Archives for November 18th, 2005

MAPPING SOCIAL INEQUALITY WITH CENSUS DATA

Features, PublicNet: 18 November, 2005

By Ben Wheeler, Mary Shaw, Richard Mitchell and Danny Dorling. The 2001 Census has created a rich seam of detail about the UK population. From their mining expedition the authors have mapped social inequality in terms of geography and other factors. They found that the law of inversion prevails: fewer doctors in areas of ill health and areas which have the highest proportions of young people with no qualifications have the fewest teachers available. The picture presented is one of continued unequal distribution of resources and prospects across the country in the 21st century.



SCHOOL COUNCILS MADE COMPULSORY IN WALES

Headlines, PublicNet: 18 November, 2005

Schools in Wales are to be the first in Britain where pupils will be given a statutory right to have their say in the decisions that affect them and how the schools they attend are run.The Welsh Assembly Government has approved regulations requiring the governing bodies of all maintained schools, other than nursery and infant schools, to establish school councils. The move is part of the Assembly Government’s wider agenda to give children and young people a voice and to enable them to participate in decisions that affect them.

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COUNCILS URGED TO REJECT BAD DESIGNS FOR NEW HOMES

Headlines, PublicNet: 18 November, 2005

Local planning authorities are facing a call today to have the confidence to reject bad design when they are considering applications for private housing developments. It comes from CABE – the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment – which says 94 per cent of new private housing built over the last three years in the north of England fails to measure up on design quality.The figure comes from the latest audit published today by CABE, which has reviewed the design quality of 93 schemes built by the 10 largest volume house builders in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber regions. The report follows a similar audit in London and the South East last year.The northern audit rates almost a quarter of the new housing as ‘poor’ and as further 70 per cent as ‘average’, leaving a mere 6 per cent as ‘good’ or ‘very good’. The figures, CABE says, mean there is no north-south divide on housing quality because 22 per cent of new homes in its earlier study were judged to be ‘poor’.

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