1. How the Telegraph reported the coalition government’s proposal to give councils financial rewards for allowing housing development, 8th August 2010:
Councils paid bonuses to build more homes
Town halls which approve new housing schemes will qualify for cash bonuses from central Government.
Grant Shapps, the Housing minister, said he wanted to use the incentives, which can fund either more frontline services, new playground facilities or council tax discounts, to boost housebuilding.
Under the plans councils which give the green light to new homes will qualify for a New Homes Bonus for every property that is built …
The story includes 90 words of quotes from the relevant government minister and 27 words from a critic of the scheme (the shadow housing minister), in the last paragraph.
2. How the Telegraph reported the Labour government’s extremely similar proposal to give councils financial rewards for allowing housing development, 7th August 2006:
Councils ‘bribed’ to fuel housing sprawl
The Government intends to reward councils with cash if they give planning permission for hundreds of thousands of new homes to be built in attractive parts of England where property prices are high.
Conservationists, who recall similar schemes in the 1960s when many cheap, sub-standard houses were built, described the proposals yesterday as “cash for sprawl” …
The story, which describes the proposal as a ‘bribe’ which would ‘ignore environmental considerations and local democracy’ while providing ‘a scary new temptation to corruption in local government and planning’, includes 41 words of quotes from the relevant government minister and 152 words from a range of critics.
Post a Comment