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CODES CRACKED AS ARCHITECTS AND DEVELOPERS SIGN UP
Report with
thanks to Ordnance Survey.
- MORE than 2,500 site plans to speed up the showing 88,000 houses and other proposed
developments have been supplied by architects, house builders and developers to add to Ordnance Survey's most detailed digital map data.
It follows the launch of an Ordnance Survey initiative to gather design plans and engineering surveys for sites with detailed planning approval but still awaiting construction. The initiative, called CODES (Collection of Data from External Sources), includes industrial, commercial, infrastructure and residential developments, with future projects as small as five houses being accepted.
Ordnance Survey buys in the data from site plan owners across Britain and processes the information to bring it in to line with Ordnance Survey specifications and the National Grid. It is then held as a special layer within its main database.
When construction takes place, the data is verified and updated where necessary by Ordnance Survey staff on the ground and transferred to the main topographic layer of the database - a much faster process than surveying from scratch.
This means that as well as the financial incentive for providing plans, suppliers benefit from knowing their developments will be ‘on the map’ earlier than would otherwise be possible.
"We want even more owners of site plans to come on board and share in the success of CODES,"
says Neil Ackroyd, Ordnance Survey's Director of Data Collection and Management.
"Over the past 18 months we have secured agreements with several leading architectural firms, civil engineers, consortiums and government departments. It is a new way of working for us, already helping to improve the efficiency of our update processes for everyone's benefit."
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WATERLOO CUP HUNTER RECEIVE BACKLASH
Report by
Dominic Bonner.
PROTESTERS of the Fight against Animal Cruelty in Europe claimed a success as they heckled the hunting community outside the Scarsbrick Hotel in Southport’s Lord Street as it played host to the Waterloo Cup.
Over the weekend the animal rights group gave out some 3,000 leaflets to members of the public in their attempt to raise public awareness to preventing animal cruelty. A further thirty protesters were present on February 25 gaining four hundred signatures in support of their peaceful protest to lobby the government.
The cup, which is held annually at the hotel, has been host to the hunting community for over two decades. It is claimed that hare coursing on the Altcar Estate is in the interest of conservation and that the event is managed in a way that hares are ensured to live a long and happy lives - Due to the estate producing hare’s in abundance and thus ensuring the continued reason for both cup and conservation.
New laws proposed by government to extend current laws on foxhunting to all animal cruelty have yet to be enforced after a recent white paper was rushed through parliament. Yet the focus on the banning of hare coursing has yet to gain the full attention of the Labour government. Jon Richards from the Preston Action for Animals said,
“We are here today to ensure this is the last Waterloo Cup held at this venue. Our message is getting through to the public.”
“We all have a responsibility to act against hare coursing. Our aim is to prevent this venue from taking blood money as we continue to lobby the government about this issue.”
A heavy police presence stood firm throughout the week to ensure no fracas between hare coursers, animal rights protesters and staff of the Scarsbrick Hotel stood firm occurred. No member of staff from the hotel or the hunting community was available for comment.
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