Liam K McGrath

Melbourne Grove East Dulwich new paving, seats and plants

Cities around the world are calming their streets, making them safer and cleaner. This road in East Dulwich used to be a congested rat run. Great example of improving London for its residents and due for planting next month 🌳🌿⚘️

Massively frustrating. Thousands of people in insecure accomodation while acres of space next the the Elizabeth Line wasted. No more excuses - build or lose the land.

Given they have a massive majority and most people agree on this: can the government replace council tax and stamp duty with Land Value Tax and higher Capital Gains tax? Seems like there is agreement on this across the spectrum. Am I wrong?

I worked for TOCs and they were structurally disincentivised to improve inner London. Focus was on longer distance. Business cases to improve service or facilities at places like South Bermondsey never worked. Needs to be TfL.

Ilderton road is the stop that gains the most from Bakerloop. Loads of homes going up, the Tustin estate having more added, a new cycleway and Bakerloop. An exciting area. Its high council rent area so benefits won't all be lost to rents going up.b

Screenshot of map of locations of new towns

www.gov.uk/government/p... New Towns Taskforce report makes a compelling case and identifies some genuine new towns, and some urban extensions. Ease of land assembly & transport drive choices. The Crews Hill town could make a lot of money for the state if the land value uplift is taxed.

New express bus at Ilderton Road

Good to see the new Bakerloop bus with a decent number on board. I think it will need more bus priority, and bus stops set into the pavement to really zoom past stopping buses. But it has got quite far ahead of the 53 stopping bus I'm on. Time will tell. Loads of new flats at Ilderton Rd so needed.

Strong proposals to make taxes fairer for business and individuals while taking steps towards a more sensible system.

Farage vows to scrap indefinite leave to remain, placing thousands at risk of deportation Reform UK plans to force non-citizens to apply for visas with high salary thresholds and no access to NHS services

Thousands of Londoners have indefinite leave to remain.

They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city.

Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Alongside amazing music, food, craft stalls, SE1 Solar will be at the Bermondsey Street festival tomorrow Sat 20th. We can't help much with the music but we can help make with community energy 💡 bermondseystreetfestival.com

Wonderful Waterloo and South Bank Fun Day We invite you to Wonderful Waterloo and South Bank Fun Day to join your neighbours in shaping a sustainable heart of London.

💡SE1 solar will have a stall plus presenting on energy efficiency and community energy at Wonderful Waterloo on Sunday www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wonderful-...

Stockport interchange gardens and cycle path with rail viaduct in the background

Stockport interchange is fantastic. Massive bus station, elevated park, cycle route. In the background is the Stockport Viaduct which opened in 1840 and carries the mainline to Manchester on 11 million bricks. Best view of the interchange is from a train on the viaduct.

Council reluctantly grants permission for supermarket to use land as car park Ipswich Borough Council has granted planning permission for the East of England Co-op to use Burrell Road land as a temporary car park.

Not sure how a site like this (central, near station, riverside) isnt viable for housing. Give me a few square meters and I'll build my own place. www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/2540673...

‘A nuisance and an eyesore’: hire ebikes accumulate at London border between rival firms Chiswick Bridge now frontline of turf war as Lime bikes stop functioning when they cross from Richmond into Hounslow

Electric hire bikes, thanks to private sector innovation and investment, have transformed transport (for people that can use them) in areas where public transport isn't good (e.g. Peckham, Camberwell). We should support with more bike parking and easing regs. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

As a lifelong Ipswich Town supporter, I'd rather wear a Norwich City shirt

Anyone out there with experience of Biosolar roofs? Or good reading materials? Interested in practical experience of installation and operation.

UK solar power output is breaking records this year, and has now exceeded the total generated in 2024 🌞

www.ft.com/content/9e49...

