We need more than a nudge

By Lorcan Anglin
Merchants need to offer some added value to DECC and the delivery of the Green Deal. B&Q, Homebase are putting in real investment so they are "in play". Our "green energy centre" is one such investment that merchants can make which will help deliver on the Green Deal plus a whole lot more. Sitting and waiting is of no interest to DECC. What are the BMF and FMB doing or offering?

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BMF puts Lib Dem MPs to the test

By John Cameron
Why do you feel the need to highlight that Alexander and Thurso represent Scottish Highland constituencies? I see no reference to Cable representing an English Home Counties(or wherever he happens to represent) consituency.

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Wolseley to be questioned on Swiss tax move
Wolseley Swiss Tax Move
By Robert Stuart
Nice to have the choice. Joe Public has to just accept being squeezed!!!!

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Boiler Scrappage - An Open Goal for Osborne
Williams & Co
By Steve R
Williams clearly have an eye for PR opportunities and good luck to them. What Mick achieved with the first scrappage scheme was not far short of staggering - how many of us have directly influenced public policy in such direct way?

Sure there's a vested interest, but a whole lot more people benefitted. Who knows maybe a few insolvencies were spared last year?

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By Mick Williams
I'm sorry you feel that way, Andy, but I am sure the BMJ would be happy to publish a guest blog written by you, if you had something interesting to say. Why not give it a go?

With regard to the Boiler Scrappage scheme, the BSS group in general and PTS in particular were very supportive of the scheme. I am sure that you, as a PTS branch manager, know that the then MD of PTS was all over the trade press and television supporting it.

The Scrappage scheme made a huge difference to our industry, particularly small businesses, as well as helping the environment and household budgets.

I, for one, make no apology for campaigning for a scheme that supported independent installers even if you do find the subject boring!

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willimas & co
By ANDY GRAYSTON
do i detect a bias toward willima and co by the editor you do seem to like them even to the point of telling all when you opened their basingstoke branch that it is right opposite the PTS branch, i know you give PTS coverage and good for you but you do concern me with this possible Bias, i was annoyed at that time and here again... williams & co going back over the ground of boiler scrappage.. if you are going to push them in our face then get them to talk about something different PLEASE! or get more subscribers and maybe we wont get so bored.

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A good day to bury some really bad news!
House Building
By Bob Robert
About 12 years ago the local council published an Local Development Plan for future housing requirments in its area and land we owned was included in this plan with the remarks '4 acres - situated at CD considered highly suitable for housing needs, 77 units". When I contacted the Council about this exciting news to us no one in the Councils Planning dept 'knew anything about it'. 5 phone calls later, we were told that details of the plan had been announced in the Press, "but nothing would happen until the plan was published". It took 3 years for this plan to get published! When I queried this long delay they, the Council Planners said "that the Planners assistant [a student] had 100 sites in the area to look at and we would have to be patient. Admittedly these sites were scattered throughout the small borough district but even so the majority ran together and were located in clusters of 2-3-4 sites all adjacent to each other. Suffice to say a good van driver would have delivered parcels to all these 100 addresses in less than two days. This clueless young woman took nearly 3 years to view all of them. More depressing whenever I wrote to this Council we never ever got a reply. In 12 years we had ONE reply to about 20+ or so letters sent to them, this one reply letter was to apologise for the Council not replying to my letter of --- 2005? Thank God the imbecile Chief Planning Officer found another job and left, guess what, he was employed by Tony Blair as an advisor [hilarious but true] We still have this land, its not been built on, and we no longer phone the Council abouts its planning prospects. In the latest LDP plan it was listed as suitable for 56 dwellings. Why it was downgraded by 21 new homes is a mystery to us. And this is all true.

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Social housing budget to be slashed
Social housing cuts
By Steve @bisTrack
This looks like being a difficult pill for the construction sector to swallow. With the fragile private housing market, many in the industry have relied on the social housing sector to smooth out the peaks and troughs. Even our normal optimism here has been hit a little by this latest news on top of the end of the BSF program.

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Social housing dilemmas
Connaught
By Mick Williams
As you say, 'a bit of a mess' and I'm not sure we'll ever get to know the true story.

Also of concern to merchants are the many Connaught sub-contractors who are now very unlikely to get any of the money owed to them.

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The first cut is the deepest
Careful.....
By John Sinfield
.....your true colours are showing!! Lest we forget, Labour presided over the longest period of sustained growth in living memory - fuelled on unsustainable consumer debt. What was in the cupboard for a rainy day - nothing it turns out, but we did have a lovely collection of Walk to Work Co-ordinators and Equality Monitors in Local Government. It is going to be tough, but we have to start hard and now if we are going to get through this.

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Emergency Budget: the Key Points
The Budget
By Howard Morris
Here we go again - as predicted 'Home UK' will be allowed to fall into desrepair with capital spending reductions - falsely implying good management by the tory led coalition!! There is no mention of the fact that that the past 12yrs plus of inward investment was absolutley neccessary for the preservation of UK infrastructure and more expensive to do after the previous 8 yrs plus of tory rule. Why was this key issue not highlighted by the Labour team during the election campaign

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