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HMRC have published draft legislation for the changes to the Land Remediation Relief in a technical note and it is available here.

Comments are to be submitted by 27th Feb 2009, to Brian Stokes:

brian.stokes@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

Or you can contact the BLRS at info@blrs.org and your comment can be included as part of a co-ordinated response.

Fiona Hamilton in The Times writes "a plan by the leading architect Sir Terry Farrell, the area is to be transformed into the largest man-made national park in Europe. It is intended that 22 areas across three regions will be rejuvenated and linked to form a vast area of wilderness.

The area stretches east from the 2012 Olympic site, well into the Thames Estuary, as part of the Thames Gateway regeneration.

See the full story here.

The Former Avenue Coking Works is a finalist for an IEEM Best Practice Award by TEP on behalf of West Midlands Development Agency. The other finalists are the Abberton Scheme by Essex and Suffolk Water, and Hesketh Outmarsh West Managed Realignment Project by the Environment Agency.

Entries that demonstrate best practice whilst contributing to the five objectives of IEEM were welcomed from all sectors of the ecology profession including the public, voluntary and consultancy sectors, and projects of any size will be considered. At least one IEEM member must have been involved in the project.

The five objectives of IEEM are:

• to advance the science and practice of ecology and environmental management for the public benefit in the United Kingdom and internationally;
  
• to further the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological processes and life support systems essential to a fully functional biosphere;
  
• to further environmentally sustainable management and development;
  
• to promote and encourage education, training, study and research in the science and practice of ecology, environmental management and sustainable development; and
  
• to establish, uphold and advance the standards of education, qualification, competence and conduct of those who practise ecology and environmental management as a profession and for the benefit of the public.

The winner will be announced at the IEEM conference in Glasgow on 19 November 2008.

Note:
The Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (IEEM) is the leading organisation supporting and promoting professionalism in the field of ecology and environmental management. The Institute was established in 1991 and currently has over 3,500 members drawn from local authorities, government agencies, industry, environmental consultancy, teaching/research, and voluntary environmental organisations.
IEEM is a member of:
- The Society for the Environment
- The European Federation of Associations of Environmental Professionals
- IUCN -- The World Conservation Union
- Countdown 2010
- The EUROPARC Federation
- Eurosite