Mind the gap British cities have much worse transport systems than the places they are twinned with.

In most of Europe the bigger a place is, the richer it is. The one big exception is the UK.

What explains our secondary cities' struggles?

www.samdumitriu.com/cp/193777284

Leeds and Dortmund are twinned, but in transport they're more like opposites. Dortmund has an 8-line light rail system, Leeds no mass transit.

Trams/metros:
Germany: 60
England: 7

Why? German cities approve and fund their transport, English cities need permission and money from Westminster.

ADD YOUR NAME: Give Mayors The Power To Build Give Mayors The Power To Build

Hoarding power in Westminster is making England's great cities poorer and harder to get around.

We can change this by giving mayors the power to approve and fund transport via the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.

Sign our petition.

www.britainremade.co.uk/mayors_power...

Leeds and Dortmund are twinned, but in transport they're more like opposites. Dortmund has an 8-line light rail system, Leeds no mass transit.

Trams/metros:
Germany: 60
England: 7

Why? German cities approve and fund their transport, English cities need permission and money from Westminster.

If it’s good enough for wind, it’s good enough for nukes Cutting red tape for offshore wind is welcome, it should apply to nuclear too

In response to the Fingleton Review, the Govt didn't commit to legislating to fix the Habs Regs to avoid things like fish discos/bat tunnels.

However, they are legislating to do just that for offshore wind.

Why is it one rule for wind and another for nuclear?

www.samdumitriu.com/p/if-its-goo...

Hi Richard good/bad news is we have two more of these!

How to Build New Trams in the UK and Get Britain Moving Cities across Europe are building trams at a rate not seen in nearly a century. Places that had torn up their tram tracks in the 1950s have realised they had made a mistake. Twenty-one French cities h...

Hi Simon, our wider thinking on trams is laid out here (funding ideas on page 5)

www.britainremade.co.uk/backontrack

Amendment 120B to English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill to English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament Lord Bassam of Brighton's amendment After Clause 30 (120B) to English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, proposed during Committee stage

projects - the mechanism for doing this was through an amendment to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. See here:

bills.parliament.uk/bills/4002/s...

Hi John, need to look into Nimes and Toulon - thanks @16leiba.bsky.social for raising. The stat we tend to use about Germany is that 60 cities there have trams or metros, compared to 7 in England. We're proposing that metro mayors would be able to raise or retain funds as well as approve 1/2

ADD YOUR NAME: Give Mayors The Power To Build Give Mayors The Power To Build

In France, every urban area with more than 150,000 residents has a tram or metro. In Britain, we have 30 cities of this size with no rapid transit.

Hoarding power over transport in Westminster is making England's cities poorer.

Sign the petition: www.britainremade.co.uk/mayors_power...

Graphic in the style of an association rules football head-to-head in which rail transport statistics show the differences between the cities of Lille in France and Birmingham in England. The design and colour scheme is made to look like the branding of Lille OSC and Aston Villa, who are playing in the Europa League on the night this post was sent. The statistics show that Lille is beating Birmingham on stations per population, stations in total, miles of track and annual journeys per person.

Birmingham is almost three times the size of Lille. But Lille is winning comprehensively when it comes to rail transport.

Why? Because English cities have to go to Westminster for money and permission to build.

We need to give mayors the power to build. Sign the petition below 👇

In the Guardian, I argue that Britain’s nature protections often lead to expensive, ineffective mitigations and, paradoxically, harm nature in the long run because they make it harder to build the clean energy infrastructure we need to tackle climate change.

How can we really protect Britain’s environment? Well-intentioned laws designed to safeguard nature frequently have the opposite effect

How can we really protect Britain’s environment?

Well-intentioned laws designed to safeguard nature frequently have the opposite effect, says @samdumitriu.bsky.social @britainremade.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

The Shoreditch Works application has taken 4 years and 9,000 pages of documents. Hackney Council has concluded what this project needs is… more documents.

Labour’s 1.5 million homes target is almost certainly not going to be reached A boom is possible, but it will be too little, too late for the target

NEW: Labour are on track to miss their 1.5 million home by a distance.

Our analysis of planning application data predicts only 800,000 homes will be built in England by 2029.

Just 3.4% of people in England live somewhere on track to meet their housing target.

www.samdumitriu.com/p/labours-15...

NEW: This government on track to build fewer homes than the last one.

They need ~45k planning applications a month for the 1.5m home target.

