While it is recognised that there are some good park home site operators, the vast majority of the evidence received suggests that malpractice is widespread across the sector. The most widespread problems identified include: 'sale blocking' - withholding 'approval' of prospective sales possibly forcing vendors to sell their homes at a reduced price and before selling at a profit; harassment by site owners; a licensing regime which allows site owners to breach licence conditions with a maximum fine of only £2,500; and confusion over contractual obligations which leaves residents with little or no ability to take action if the site is not properly maintained. The Committee recommends legislation to remove a site owner's existing 'right to approve' buyers. To compensate for this, sellers would have to make buyers aware of their obligations towards a site and its owner in writing before sale transactions take place. Pending this legislation, clearer powers for the Residential Property Tribunal to award damages is needed. The licensing regime must be modernised. New legislation is needed to make site owner obligations clear and to require the deposit of site rules with local authorities. The Committee welcomes the Government's consultation A Better Deal for Mobile Home Owners, but warns that more needs to be done. If the expected improvements do not happen, then the new legislation must provide a power for the Government to allow local authorities to withdraw and withhold licences from site owners found not to be 'fit and proper'. This provision should be activated if problems are persisting.

“With the twinned calamities of climate change and mass extinction weighing heavier and heavier on my nature-besotted soul, here were concrete, affordable actions that I could take, that anyone could take, to help our wild neighbors thrive in the built human environment. And it all starts with nothing more than a seed. Bringing Nature Home is a miracle: a book that summons butterflies." —Margaret Renkl, The Washington Post As development and habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. In his groundbreaking book Bringing Nature Home, Douglas W. Tallamy reveals the unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife—native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. Luckily, there is an important and simple step we can all take to help reverse this alarming trend: everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity by simply choosing native plants. By acting on Douglas Tallamy's practical and achievable recommendations, we can all make a difference.

Affordability and the supply of Housing : Session 2005-06, Vol. 2: Oral and written Evidence

Given current projections of population and household numbers, housing has become arguably the most important issue in planning. Likewise, planning raises arguably the most important long term issues in housing, given the environmental consequences of urban development and the use of the home. Homes, Cities and Neighbourhoods documents the evolution of typical urban landscapes from 1900 to the present with an emphasis on contemporary issues and practice. In doing this, the book examines in detail: -

pt. 1: Includes "Flexible Mortgage Contract" by Horace Russell and William Prather, Sept., 1953 (p. 774-825).

Ownership of multiple homes has become increasingly popular throughout the Western world, with the UK and Ireland seeing a particular surge in recent years. Paris addresses the reasons why, and the effects, using case studies from Europe, Australia, America and Asia.

“Michael Gross’s new book…packs [in] almost as many stories as there are apartments in the building. The Jackie Collins of real estate likes to map expressions of power, money and ego… Even more crammed with billionaires and their exploits than 740 Park” (Penelope Green, The New York Times). With two concierge-staffed lobbies, a walnut-lined library, a lavish screening room, a private sixty-seat restaurant offering residents room service, a health club complete with a seventy-foot swimming pool, penthouses that cost almost $100 million, and a tenant roster that’s a roll call of business page heroes and villains, Fifteen Central Park West is the most outrageously successful, insanely expensive, titanically tycoon-stuffed real estate development of the twenty-first century. In this “stunning” (CNN) and “deliciously detailed” (Booklist, starred review) New York Times bestseller, journalist Michael Gross turns his gimlet eye on the new-money wonderland that’s sprung up on the southwest rim of Central Park. Mixing an absorbing business epic with hilarious social comedy, Gross “takes another gossip-laden bite out of the upper crust” (Sam Roberts, The New York Times), which includes Denzel Washington, Sting, Norman Lear, top executives, and Russian and Chinese oligarchs, to name a few. And he recounts the legendary building’s inspired genesis, costly construction, and the flashy international lifestyle it has brought to a once benighted and socially déclassé Manhattan neighborhood. More than just an apartment building, 15CPW represents a massive paradigm shift in the lifestyle of New York’s rich and famous—and is a bellwether of the city’s changing social and financial landscape.