I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike...

Well, here we are....its Thursday again so here is my first weekly blog. Sitting to write this seems a bit odd because I suppose my first blog should be about something that I feel passionate about and therefore there is some pressure associated with what I choose to talk about. I am going to talk about something that I am not passionate about but something that I do care about and something that is very fashionable now....cycling.
Something has happened this summer. Britain has become France. The startling success of our cyclists at the Tour de France and the London 2012 Olympic Games has made cycling cool again We love our cycling...for now. 
So we come to last Sunday and the Ipswich Sky Ride. For those of you who don't know this is a four hour time slot in the year where the streets are closed to traffic and a 5km traffic free cycle route is given over to Mums, Dads, Children, and grandparents...and those who just want to cycle zig zag style around the one way system. I love Sky Ride...it is an all encompassing community occasion...and that is what it feels like....it feels like a massive celebration to an uncertain focus..it feels quite British in its pointlessness.  I took part in the Sky Ride in 2011 and the explosion in the 2012 event has been awe inspiring. It leaves me with the thought that this is something that we need to capitalise on...be it the government, local council, local community groups or the general masses as a whole.
Cycling in Ipswich is not bad. Its got some reasonable cycle routes but it is always a case of "if we can fit it in" rather than a genuinely target for urban planning...although this may be changing as part of a big project called "Ipswich -Fit for the 21st Century" which I will probably talk about in another blog later in the year. However, I will make a couple of points as to whether Ipswich Borough Council will really embrace cycling...Firstly, when Giles Circus was redeveloped and pedestrianized the cycle parking was removed and not replaced even "like for like" and for a town centre with notoriously poor secure cycling provision this was a bit of a kick in the teeth if not a little short sighted. Secondly, when the Waterfront was redeveloped cycling provision was built in from the very start with shared space but within a year of being laid the borough council had placed a monolith of a street map right in the middle of the dropped curb outside the UCS building which was specifically placed for cyclists...I'm sure this was not intentional...its just ill thought out. Overall, we can embrace cycling and make a more sustainable Ipswich but its going to require some work but I have the belief that we can do it. The thousands who turned out on Sunday are testement to the will of the people and, to the more cynical, the electorate.
Lets make the change. Vive le Ipswich.

Homes for a million

OK, OK, OK. I promised that I would start my blog next week but something has come up in the news today that has caught my eye and producing only one post a week was not one of the rules that I said I would stick to.  Occasionally there will a special souvenir pull out…this is one.

It has been widely reported this morning that the government is to relax planning laws and regulations in an attempt to inject some adrenaline into our flagging building trade.  I’m not going to argue with the principle that we are on the cusp of a real house building crisis in this country but I would argue that the failure to build houses is not a result of an overly burdensome planning regulatory system.  The Local Government Association has quoted today that there are planning permissions out there for 400000 new homes in the United Kingdom that are not being executed…so let us read that again. 400000 homes that have “got through” our overly burdensome planning regulations – homes for over a million people. I think the government needs to look long and hard as to why these dwellings have not been built. I have my theory which may not be based on any real evidence but I do think it’s worth considering as I think that there may be an element of truth to this.

House prices have rationalised. I don’t like the term “crashed” because its frankly not the case. But nonetheless, house prices now are a margin below where they were in 2008 yet the cost of constructing a dwelling is the same as it was in 2008, possibly more with the increasing cost of materials and fuel etc so effectively the profit margin in constructing new dwellings is diminished from where it was.  Now the issue is, that if prices are expected to rise then the big house builders are more likely to sit on planning permissions in the hope that the market picks up, resulting in a higher profit for the company and a better return to the stock market.  Don’t get me wrong, you can still make a profit on building a house but the return might not be what it was some years ago.  I can say with a certain degree of certainty that the building trade for one off developments of 2-3 dwellings has not decreased significantly but these are generally in the hands of small building firms who are generally local. This leads to my assumption that there is a certain element of greed at play amongst the big developers.

To me this smacks a little bit of turning the blame once again on the public sector rather than seeing this for what it is which I believe is a failure of the free market.

I am not sure what the solution to this problem is but I am pretty sure a further deregulation of the planning system beyond that of the National Planning Policy Framework launched less than six months ago is not going to be the cattle prod to get house building going again.

Hello from Me

Well, this is the first blog. It may be the the last but it is most definitely the first.  Actually, today is not really a blog, it is merely an introduction and a hello. I hope to start the real blog next week and publish every Wednesday or Thursday. I have expressed concern previously about bloggers operating behind from the comfort of anonymity so it would be hypocritical if I were to do the same so here is a bit about me.

My name is Nathan Pittam and I am 31. I have a PhD in Geomorphology and I live in Ipswich, Suffolk. I originate from Bedworth, a small town to the north of Coventry in the English Midlands. I am recently married. My politics are mixed and frequently confused but I suppose if I am honest I lean to the left if you still subscribe to the old Left vs. Right model of politics. I voted Liberal Democrat at the last General Election and may choose to do the same in 2015...who knows.

I have waited until now to start a blog basically because I've always been unsure of their purpose but since I started using Twitter more frequently I've become connected with a couple of really good blogs serving the Ipswich area and I have realised that they are possibly more insightful and thought provoking than the standard press.  I don't always agree with the views in these blogs but I think it is a good form of airing views and initiating debates. The two blogs that I suppose I should mention here are gavinmaclure.blogspot.co.uk and www.ipswichspy.wordpress.com which I may not always agree with but they have converted me from a blogsceptic to at least tentatively interested enough to be sat in our back bedroom on the laptop.

So, some rules. Some for me, some for you*. I will keep to them, I would appreciate it if you kept to them too:

1. I will not swear....no matter how strongly I feel about a matter I will keep it clean.*
2. I will be polite....there is nothing to be gained from being rude, its not big and its not clever*
3. I will be open and honest...
4. I will not block....I believe wholly in free speech even if you break my rules.
5. I will answer any questions that you may have....