How sustainable are England Eco-towns from a planning perspective Essay

How sustainable are England Eco-towns from a planning perspective. Support your answers with appropriate examples - Essay Example The original goal was to create 50 such eco-towns in the hope of reducing carbon emissions in the country. This paper tries to assess the sustainability of eco-town proposals. It also hopes to discuss some of the key issues that led to the government’s abandonment of the plan, as well as how such a move has affected planning in the United Kingdom. Like the post war generation, we now need to set out a clear and radical programme to increase housing and to protect the environment as well†¦.As housing accounts for 27 per cent of carbon emissions, we need to substantially cut emissions from new homes and work towards zero carbon housing and development. (Department for Communities and Local Government 2007: 3) Through eco-towns, the UK can start anew, and this time, focus on the highest environmental standards while at the same time taking advantage of a site’s economic potential. This move, the government believes, would bring about a new form of development and ensure sustainable growth. To ensure participation from the communities and the local government, the DCLG enjoined them to submit their proposals for eco-towns. The Ecotowns Prospectus outline the various criteria by which the submissions were judged. To considered an eco-town, proposals must meet five essential requirements: (1) They must be new settlements, separate and distinct from the existing towns but well linked to them. They have to provide at least 5,000 new homes; (2) Each plan must minimize carbon emission and meet exemplar performance in at least one area of environmental sustainability; (3) Proposals must provide for a wide range of social services and facilities within easy reach; (4) 30 to 40% of the homes must be affordable, with emphasis on larger family homes; (5) Plans must set out a management body which will help develop the town and provide assistance to people and businesses wishing to

Personal Data Privacy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Personal Data Privacy - Research Paper Example everyone do not follow an approach to provide personal information to any online organization. Nowadays, an online consumer finds a credible source of websites prior to processing online transactions. Consumers can only judge their credibility by security seals or their international presence around the globe. Unfortunately, no one knows that these organizations do, in order to protect customer data that is stored in their databases. For instance, if a security breach occurs in one of the databases of these organizations, millions of records related to customer personal information and most importantly, credit card numbers will be in control of cyber criminals and hackers. This concludes to a new term that is known as identity and data theft. This is the first major concern of data privacy. Secondly, there are issues where customers are not aware from the pros and cons of providing personal information online. They tend to provide information on unsecure social networking sites and v ague online businesses. As a result, they suffer the consequences. This paper will highlight local regulations concerning personal data privacy. ... 36% of consumers would not put personal information online, yet 11% of them have still been a victim of data theft. Only 5% of the UK public surveyed are not worried about data loss. As well as the security of financial data being a concern, 46% of all respondents are most concerned about protecting their medical records, and is highest amongst the 45+ ages 45-plus (52%). Data retrieved from (Lack of Consumer Trust in Data Security in the UK. 2007) After interviewing the people, most people blamed themselves, for making their personal information vulnerable and includes the rating of 60% people blamed retailers, 28% people blamed themselves as they consider that they have exposed their personal information themselves and it is their own fault. Moreover, 12% people blamed financial institutions i.e. banks (Survey Reveals Massive Incidence of Credit Card Fraud and Identity Theft; Retailers blamed for making people vulnerable to fraud. 2010). After reviewing these figures, there is also a requirement to create an awareness program for people who tends to provide personal information on the Internet. 3 Impact of Exposing Personal Data The requirement for securing personal data and privacy online is due to many reasons. The first reason incorporates not a single law of how to handle customer data. For instance, if an online company sells products and maintains databases including customer information, they can do whatever they want. Most probably, they can sell data in terms of cash. Every website has a link stated as ‘Website Privacy Policy’, but no one knows exactly, to what extent they are authentic. The practical approach to that privacy policy is a different story. The second most prominent reasons are hacking, viruses, Trojans, spywares,