Revolting behaviour

Louise Casey, head of the government’s antisocial behaviour taskforce, is well known for her outspoken criticism of yobbish behaviour, so audiences at the Delivering Sustainable Communities Summit in Manchester last week were surprised when she took on the role of a rabble-rouser herself. During a speech, she made an impassioned call for a “Maoist revolution” among deprived communities in the UK. Unluckily for her, the only other sign of reds in the room was that of embarrassed faces.

Falling flat

Also at last week’s summit, regeneration quango English Partnerships proudly unveiled its modern methods of constructing homes, which will now be used on site at the Allerton Bywater millennium community in Leeds. But not everyone was impressed: unconvinced about their sturdiness, one delegate muttered: “Anyone who wanted a bungalow should like them: all they’d need do is invite 20 people round and get them to jump up and down upstairs!”

Garage sale

The competition to build affordable houses for the lowest price possible is hotting up. Letting agents in Brighton have trumped deputy prime minister John Prescott’s plans for £60,000 houses, by putting a property on the market for a mere £50,000. The fact that it’s actually a garage shouldn’t deter people according to the agent, which advertises it as an “ideal first-time home complete with planning permission for conversion into a living space with roof top garden”. Nothing is mentioned about parking space, though.

Out by a country mile

Given that they’re in charge of the regions, you might expect the people at the ODPM to have a pretty good grasp of geography. Not so, it seems, when it comes to knowing the difference between town and countryside. When asked by South Cambridgeshire council for advice on rural regeneration, civil servants duly supplied a list of councils said to be tackling the same issue – one of which, apparently, is the London borough of Barnet.

Bon bon mot

The Thames Gateway delivery plans are like a box of chocolates, or something similar, according to Keith “Forrest Gump” Hill. The housing minister revealed his soft centre last week at the Delivering Sustainable Communities Summit in Manchester during a discussion on proposals for the Thames Gateway.

Hill explained he thinks the diagrams for the various delivery structures in the Thames Gateway resemble a “packet of M&Ms”.

Social Animal hopes that the plans are clear enough for those concerned – otherwise they could end up having Allsorts of problems.

Speaking of a forked tongue

Residents of Hove in Brighton be warned – you may unwittingly be playing host to a sizeable snake. An 18 ft pregnant python named Marylin, which was first reported missing three months ago and later presumed dead by wildlife experts, could still be roaming back gardens unnoticed.

According to local papers, a couple living in the area have found three feet of snake’s skin and two snake eggs hidden between their garden shed and compost heap. So keep your eyes peeled – or you could end up in a slippery situation.

Source

Housing Today