A £13 million scheme to ensure the security of water supplies to the Fylde, Blackburn, Ribble Valley and parts of Preston is to be unveiled by United Utilities.

The landscape architects Grant Associates has submitted plans for an innovative ‘living roof’ for the pavilion building in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester.

The UK’s major drainage experts have called on the Government to set up a single agency to allow immediate action when dealing with future flooding.

In a speech tonight to the Fabian Society John Hutton Secretary of State for Business will say it is unacceptable it can take ten years from an application for a wind farm being made to energy being delivered to the grid. He will say that, in order to make significant reductions in the UK's carbon emissions, the planning system must undergo radical reform.