Andy Boddington

Andy is a freelance writer with a love of writing about history. He lives in Shropshire and writes breifings for the Campaign to Protect Rural England when he should be busy writing history. He was an archaeologist for twelve years; a computing adviser at the Open University; Head of Evaluation at the Economic and Social Research Council; Director of Evaluation Associates Ltd; a bookseller and historical researcher; and Campaign Manager for CPRE Oxfordshire. He writes here on a wide range of issues representing no one in particular but himself. 

Janet Street-Porter is right about Willy Wonka managers at the BBC but so wrong about local radio

January 29th, 2012 by Andy Boddington

In today’s Independent on Sunday, columnist, presenter and one time BBC manager Janet Street-Porter launches a scathing attack on the BBC, claiming it is “like the Titanic — going down fast”. Setting aside her main argument to which I do not subscribe, Street-Porter makes an excellent point about Wil...

Tonka politics: the growing impossibility of saying “no” to big projects

January 10th, 2012 by Andy Boddington

The decision on High Speed 2 has been known for days, even though it was only formally published by the Department for Transport at 10am this morning. Ignoring the curious lack of protocol where the press knew the decision first, the public second and MPs last, could the decision have ever been any di...

Autumn Statement: When the economy doesn’t look so good, kill the environment

November 29th, 2011 by Andy Boddington

This could be a question in pub quiz. When did David Cameron say his government would be the “greenest ever”? It feels like the words were spoken in ancient history but his statement was made just eighteen months ago. Ever since, the coalition government’s green commitments have been shifting and erod...

By stifling debate on cuts, the BBC fails its local radio listeners

November 27th, 2011 by Andy Boddington

The BBC Trust consultation on the future of local radio has still nearly a month to run, but already the BBC is trying to kill off debate and protest. Since the cuts to local radio were announced at the beginning of October, BBC bosses have given the impression that they have been astounded by the huge row...

If I wanted to destroy BBC local radio, Delivering Quality First is the way I’d go about it

October 7th, 2011 by Andy Boddington

BBC local radio, along with the World Service, is one of our nation’s greatest broadcasting assets. Local radio is great because it is local. But the Director General of the BBC is determined to cut the local out of local radio under the Delivering Quality First (#DQF) initiative. His plans have  consequences no...

We need world class planning rules, not this fatally flawed framework

September 18th, 2011 by Andy Boddington

In a speech on the controversial National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) last week, Eric Pickles told housebuilders that campaigners objecting the framework have “got hot and bothered without reading the consultation documents.” He is not alone in his dismal of objectors. It is not unusual to find p...

National Planning Policy Framework: Ten Faults and Predictions

September 14th, 2011 by Andy Boddington

1. The Purpose of Planning “It’s not a case of a simple rewrite of a few words here or there—the general tone of the planning framework is fundamentally wrong. The primary role of the planning system is to provide an arena in which all the economic, social and environmental aspects can be looked at and go...

The Campaigning Wing of Middle England battles on for good planning

September 13th, 2011 by Andy Boddington

On July 25, the planning debate burst out of the hallowed corridors of Westminster onto the pages of Telegraph and flooded across the media. Fifty days later, ministers are still struggling to shelter from the biggest storm in planning history. It was a debate that nearly didn’t happen. When the first draft of...

Time for Fiona Reynolds to Pick up Phone to David Cameron

September 8th, 2011 by Andy Boddington

Rewriting the planning system was, and still is, fine in principle. But it has gone badly wrong. The rot set in with the Plan for Growth, issued with the 2011 budget on 23 March (for an analysis see this CPRE South East eBulletin). All government departments play second fiddle to the Treasury but with the Plan for Growth George Osborne ...

Time to solve the National Planning Policy Foul-Up

September 6th, 2011 by Andy Boddington

Who would have expected in this summer of riots that an obscure planning document would make headlines for more than a month? The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) has brought the stately National Trust out fighting alongside the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and a whole green army of...

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