News UK January 2006

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City centres should stay ‘young, free and single’, January 11 2006
British city centre residents are predominantly young, single people, and most city centres cannot be made ‘family friendly’ places to live, according to new research published today by the Institute for Public Policy Research's (IPPR) Centre for Cities. The research examines the growth of city centre living outside London.

The report says planners and developers should turn their attention to the ‘doughnuts of deprivation’ in nearby inner suburbs. These areas are the priorities for regeneration, and can better accommodate the schools, healthcare, parks and shops that people want when they start families.

The report shows that city centre living grew significantly over the past 15 years. In total, around 30,000 people now live in the centres of Manchester and Liverpool. People living in the centre of cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Dundee are twice as likely to be single as the average Briton. Around two thirds are aged 18 to 34, compared with a quarter nationally. Half the people of working age living in Liverpool’s city centre are students. More than one third of working residents in Manchester and Liverpool city centres walk to work, compared to a national average around one in 10.

There is a ‘conveyor belt effect’ in city centres, with most people staying only a few years. A third of residents move in or out each year, around three times higher than the national average. IPPR press release / Regeneration, Urban & village design

Nominate the mighty oak as a national icon, January 11 2005
The Woodland Trust is urging its supporters to back the oak tree as a key cultural treasure: "They fired our furnaces, were the backbone of our homes, our ships and with their ancient spiritual links epitomise strength, good health and longevity - so now it’s time to recognise the impact of the oak on our cultural roots," via the Icons’ website at www.icons.org.uk

Icons: A Portrait of England: Is a two-year, £1m government-funded cultural project inviting the public to nominate the things they cherish most about England. Woodland Trust press release / Biodiversity

More research needed on wildlife, not less, January 9 2005
Friends of the Earth today urged the Government to reject proposals to close four of the UK's leading wildlife research labs, including Monks Wood research centre in Cambridgeshire, responsible for pioneering work on a wide range of ecological subjects, including the impacts of climate change.

The environmental campaign group has written to Secretary of State for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Alan Johnson and Margaret Beckett (DEFRA) urging them to block proposals for cost-savings by the Government-funded Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) which funds the Monks Wood research centre, which is internationally renowned as a centre of excellence in ecological research, as well as three other laboratories in Scotland, Dorset and Oxford.

The DTI is currently consulting on the proposals which will bring savings of around £2 million and affect some 200 jobs. The cuts are, however, estimated to cost £45 million to implement. A final decision is expected in March this year. FoE press release, Natural Environment Research Council press release / Biodiversity

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