Richard Hebditch

English Housing Survey 2021 to 2022: second homes - fact sheet

2.1 million households reported having at least one second property
482,000 of second homes (ie not let out) were in the UK
13% overall growth in number of homes in previous decade
www.gov.uk/government/s...

How does private renting fuel wellbeing poverty?  | PBE What does a decent life look like in the UK today? A safe, settled home is a keystone on which individuals and families build a decent quality of life, good health and the connections with place and p...

"private renters are three times more likely than homeowners to be in “wellbeing poverty,” scoring 4 or below out of 10 when asked how satisfied they are with life"

Research also includes financial cost of poor wellbeing
pbe.co.uk/insights/how...

Few landlords see their role as a residential landlord, instead role is investment for pension

45% of landlords owned one rental property, representing 21% of tenancies.
A further 38% owned between two and four rental properties, representing 30% of tenancies.
17% of landlords owned five or more properties each, representing 49% of tenancies.

English Private Landlord Survey 2024: main report

The number of households in the [private rented] sector rose by 52% between 2008-09 and 2023-24, from 3.1 million to 4.7 million households.
www.gov.uk/government/s...

An occasional thread on housing related bits (for my benefit as a place to put them)...

Low-emission vehicles eligible for a plug-in grant Check which electric (plug-in) and hybrid vans, trucks and motorbikes are available for a grant.

List of eligible cars from www.gov.uk/plug-in-vehi...

Band 1 cars The maximum discount available for cars assessed as Band 1 is £3,750. There are no cars eligible for a Band 1 discount currently. Band 2 cars The maximum discount available for cars assessed as Band 2 is £1,500. The eligible vehicles are: Citroën ë-C3 and Citroën ë-C3 Aircross Citroën ë-C4 and Citroën ë-C4 X Citroën ë-C5 Aircross Citroën ë-Berlingo

List of which electric cars are eligible for subsidy below (none at the higher rate).

With so few cars confirmed so far, there is a risk of creating consumer uncertainty about the subsidy, which would not be helpful and could mean decisions to buy EVs are delayed.

This is amongst the most impactful two minutes of broadcasting I’ve ever seen.

By Emma Murphy, International Editor, ITV News. #Gaza

Actually good news for the other French car maker - first models approved for subsidy are all Citroen
www.gov.uk/government/n...

Economists raise concerns over airport expansion in letter to Rachel Reeves Letter comes after government receives proposals to build Heathrow’s third runway

"Government’s support for expansion appears grounded in assumptions and industry vibes more so than evidence and research" - Alex Chapman from @neweconomics.bsky.social on letter from economists questioning economic benefits of Heathrow expansion
neweconomics.org/2025/08/econ...

At the heritage

Could probably make same case for current leadership of Labour. And centre-left pressure groups and think tanks are probably less linked to wider social forces than they used to be, instead funded by a few donors, whether individuals like Clive Cowdery or Lord Sainsbury or UK or US foundations.

Who can rescue the Right? | Henry Hill | The Critic Magazine With the Conservative Party on its knees, many hope or expect that Reform UK will replace it as the major right-wing party in British politics.

This is a good read on how the right in the UK is no longer linked to social forces in wider society and so has "become extremely deferential to polite opinion, as expressed by innumerable pressure groups"
thecritic.co.uk/who-can-resc...

Manchester University Press - Expansion rebellion Expansion rebellion - Browse and buy the Paperback edition of Expansion rebellion by Celeste Hicks

If you want to know why the previous 2 attempts to build a 3rd runway never got off the ground, the history is here
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526162359/

Heathrow Airport's third runway expansion plans to cost £49bn Heathrow says expansion is

This feels a bit like #Heathrow already know the plan is so outrageous it will likely suffocate like HS2. But let's see how realistic a £50bn scheme is
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Optics over outcomes: How the Chancellor’s airport expansion plans don't add up By the government's own analysis, expansion will not improve outcomes for communities across the UK

📄 Read @alchap.bsky.social's breakdown of why the economic case for the expansion of Heathrow is overstated, and "the numbers should be taken with a pinch of salt" in his NEF blog:

Optics over outcomes: How the Chancellor’s airport expansion plans don’t add up
neweconomics.org/2025/01/opti...

More on how to tie all if it together through a clearer statutory purpose www.rtpi.org.uk/policy-and-r...

Planning's purpose should be written into law, whatever property lobbyists say, by Cliff Hague

The planning system is getting more & more complex (NSIPs, NPSs, sub-regional SDSs, local plans, sectoral plans like SSEP, NDMPs, neighbourhood plans). So makes sense to give it some coherence through statutory purpose across all of these plans and regimes
www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1927...

New as in a couple of weeks' old. Written by @mattfinch00.bsky.social for @theaef.bsky.social

Not the focus of this report, but there are also the additional land use changes that come from feedstocks for SAF (including from additional renewables needed if using green hydrogen)

Is SAF the most efficient path to economy-wide decarbonisation? - Aviation Environment Federation The UK’s SAF mandate came into operation in early 2025. It supports the use of primarily waste-based feedstocks to create jet fuel, creating a “closed loop” of carbon emissions that, …

Heathrow expansion will blow UK's carbon budgets (esp with Luton & Gatwick expansion too).
Sustainable aviation fuel is the Government's supposed answer to this.
But SAF is v expensive & comes with a heap of problems, as set out in new report here: www.aef.org.uk/2025/07/18/i...

I think that's true - underneath the railway bridge near us is darker now with LEDs focusing the light downwards. On a related street lighting note, I always enjoy the fact that the conservation zone end of our street gets Victorian style lamps (casting light all around) while we get the cheap ones

There's also the safety perception benefit from LEDs compared to sodium, where people find it harder to see people's faces so assess perceived threats (though the tendency to have fewer street lights when switching to brighter LEDs probably counteracts this)

98%

That's the decrease in the annual number of single-use plastic bags in the UK since a 5p charge started 10 years ago (it's now 10p)

Not all environmental problems are that easy to tackle, but change is possible

Resharing the Mail's 2015 splash, which has aged well

www.gov.uk/government/p...

"Developers also appear to be acting ahead of possible policy tightening in late 2025"

New home plans surge by a third - Specify Magazine New figures provide a promising snapshot of planning activity in England, revealing that new home applications increased by nearly a third between April and June 2025, compared to the same period in 2...

New report suggesting planning applications increasing including that "we’re seeing an increase...especially in areas where Local Plans are under review or recently withdrawn", suggesting developers spotting chance for sites that might not normally get approved
specifymagazine.co.uk/2025/07/30/n...

- Over half of disabled drivers struggle with ultra-rapid charger cables, compared to just 21% of other drivers
- 53% of disabled drivers report at least some difficulty with rapid (up to 50kW) chargers, compared to 10% of other drivers

New data highlights action needed on EV charging accessibility | EVA England New EVA England report reveals heavy EV charging cables are creating barriers for disabled drivers, urging Government to act on accessibility standards.

Barriers to EV charging aren't just about numbers of chargers but the actual ability of people to use them - useful findings from @evaengland.org.uk published last week on how disabled people find charging
www.evaengland.org.uk/2025/07/25/n...

Carbon capture process "results in a net position of 1,437kg emitted per 1,000kg produced. So not the 78% saving in carbon emissions the story claims, but an increase of 43.7%."

As part of @granthamcsf.bsky.social's #Greenwatch project we cast our eye on headlines and claims and see if they stack up. In this article we investigated an idea for decarbonising shipping and using lifecycle analysis and some simple chemistry looked at the numbers.