planning

Mayors across England will be given new powers to overrule local councils on some planning decisions.

The change would apply to proposals with more than 150 homes, more than 15,000 square metres of commercial space or buildings over 30 metres.

Mayors in 13 areas including Manchester, Liverpool, the West of England and the West Midlands will gain similar powers to Sir Sadiq Khan in London, who is already able to “call in” planning decisions.

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said the powers were an “essential part of the toolkit that mayors need to effectively deliver new homes and regeneration”.

The Conservatives questioned whether it was right for councils to lose the “ability to make planning decisions in their own communities”.

The powers will also be available to mayors in the Combined Authorities in North East England, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, York and North Yorkshire, Hull and East Yorkshire, Greater Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, East Midlands, and Tees Valley.

Housebuilding has fallen in London in recent years, but Pennycook insisted the “call in” powers had helped the mayor “unblock strategic growth sites” in the capital.

In the 2024 general election, the Labour government promised to build 1.5 million homes in England by the end of the decade but housebuilders have warned the target could be missed.

Pennycook said the government was “absolutely determined to stick with that ambition”.

He acknowledged the target was “really stretching” but said nearly 180,000 children were in temporary accommodation and “any smaller target wouldn’t be commensurate with the scale of the challenge”.

In addition to gaining the new “call-in” powers, mayors are set to be able to grant “up-front permission”, which the government says will allow building to begin “without a developer having to apply”.

A consultation on how the powers will work is due to be published next week.

The government has sought to stress that local councils will continue to decide the majority of applications and that all decisions must still follow planning rules.

It has also said mayors will get a “bigger say” over how housing funding is spent in their area, with the government directing national agency Homes England to focus on local mayors’ priorities.

New Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who served as mayor for Greater Manchester for nearly a decade, has repeatedly expressed his desire to transfer more powers to local mayors.

“Challenge does need to be made to local decision-making and actually it cuts both ways,” he told the Sunday Times.

“Sometimes it’s the other way round. It’s the local authority putting forward something that’s unacceptable in terms of the impact on the community. It’s a two-way street.”

Last month, Burnham promised to give all mayors a share of income tax revenue, saying he wanted to “bring power home” to “every postcode”.

Earlier this week, he announced a secondment programme to send high-performing civil servants to work in mayoral offices.

The approach has faced criticism from some in his own party and the Liberal Democrats, who fear it could create a “two-tier system” that discriminates against those areas that do not have an elected mayor.

AND just like that, the solar eclipse is over… until next year where you can see another in several European destinations.

The solar eclipse will return on August 2 next year, with some European destinations getting a total eclipse, including Spain again.

Alongside Spain, Gibraltar, Tunisia, Morocco and eight other countries will also experience a total solar eclipse.

Meanwhile, the UK will once again see a partial eclipse.

Unlike yesterday’s celestial event, this solar eclipse will take place in the morning in most destinations.

But the hype caused by yesterday’s event is already creating hype for next year’s.

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Gibraltar, for example, you can fly from the UK for between £170 and £190 return, on average.

Looking at flights for next year around the solar eclipse, prices are already rocketing.

If you were to head out on July 29 and return on August 3, direct flights from Manchester will set you back at least £453 return and £739 return from London.

Alter the dates slightly and it is still expensive – flying out on July 30 and returning on August 4 will set you back at least £419 direct from London.

Even if you flew out the day before and then headed home straight after the eclipse, you’ll be set back around £400 for direct flights.

Adele Cooke, Senior Consumer Reporter and Consumer Champion at The Sun, who is from Gibraltar, said: “The next eclipse may still be a year away but Gibraltar is already buzzing with excitement.

“The total eclipse will be visible over Gibraltar and the uninterrupted views over the Strait make it a great place to watch the event.

“The eclipse will be visible for a full four minutes, one of the longest durations of anywhere in the world.

“Friends and family have already booked their flights home to be there on August 2 and prices are already climbing.

“But there’s no need to worry about missing out.

“There are dozens of flights from the UK to Malaga every day, and the Spanish airport is just an hour and a half’s drive from Gibraltar.

“Set up price alerts now so you’ll be notified when prices drop.
Meanwhile, website GibStay.com can help you find affordable accommodation.

“If accommodation in Gibraltar is out of your price range then consider staying in one of the nearby towns and driving down for the event.

“Estepona, Soto Grande and Tarifa are all around an hour’s drive away.

“You could book a villa and make a week of it.

“In August temperatures in southern Spain average between 21 and 28 degrees, while the region gets less than 8mm of rainfall for the entire month.”

For Spain, major cities and locations that will be under the path of totality include Cadiz, Malaga and the coast of Almeria and Granada in southern Spain.

If heading to Cadiz, you’ll need to head to Jerez Airport, which is about a 40-minute drive from the city centre.

Direct return flights for the days around the solar eclipse to Jerez Airport from London are already around £495.

This is still more than the average £170 to £350 return trip to the city usually costs in August.

Malaga seems to be one of the only destinations that hasn’t risen… yet.

Average direct return flights to Malaga from the UK in August usually cost £170 to £270.

There are currently direct flights still available heading out at the end of July and returning on August 3 for £187.

There are currently lots of hotels available for affordable prices too.

You don’t have to go to Spain though, you could fly to Morocco instead for £230 return.

Here’s the full list of countries you could head to where there will be a full solar eclipse on August 2:

• Algeria
• British Indian Ocean
• Egypt
• Gibraltar
• Libya
• Morocco
• Saudi Arabia
• Somalia
• Spain
• Sudan
• Tunisia
• Yemen

Most of these destinations will experience a total eclipse mid morning on August 2.

