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Episode details

Radio 4,23 Aug 2026,59 mins

England's mayors to get more planning powers

Broadcasting House

Available for over a year

England's mayors will get greater powers to overrule councils in some planning decisions, but will it help the government's new homes target? We hear from house builder Eleanor Deeley of Deeley Group. The mayor of the Italian town Como speaks to us about banning cyclists, after he was hit by an e-bike. Why has behaviour deteriorated in our public spaces? Expert Kirsty Sedgman joins us live. Shipbuilding has returning to the yard which built the Titanic - Harland and Wolff. The BBC's Ireland correspondent Chris Page reports from Belfast, and we speak to the famous firm's new owners. It's harvest time for many amateur growers - allotment holders Katie Razzall, Sir John Curtice and Frances Tophill tells us what's thrived and what's died - and we get growing tips from gardening expert Terry Walton. Our newspaper reviewers are Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, who founded the Black Farmer food range. Calum Leslie, Radio 1's Newsbeat presenter, and the writer and broadcaster Naomi Alderman.

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