We talk about Andy Burnham’s big plans to devolve power across the country – and focus on the most important issues, like integrated transport ticketing and whether or not the boundary lines are consistent. And we speak to Jamie Airnes, CEO of Cornish Lithium, about his ambitious plan to make Cornwall central to the battery supply chain.

This week James wrote about why people are arguing about Net Zero badly – and what the real debate over the policy is about.

Martin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is here, and his YouTube channel is here.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!

YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!

You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

We discuss why both of our respective households have pulled the trigger on getting solar panels installed – and we detail our experiences during the installation process. And we speak to Ben Garratt from Logistics UK about why getting goods from A to B is critical to a growing economy.

This week James totally failed to publish anything, but will have something landing early next week. In the meantime, his links newsletter has more on his solar journey.

Martin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is here, and his YouTube channel is here.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!

YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!

You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

James and Martin review Andy Burnham’s first policy and personnel moves – and ask whether Britain is really ready for a Northern Prime Minister. Then we speak to Michael Dnes about his big plan to solve one of Britain’s biggest transport bottlenecks… with dynamite.

You can find out more about the proposed Trans-Pennine Connect tunnel here, and on Michael’s fantastic Substack here.

The Centre for Cities report on fiscal devolution in England that Martin mentions is here.

This week James wrote about why he’s worried that Andy Burnham isn’t serious, and offered some broader takes on Burnham’s cabinet here.

Martin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is here, and his YouTube channel is here.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!

YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!

You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

Should the British government create an open source AI lab? We speak to Guy Ward-Jackson and Elizabeth Seger from the Tony Blair Institute. Is Britain’s regulatory system out of control? Re:state’s Joe Hill tells us what to do about it.

The TBI paper on open source AI is here, and Re:state’s paper on the ‘law of rule’ is here.

This week James wrote about how Britain is fixing it’s airspace problem, and also why he’s worried that Andy Burnham isn’t serious.

Martin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is here, and his YouTube channel is here.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!

YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!

You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

James pitches Martin on an idea he has had to solve the problem of congestion caused by robotaxis. And we speak to Sky News Technology Correspondent Rowland Manthorpe, who has been reporting on the data centre water usage controversy – and has been figuring out what the situation is here in the UK.

Rowland’s Substack piece on AI water usage is here, and he made a fantastic video about it here. The film he mentioned on ‘A machine to watch the world’ is here.

James picking a fight with half of the internet over robotaxis is here.

Martin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is here, and his YouTube channel is here.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!

YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!

You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

James and Martin talk about a new campaign to ban delivery robots – and why it may prefigure a future political realignment. And then we speak to Labour MP Dr Jeevun Sandher about his recent posts on good growth in every postcode, and how Britain’s growth problem isn’t what we think it is.

James’s undercover reporting from his tour of the Amazon warehouse is here.

Martin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is here, and his YouTube channel is here.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!

YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!

You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

James and Martin talk about some exciting new energy storage schemes to help us during the next heatwave. And we speak to Michael Hill from Britain Remade about Manchester’s theory of growth, and what the much-discussed ‘Manchesterism’ could actually be.

James’s piece reflecting on the Londependence movement is here, and his argument for a Gamer’s Charter is here.

Martin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is here, and his YouTube channel is here.

Picture credit: Peter McDermott (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!

YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!

You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

We explore why has the government given Cherwell Council a big slap on the wrist? James tries to sell Martin on the idea that AI can fix the planning system… And then we speak to Paul Maltby from Faculty AI about how, well, he is using AI to fix the planning system.

Paul Maltby’s blog post on Augmented Planning Decisions (APD) is here.

James’s deep dive into Extract and APD is here.

Martin’s newsletter is here, and his YouTube channel is here.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!

YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!

You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

James and Martin discuss Zack Polanski’s claim that food is too expensive – and why politicians should face up to difficult trade-offs. And James makes himself popular by defending the poor, beleaguer mega-corporations that own supermarkets. And then we speak to the excellent Thomas Ableman about how Switzerland would have built HS2 – and why it wouldn’t have been a disaster.

James’s post about Liam Byrne, which was discussed in the episode is here.

James’s newsletter is here, and his post about the Elon Musk debate is here.

Martin’s newsletter is here, and his YouTube channel is here.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!

YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!

You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com

James tries to persuade Martin that he’s solved the mystery of the National Data Library. And we speak to Andrew Hunter Murray about his big day out at the EV charging select committee!

Andrew’s new book, Bad Deeds is out this week! Make sure you buy it!

James’s newsletter is here, and his post about the National Data Library is here.

Martin’s newsletter is here, and his YouTube channel is here.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!

YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!

You can find James on Bluesky here, and Martin here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.abundancepod.com