Campaigners are calling today for the Government to listen to the public and to drop what they call, ‘ill-conceived proposals for an unnecessary and expensive new planning quango.’ The Campaign For The Protection of Rural England is also urging the Government not to impose airport expansion without a proper public debate.

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Results from a ten-year research project have shown that landfill sites can be restored and turned into woodland, parkland or farmland. It could mean an end to the common practice of closed sites simply being covered with a compacted clay cap to seal up the waste they contain.

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This report from the Department of Work and Pensions found that sub-market rents and security of tenure represent a work incentive, but the social housing system is not run in a way that seeks to maximise this potential. There needs to be some motivation for social landlords to deliver employment support and the role that they might play needs to be defined.

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