July 9 (UPI) — A federal Washington, D.C., planning agency advanced plans Thursday night for President Donald Trump‘s 250-foot triumphal arch, clearing a key procedural hurdle toward construction despite staunch opposition from historic preservation groups.

The National Capital Planning Commission approved preliminary site and building plans in an 8-1 vote, with three members voting present, during a meeting at its Washington headquarters.

The sole objector, Evan Cash, representing D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson on the panel, said he would not vote in its favor. He said the plans would “have the effect of upending decades of NCPC practice and thee century-old height framework.”

According to the proposed plans, the arch would be constructed across the Potomac River in Virginia. At 250 feet tall and 166 feet wide, it would be twice the height of the Lincoln Memorial.

Rob Nieweg, senior vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, also objected to the project.

Nieweg told the commission that the arch would “overwhelm” nearby historic landmarks, including the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington House and Memorial Bridge, while being inconsistent with “the solemn character of Arlington National Cemetery.”

“Each new rendering submitted for this proposal is totally inappropriate in its scale and location,” he said.

“The new images clearly show that the arch blocks the view of the Lincoln Memorial from vantage points on the Virginia side. It looms larger on the skyline than everything other than the Washington Monument. From the District side, placing the arch in the foreground completely overpowers the sacred rolling wooded hills and rows of white grave markers at Arlington National Cemetery.”

The vote comes after the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts approved a modified design of the arch in May. A final vote on the plan will take place at the September commission meeting, NCPC Chair Will Scharf said.

“It’s disappointing that the NCPC approved the preliminary site and building plans for the Monumental Arch today, and we remain strongly opposed to its scale and locations,” the National Trust for Historic Preservation told UPI in an emailed statement.

Trump proposed the arch as he has sought to remake the capital in his own image, including plans for a new White House ballroom and renaming the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to include his name, among others. Several of those efforts have been met with lawsuits.

A woman has issued a travel alert for those who are going to Paris this summer and beyond, urging them to be aware when they’re trying to do one thing in the country

A woman has issued an alert to anyone travelling to Paris this summer and beyond: there’s something you need to be extremely vigilant for.

Taking public transport can be confusing if you don’t speak the language, and it can be baffling anyway (think about the Tube…), so when a friendly face offers to help you make sure you’re able to get tickets and get to where you intend, it can feel like a godsend.

But a woman on holiday, Nichola, has urged people to be cautious after almost falling victim to a scam which could have ended up costing her a significant amount of money. Nichola, who posts on TikTok as @fiftyinbloom, said: “We’re in Paris and we nearly got scammed on the Metro, and here’s how.”

What happened at the Metro in Paris?

Nichola said she and her family had been approached by a man while at a ticket machine at a Metro station. “So, this guy came over to us, an older guy, quite smartly dressed, spoke very good English, and said, ‘Ooh, have you got tickets?'” she explained.

He then got Nichola and her family to follow him when they said they hadn’t managed to get tickets. He took them to a ticket machine, where he entered all the details. But alarm bells started to ring, however, when the cost of the “little day trip” they’d planned came up as €97 (£83).

Nichola said she told the man it was “too expensive” and they weren’t going to take the trip. But before she knew it, he’d pressed the payment confirmation, and three tickets came out, totalling €97. But she said that “looking back” she hadn’t seen anything on the screen regarding his payment like “card accepted or anything like that,” just that €97 was the total.

She continued they had followed the man “back to the turnstiles, he scanned something through” for them to get “disabled access” through a “door at the side,” and they all followed him. So they didn’t use the tickets that he’d bought for them to get through, raising more alarm bells.

Nichola continued: “We then followed the man onto the platform, and he said, ‘Right, that’s €97, I’ve paid on my card,’ and I was like…no. He then said, ‘What about cash? Have you got Euros?’ and we said, ‘No, no cash on us’.” He then continued to say that he’d paid €97 for their tickets, but said he’d “take €90”.

“At this point, it was all clicking into place,” Nichola said. The man then urged them to go to a cash machine with him, and asked for just one member of the group to go with him separately, to which Nichola said “Not on my watch”.

She said: “At this point, he’d given us the tickets that came out of the machine, we don’t actually know if they were valid tickets or not, and I was holding them, and looking through them, and they weren’t printed, they just looked like plain tickets that go into a ticket machine before they get printed.”

After a bit more back and forth, the man said he’d just “sell them to somebody else,” and Nichola and her group were more than happy to oblige. He then left, and the group ended up forgoing the Metro and got a bus instead, as they were concerned something else might happen.

What is this scam?

Nichola explained that she’d looked up what happened to them, and learned it’s known as the ‘friendly stranger scam’. This is when someone will approach you offering to help you get a ticket for the Metro.

They’re taking advantage of your situation because if a friendly stranger comes up to you, you’re likely to be grateful for the help. Nichola admitted that she was dubious of him from the start, so if you are visiting Paris and feel this way, it’s best to trust your gut.

How can you prevent this from happening?

One TikTok user left a comment with a helpful tip for avoiding the scam. They said: “We’re in Paris, get the Bonjour app, and you can get a digital train ticket which is €30 (£25) all day access, all on your phone, so you won’t get scammed.”

Another explained the same thing had happened to them, and the scammer they had spoken to was wearing a fake Metro badge, making them look trustworthy.