Aug232017

Press release: Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme wins large project of the year at NEC Awards

Environment Agency

Phase 1 of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme has scooped the Large Project of the Year award at this year’s NEC awards in London.

The awards were announced at a recent NEC Users’ Group Annual Seminar.

The driving force behind the award winning scheme is a dedicated project team made up of experts from Leeds City Council, Environment Agency, BMMjv (a joint venture between BAM Nuttall and Mott MacDonald) and ARUP.

Phase 1 of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme is one of the largest river flood defence projects in the country. Led by Leeds City Council in partnership with the Environment Agency, it aims to provide an increased level of protection against flooding from the River Aire and Hol Beck for 3,500 residential properties and businesses in the city centre. The scheme also includes flood risk reduction at Woodlesford.

One of the key aspects of the scheme is the replacement of Victorian weirs at Crown Point and Knostrop in the city, with innovative moveable weirs, which are being used for the first time as a flood defence in the UK. The new moveable weirs can be lowered in flood conditions to reduce river levels and the threat of flooding. The use of this technology has meant lower flood defence walls elsewhere in the city, to help preserve connectivity with the waterfront.

The floods experienced in December 2015 reinforced just how important this scheme is for the city of Leeds. Widespread flooding from some of the highest river levels ever recorded affected more than 2,000 residential properties and nearly 600 businesses.

The scheme was recognised for its ‘one team’ ethos with members of all partner organisations working side by side on a daily basis. This collaborative approach between client, contractor and consultant puts the project at the forefront of contract management, resulting in a project which is on programme and within budget despite being affected by some of the worst flooding Leeds has experienced.

The NEC Awards recognise excellence in project delivery and showcase examples of good practice through collaboration from across the world.

The site works for Phase 1 of the Leeds Flood Alleviation scheme started in January 2015 and are scheduled to be completed this September.

The project team is currently working on options for Phase 2 of the scheme, which will adopt a catchment-wide approach meaning the entire River Aire catchment area will be considered to help reduce flood risk in Leeds. Consultation on potential options is due to be carried out from September.

Aug232017

Hawkhill environmental improvements #dundeewestend

Fraser Macpherson
Many residents have commented to me what a good job the council’s Neighbourhood Services has made of the corner site environmental improvement in Hawkhill at the junction with Bellfield Street – opposite the Whitehall Theatre :
I am pleased the council agreed to my request that this site was not sold off to a property developer some months ago and the environmental improvements clearly make the point that keeping the site in public ownership was the right thing to do.

Aug232017

Revealed: A million households face unaffordable mortgage costs – Healey

Labour

New
analysis by Labour has revealed that almost a million (972,000) households in
England are paying more than a third of their incomes in mortgage costs – an
internationally recognised standard of housing affordability – despite record
low interest rates.

In
response, Labour has pledged to provide 100,000 new affordable FirstBuy homes
for first-time buyers over its first five years in government – a new class of
housing sold at prices set so that mortgage costs are affordable to households
on local average incomes.

Labour’s
new analysis drawn from the official English Housing Survey comes after
official figures earlier in the year revealed that the number of households
headed by someone aged under 45 who owns their own home has fallen by an
astonishing 900,000 since 2010 to just 44 per cent.

Current
Conservative policies to help first-time buyers are failing, with no fresh
ideas and Ministers stalling on plans they’ve previously announced:

–      
Almost
three years after announcing the Government’s flagship new ‘starter
homes’  not a single one has been built

–      
Help
to Buy has been heavily criticised for not focusing on first-time buyers on
ordinary incomes, with the majority of recipients saying they could have bought
a property anyway

Statistics
released earlier this year revealed that the level of homeownership in Britain
has now fallen to a 30-year low.

Labour’s
Shadow Secretary of State for Housing John Healey MP said:

“The cost
of the housing crisis means that young people looking to buy a home of their
own are being locked out of the housing market.

“After
seven years of failure, the Conservatives have no plan to fix the housing
crisis. Homeownership has hit a 30-year low and the number of under-45s who own
their own home has fallen by over 900,000.

“Labour
would bring in a big New Deal for first time buyers including ‘first dibs’ on
new homes built in the local area and 100,000 new discount FirstBuy Homes which
are priced at a level linked to local average incomes. Labour offers help to
the many aspiring first-time buyers on ordinary incomes and hope that things
can change.”

Aug232017

Keir Starmer commenting on the Government’s latest Brexit policy paper on enforcement and dispute resolution

Labour

Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow
Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, commenting on the Government’s
latest Brexit policy paper on enforcement and dispute resolution, said:

“Any
final deal with the EU that protects jobs and the economy will require an
effective and robust dispute resolution mechanism. This will inevitably involve
some form of independent court.

“The
Prime Minister’s ideological insistence that there can be no future role
whatsoever for the ECJ or any similar court-like body risks preventing the deal
Britain needs. It has already held back a sensible and early agreement on
issues such as Euratom and EU citizens.

“But the
repeated reference to ending the “direct jurisdiction” of the ECJ is
potentially significant. This appears to contradict the red line laid out in
the Prime Minister’s Lancaster House speech and the government’s white paper,
which stated there could be no future role of the ECJ and that all laws will be
interpreted by judges in this country.”