Oh no not again... 😆

Example benefit cost ration for thousands of machine generated bus routes

My colleague and I have been published! This is our method to use machine learning on massive multimodal data to automatically identify the most effective pubic transport routes and produce thousands of value for money business cases automatically 🚇🚌🚊 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Towns in Turmoil and Transition – The Tudor & Stuart Era - Ye Olde Guide Podcast exploring the Tudor and Stuart period in England’s urban history. From the Reformation to the Civil War, discover how towns evolved through upheaval, early urban planning, and cultural renaiss...

🚨 New Episode!
Towns in Turmoil: The Tudor & Stuart Era
Discover how fire, plague, and politics shaped England’s towns between 1500–1700, and the impact of the Reformation and Civil War
🎧 Listen now: yeoldeguide.com/towns-in-tur...
#HistoryPodcast #UrbanHistory #TudorEngland #StuartEra #YeOldeGuide

Here's how Sadiq Khan could build 250,000 more homes Whatever Sadiq Khan’s been doing the past nine years, it isn’t working. Time, therefore, to get much more creative with housebuilding.

www.cityam.com/heres-how-sa... we get many ideas like this which are great in theory until you consider how the 8bn is financed I.e. who lends you 8bn before housing sales complete. Financing is not funding. Problem is units at least 400k plus cost of decking, rail disruption. Car parks easier.

is it incompetence, lack of money, supply chain or all of the above?

Chart showing cost inflation of lower Thames crossings

Wow Heathrow runway £49bn. You'd get several hub airports for that in other countries. Just noticed the Lower Thames Crossing is £9bn - 40x more expensive inflation adjusted than the first Dartford tunnel. Appreciate its much bigger, better and safer, includes access motorways but still.

Lambeth Council to sell off housing assets as pressure mounts over spiralling £40m HRA crisis Lambeth Council has confirmed plans to sell off 20 housing assets, including five empty homes and 15 non-residential sites, in a move designed to plug gaps in its troubled Housing Revenue Account (…

Troubling that £20m of a council's housing revenue account that should be used to maintain council housing was spent on legal fees due to poorly maintained housing. Something has to give: either rents up or some government support. www.brixtonbuzz.com/2025/07/lamb...

‘Workforce crisis’: key takeaways for graduates battling AI in the jobs market Recruitment is powered increasingly by artificial intelligence but employers still want big (human) brains

Yes, AI will take away entry-level jobs, but the upside must appear somewhere in the economy. If companies are spending less on staff, then there must be more profit or lower prices for their services. We need to tax the beneficiaries to pay for things we need. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Boost for first-time buyers as ‘mortgage lending reins loosened’ One mortgage expert said the Bank of England had made a ‘welcome and pragmatic move’.

So conflicted on this. We need to help renters escape the insecurity of renting, but this just inflates prices unless we build. Does it help building? Maybe but growing the market that can access the new builds. Rely on economists to model the effects. www.standard.co.uk/business/mon...

Mayor announces underground trains and trams plan for Manchester - BBC News Mayor Andy Burnham says two new underground lines are "essential" for Manchester's future economy.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... can be justified in Manchester given crowding on trams, and densification. Control costs with standardisation, separation from NR, no gold plating. Invite Spanish metro builders to advise.

There’s no money - pensioners, disabled & renters must pay. But the real debt lies with rentier landlords, water profiteers (maquarie bank), Grenfell cladding firms, Brexit fantasists, COVID cronies, Fujitsu Post Office crooks, useless media. They cost the money but little means to claw it back 🤑

Hearing Alex Chalk on BBC Today Programme talking about the court system that his party well and truly screwed up is a bit galling. In 14 years of Tories left large parts of the state in dreadful condition and these people should stay quiet now.

Golden age of house price growth is over, economists claim The researchers assessed the performance of stocks and shares versus house prices over the past century, and found investing is now winning out.

Wouldn't describe a period where a vital service increasing in price to unaffordable levels leading to a physical and mental health crisis as a "golden age". www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortga...