Nine out of ten English local authorities are meeting or exceeding their household recycling targets, but councils themselves say more still needs to be done to avoid fines for putting too much rubbish into landfill. The new figures show that as well as meeting targets, in 90 per cent of council areas there was less black bag waste to collect.

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Planners and transport experts are being told today that strongly held views on road development have been coloured by personal experiences, popular beliefs, comment in the media and propaganda rather than facts. In what it calls a ‘myth busting paper’ the RAC foundation challenges commonly-held opinions on the subject.

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By Stuart Smith

Obesity amongst children and young people is on the increase nationwide, but the National Healthy Schools Programme is proving a catalyst for positive action, enabling schools to tackle the issue in a more holistic way. In Liverpool nearly one in five of 10 and 11 year-olds are now classified as obese and nearly 10% of reception children at the age of 5 are currently obese. The author describes how Liverpool has set a course to reduce obesity ahead of government targets and explains how it hopes to hit the targets on time.

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