They're nowhere near it, and only on track to build 800,000.

We now need a sustained surge in building, Sam Richards tells @itvnews.bsky.social.

Scotland for Nuclear Energy Nuclear energy brings jobs, investment and clean power to Scotland.

Join the campaign by filling out the form at the bottom of this page.

www.newnuclearenergy.scot#supporters

Scotland For Nuclear Energy - Coalition Launch · Luma Join us for the launch of the Scotland For Nuclear Energy coalition campaign. Scotland has the sites, skills and nuclear energy heritage to play a major role…

Agree with the campaign? Join us at tonight's launch event in Glasgow.

luma.com/x6368f2f

'Scotland will be left behind unless SNP ends nuclear objection' Scotland risks being left behind in the world unless the Government urgently ends its opposition to nuclear energy, a coalition of businesses and…

How we're making the case:

- Nuclear energy is clean power that can complement Scotland's renewables

- New nuclear brings jobs and investment that can transform communities and set young Scots up for life

- Banning nuclear is deindustrialisation

www.heraldscotland.com/news/2582708...

Scotland will be left behind unless SNP ends nuclear objection, group warns Scotland for Nuclear Energy said the country could miss out on jobs and economic growth if it does not add nuclear to the power mix.

The communities that have hosted nuclear power are its strongest supporters.

"In the north Highlands, we have lived the reality of nuclear energy for decades and the transformative impact on our economy." - North Highland Chamber of Commerce.

www.the-independent.com/news/busines...

Scotland for Nuclear Energy Nuclear energy brings jobs, investment and clean power to Scotland.

Scotland has the sites, skills and nuclear energy heritage to play a major role in the global renaissance of nuclear energy.

Nations all over the world are exploring the next generation of nuclear energy technology. Scotland shouldn't be left out.

www.newnuclearenergy.scot

Logo for the Scotland For Nuclear Energy campaign.

Today we're part of the launch of Scotland For Nuclear Energy - a coalition of communities, businesses and campaigners calling on the Scottish Government to lift the ban on new nuclear power in Scotland.

More information and coverage of the launch below.

Would you say a 9,054-page planning application for an office block and some flats is:
A) Too long
B) About right
C) Not long enough
If you answered C, congratulations! You could work at Hackney Council.

Anatomy of a Planning Refusal When 7,500 pages isn’t enough detail

This is a must-read.

A forensic analysis of a planning application (and a report from planners recommending its refused).

Kafkaesque is over-used, but it is the perfect description of the process so far for the extremely popular Shoreditch Works scheme.

EMAIL YOUR MP: Don't U-Turn On Cheaper, Faster Nuclear Energy We can’t afford a U-turn the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce's recommendations must be accepted in full.

EMAIL YOUR MP: join the call for no U-turn on the Fingleton recommendations.

www.britainremade.co.uk/backthenucle...

An incredibly correct letter, signed by no less than ten former guests on YIMBY Pod/The Abundance Agenda!

Image shows the full text of the letter signed by 45 figures. The letter is too long for alt text, but can be summarised as defending the Fingleton review over a recent Wildlife Trusts report on these grounds: Some nature NGOs have now begun to campaign against recommendations 11, 12, and 19 of the review. These reforms would: · Remove the costly requirement for like-for-like on-site environmental mitigation (11) · Create a streamlined alternative pathway for compliance with the habitats regulation that would unlock significant funding for nature recovery (12) · Remove the vague National Park Duty introduced by the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 (19)

NEW: 45 leading figures from academia, business and politics tell Ed Miliband "Don't U-turn" on the commitment to implement every recommendation of the Fingleton Nuclear Regulatory Review.

Full letter below.

Is it me or is this really egregious?

Green NGOs have published a briefing claiming that the Fingleton Review into nuclear regulation made up a key case study.

The only problem is they didn't. And it isn't hard to check.

Hi John, we're just suggesting that sites where car parks make up more than 25% of the area get the brownfield discount to the Building Safety Levy - this would increase incentives building there (including demolishing existing buildings) as brownfield development is more expensive to do.

Britain’s latest renewables auction locks in higher prices. Britain just bought 8.4GW of wind power. Expect bills to go up.

NEW: Britain's latest CfD auction secured a record 8.4GW of wind capacity.

New projects will be awarded 20-year fixed-price contracts at £91 per MWh. The highest price 2015.

Why has wind power got more expensive and what will it mean for bills?

www.samdumitriu.com/p/britains-l...