Landscope 140714

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14/07/2014

Headlines

01/07/2014

House prices pass 2007 peak Average prices in the UK have passed their pre-recession peak, with prices in London now 30% higher and with house price-affordability ratios at an all-time high. The Nationwide chief economist said that he expected prices in the capital to rise strongly for the next 6-12 months and then drop back to rate of earnings growth for the longer term. Wishful thinking!

Cultural heritage recognised for first time as a strategic resource for Europe The European Council of Ministers has, in a significant announcement, recognised cultural heritage as a strategic resource for Europe. It has called on Member States and the European Commission to take a series of actions to support and enhance the sector, including through the Europe 2020 strategy, which is important as the strategy allocates significant spending to sectors. The Council stated that cultural heritage ‘cuts across several public policies’, including agriculture, regional development, environment and tourism.

Farming European Parliament Agriculture Committee remains strongly pro-farmer The Committee is expected to remain pro-farmer, with a very farmer-orientated Italian chairman, despite the Parliament’s two largest political groups, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and centre-left Socialists & Democrats (S&D), losing their majority on the Committee, meaning that they will be reliant on the support of other factions to get policies agreed.

Culling infected herds is only way to control bovine TB, according to mathematical epidemiology Badger culls will not prevent an increase in the number of infected cattle, according to research by Warwick and Cambridge universities, published in Nature. The Government has rejected the findings. The authors responded by saying they were just producing scientific evidence on the effectiveness of different approaches. Prof John Krebs, a leading thinker on TB and professor of zoology at Oxford, said that the paper gives further support to the view that culling badgers is not an effective strategy for controlling TB.

Energy ministers back plans to cap the amount of crop-based biofuels European energy ministers have said that a maximum of 7% of crop-based biofuels, such as biodiesel from rapeseed, can count towards the EU’s 10% goal for renewable energy in transport. The proposal aims to phase out agro-fuels that are seen to harm food security and the environment.

House of Commons Committee wants Government to promote GM crops The EFRA Committee has said that Government should lead a public debate on the potential beneficial impacts of growing GM crops in the UK.

Property Issues Land Registry sell off scrapped Plans to privatise the Land Registry have been abandoned after a revolt by civil servants.

Scottish shale reserves ‘modest’ A British Geological Survey report estimates that there are 80 trillion cubic feet of gas and 6 billion barrels of oil in the Midland Valley in the Scottish lowlands. This compares with 1,329tn cu ft in the Bowland-Hodder shale across northern England. The amount that is commercially recoverable is likely to be a lot lower than these estimates; if 5% of the Scottish shale gas reserves could be recovered, it would be the equivalent of one year of UK consumption.

Strategic Forum for Scotland’s Historic Environment This new forum, the membership of which has just been announced, will provide strategic advice on the management and promotion of the historic environment and oversee delivery of the historic environment strategy, Our Place Our Time.

Shop rents rise for first time since 2008

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