now they would have cancelled."







David Mitchell: "Is your high street boarded up? Blame yourself for shopping online" 

Link to Observer
"Is there no solution to the menace of internet shopping and out-of-town malls? "I went to Westfield in Shepherd's Bush recently. It was a disconcerting experience because it wasn't nearly as unpleasant as I'd hoped. It's quite light and airy, very convenient and usable. It has the slightly unreal quality of a peace-loving planet from a Star Trek movie. I hated that I didn't hate it. Even as a non-driver, I could see no obvious reason to shop in Oxford Street instead (let alone the Kilburn High Road). 

"That's what's so frightening. I don't think many of us want to live in a country where the retail hearts of our inner cities wither and die, where those without cars have access only to Londis and Ladbrokes and where urban living is reduced to a sanitised suburb, an air-conditioned complex of chain stores and a ring-road in between – a sort of narrow gauge version of the midwest."

Sunday Telegraph: "Coalition's push for localism is undermined by planning inspectors"

Link to Sunday Telegraph

"The Coalition's pledge to give local communities more control over development in their area is being undermined by Government inspectors who are telling councils to allow more house building. 

"Ben Cowell, director of external affairs at the National Trust, said:
"Even in the midst of a public consultation on planning, and before people have had a chance to say what they think, the Government's proposed reforms are sending out a clear message to local plan makers and decision takers: they aren't really in the driving seat after all, and that the planning system should be used as a tool to 'proactively drive' development, and promote short-term economic gain above all else."

2011-09-10

Daily Telegraph: "Ministers pushing for reforms blocked building in their own constituencies"

Link to Daily Telegraph

"Conservative ministers pushing through controversial plans to relax Britain's planning laws are facing accusations of 'breathtaking hypocrisy' after it emerged that they had tried to block developments in their own constituencies.

"Greg Clark, the planning minister who is leading the reforms, fought the previous government's attempts to increase the number of homes in his Tunbridge Wells constituency, warning that the development would place 'yet more pressure on our precious green spaces', an investigation found.

"Grant Shapps, the housing minister, has also opposed plans for thousands of new houses in his Welwyn Hatfield constituency."



Plus: "Property developers pay for access to Conservatives"

Property developers are paying thousands of pounds 
for access to senior Conservative MPs, 
The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

2011-09-09

dash.com: Allotments and planning

Link to dash.com

"Communities Minister Andrew Stunell [right] has hit out at suggestions that the Government's 'National Planning Policy Framework' will threaten allotments.

"The National Trust has raised fears the planning reforms could limit communities' ability to create allotments, because the 'presumption in favour of sustainable development' would put the squeeze on suitable land."

Hammerson schedules trading statement (Should anyone worry?)

Link to web site
"Hammerson will issue an interim management statement for the period from the beginning of July, on 8 November."

The Guardian: "HMV boss: Westfield shopping centre hurts high street"

Link to The Guardian

Europe's largest shopping centre is to open next week in the shadow of the London Olympic park in east London. Simon Fox, the chief executive of HMV, said that the company was closing its existing Stratford shop to move into the new centre:
 "We are closing our Stratford high street store. That is the consequence of building shopping centres," adding that any money spent at the new centre "is not going to be incremental retail spend for the UK. It will come from elsewhere." 
"He said this was exactly what had happened when Westfield opened its centre in west London, damaging the retailers in the surrounding area of Shepherds Bush, Hammersmith and Ealing."

2011-09-08

Ham & High



(Click on image to enlarge, and usually again to magnify)

Daily Telegraph: "Planning reforms: councils risk free-for-all"


"Property developers could be free to build 'what they like, where they like' under the Coalition’s controversial planning rules, the Government has admitted." 

Link to Daily Telegraph

"[But] John Howell, Tory MP and adviser to planning minister Greg Clark, said: 'I have never held the view that the planning system should operate in a laissez-faire manner, or that that would be the consequence of our planning reforms. It is absurd to suggest that in the absence of a local plan, developers would have carte blanche to build what they like'” 

"The Daily Telegraph disclosed yesterday how planning inspectors had been told to start approving developments based on the draft policy, despite suggestions by Mr Clark that he would look at rewording the legislation. Last night, Sir Michael Pitt, the chief executive of the Planning Inspectorate, agreed to amend the advice, after being summoned to a meeting with ministers."

The Death of the High Street? - Three articles from 'The Guardian'


One third of shops on Wandsworth's once-bustling high street are now empty 

Link to article

"Wandsworth in south London – once famous for its brewery dating back to Tudor times, now infamous for the traffic jams where two main roads converge on a narrow junction – has achieved the dubious distinction of becoming one of the most depressed high streets in Britain, with almost a third of its shops empty. 

"Pat Child, of 'WG Child and Sons High Class Tailoring', who looks up at the portraits of his predecessors to work out that he's the fifth generation tailoring in Wandsworth, says they only survive through loyal customers worldwide, including a judge from Alaska. He dates the death of the high street much earlier, to the Arndale – now rebranded as Southside – shopping centre opening down the hill in the 1970s. 



Waitrose's new-look Canary Wharf store is luxurious … and optimistic 

Link to article

"It is an optimistic retailer which splashes out £15m on the refurbishment of a single store – and a brave one which tries to sell fine wines at up to £425 a bottle.

"But this is Waitrose, and the shop is its store at London's Canary Wharf, where banks including Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Citigoup and HSBC have headquarters."



High street vacancy rates: which towns have the most closed shops?

Link to article

Are high-streets coming to an end? The Local Data Company has released a report detailing empty shops across the country's high streets. It looks at vacancy rates in town centres, which are standing at around 14.5% across the country - three times what they were in 2008.

"This report suggests that high streets are being less used and are not recovering. The reasons? The state of the economy, the rise of alternative sales channels and the number of shops in the country. This is supported by Liz Peace, Chief Executive of the British Property Federation, who says small shops are not 'viable': 'We must find new ways to get people on to our high streets and in our local shops.' 

2011-09-07

BBC: "National Trust criticises draft planning reforms"

Link to BBC web site

"The National Trust has criticised draft planning reforms, saying the system should protect public interests, not primarily promote economic growth.

"Director Dame Fiona Reynolds said the government should clarify its position. The group is among critics of the draft National Planning Policy Framework, which intends to slash 1,000 pages of policy to just 52.

"Dame Fiona said she welcomed Mr Clark's invitation to the National Trust to engage in further dialogue about the changes. But she added:
"We're not prepared to enter into such talks until we have a clear statement, from the highest levels of government, clarifying that the planning system is not there principally to promote economic development."

The Guardian: "Localism bill: conservation and Conservatives"

Link to web site
"All governments face backbench rebellions, some more disturbing than others. The trickiest are those exposing a deep underlying collision between philosophies. The present dispute in the Conservative party about relaxing planning laws could prove to fit this category. 

"Under the banner 'Hands Off Our Land', the Daily Telegraph is running the sort of affronted campaign it normally mounts against socialists."