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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 3h

If the roof eaves haven't been extended to cover the new insulation - then they haven't just failed to identify a problem, they've caused it (by adding the insulation, making the wall thicker)

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 5h

Thanks. Will have a read

Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 5h

The fact that homeowners are commissioning something they themselves don't understand well, and (often) not paying for it themselves also means they're not good at checking the quality of what is installed. I'm not sure council-employed installers would help that one either.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 5h

Potentially. Depends if the past mistakes were caused by cowboy firms who knew they were doing a shoddy job and wanted to take the money and run, or a lack of understanding across the sector about how cladding affects the breathability of a building. My understanding is that the latter is an issue.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 6h

That's a very odd view of ecology as something that can only be preserved or lost, never created or improved.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 6h

You could - and I would support our Government's foreign aid budget being reinstated.

But fair enough that the UK government spends most of its budget on UK transport/nature/whatever.

Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 6h

I do agree with you about the tunnels to preserve views being a complete waste of money - not to say horrible for the thousands of people per hour who have to sit in a train in the dark, rather than looking out over the nice countryside.

Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 6h

If you had £100m and wanted to prioritise only bats, you could. You could do so much with that amount of money! You could create new habitats, manage nature reserves, buy up land to devote to nature, a whole load of stuff. And probably have some left for Northumbrian peat bogs too.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 6h

I think you've identified the challenge there - councils don't generally employ people with the skills to do this kind of work. I'm interested - What makes you think they'd do a better job than the private sector has (apart from this being a very low bar...) given no expertise?

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 7h

They look to me to be moderately useful at speeding things up a bit. Might have helped more 10 years ago - but the biggest barrier currently to housebuilding is usually viability rather than planning. Agree it's not ideal to be adding in amendments at a late stage. Means inadequate scrutiny.

Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 7h

That's just mapping who is a homeowner and in which periods house prices went up isn't it?

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 7h

Not at all - you'd be in a situation similar to what the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will allow - where developers pay into a fund which can be used for the best possible outcomes for nature, to offset any damage that's caused by the development.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 9h

This can be the case for older people too. My gran shared her pin with her (thankfully lovely) carer for years because she couldn't get to the cash machine any more.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 19h

It's the same for landlords. And does mean that small, amateur (lazy) employers or landlords can end up discriminating by choosing people who they think are a safe bet to be British so they don't need to bother with ID checks on the right to work/rent.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 19h

ID isn't legally needed for employment. An employer would be breaking the law if they employ someone without the right to work, but they can take a chance if they want. They're not breaking any laws by not checking (and many small employers won't bother for someone who looks/sounds British).

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 20h

I think you'd be hard pushed to find an ecologist who would claim that the bat structure was the best way to use £100m for the benefit of nature.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

Broadly speaking, yes.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

I think you're splitting hairs as to whether it's an above-ground tunnel or a structure. This is what it looks like:

Picture shows an above-ground tunnel, built over the railway and big enough for trains to travel through.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

Though the bat tunnel/structure did also add £100m to the costs of HS2. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Bat safety barrier will cost £100m, says HS2 chairman

Sir Jon Thompson tells a conference there is

www.bbc.co.uk

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

That does sound crazy. Though have to say both mine did ski trips (by coach) and learned to ski and absolutely loved it. I can't ski so it was an opportunity I could not easily have given them myself.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

I think that's the critical factor really - you have *so* many more hours in the day when your kids leave home and a) don't need feeding and b) don't need anything else either. A great time to take up elaborate cooking if you enjoy it (but less use if you want to model healthy eating for your kids)

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

I don't think housebuilders want to be in the position they're in - they've had massive extra costs heaped on them in the last few years and the market has stalled. They won't build at a loss.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 3d

The ban on non-locals buying newbuild homes of course does nothing to stop people buying second homes - they just buy up the existing housing stock, as older houses tend to be more popular as holiday homes anyway.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 3d

From www.telegraph.co.uk/money/proper....

Access Restricted

www.telegraph.co.uk

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 3d

So Farage wants to scrap double council tax on second homes - a policy that's been working well to raise more money for councils and also free up more homes for locals. And instead ban new homes from being sold to anyone not already local - a policy shown to grind housebuilding to virtually zero?

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