Urban Areas Of England Research Articles

A national survey of the diet of children aged 13–14 years living in urban areas of the United Kingdom

Despite a general agreement on the need to improve the diet of adolescents there is very little information about their eating habits. In particular, there has only been one national survey of the eating habits of school‐aged children, which was conducted in 1982. Part of the reason for this lack is the problematic and expensive nature of conventional dietary surveys. This is a report of an inexpensive method which records the intake of key foods only. Although nutrient intakes were not assessed, all dietary advice has, ultimately, got to be given in terms of which foods to eat more or less of. It is entirely reasonable, therefore, to assess diet in these terms also. A national survey of 13–14 years olds attending schools in urban areas of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland was conducted. Responses were collected (n=1197) concerning the intake of specific foods, height and weight and whether or not each individual received a free school meal. The results confirm the need for major changes in the eating habits of adolescents, especially those who are the least privileged. In particular, relatively few subjects reported consuming fruit or vegetables and the most popular items were the least desirable foods—confectionery, biscuits and cakes. A surprisingly high proportion of these adolescents admitted drinking alcohol on the previous day, especially in the southeast of England. A substantial change in the national diet is urgently needed, but changes are unlikely unless a variety of policies are put in place to match the provision of information.

The changing incidence of hip fractures in rural and urban areas of England: M. L. Rawes, S. J. Calder, G. H. Anderson, P. J. Gregg (Leicester, UK)

The changing incidence of hip fractures in rural and urban areas of England: M. L. Rawes, S. J. Calder, G. H. Anderson, P. J. Gregg (Leicester, UK)

PRE-VIEW CABLE TV ROUTES

Summary Urban areas of Britain are currently being serviced with a network for the supply of cable television. This Note reviews the legal framework under which the cable TV companies are operating. Suggestions are made for actions that arboriculturists should take to minimise damage to trees.

Conservation of the Blythe, a high quality river in a major urban area in England

AbstractThe River Blythe lies between the cities of Birmingham and Coventry. It has been notified recently as a statutory Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is one of the few whole‐river SSSIs in Britain.It possesses a combination of natural course and structure which is a rare feature of lowland rivers in England. There is a clear succession of plant communities from its source to its confluence with the River Tame. Botanically it is one of the richest rivers in England.A study in 1982 recorded 159 macroinvertebrate taxa from the river. A notable feature is the species richness of the molluscs, oligochaetes and caddis‐flies.The Blythe is subject to a range of pressures including land drainage, recreation and development (buildings and infrastrucure). The appropriate option for its conservation management is limitation of catchment development.In order that this nationally important resource is conserved for future generations, a strategic approach to catchment management is needed combined with urban and infrastructure developments which are environmentally sustainable.The preparation of a catchment management strategy needs to be given a priority. The success of such a strategy will be dependent on cooperation between English Nature, the National Rivers Authority, the local planning authorities and the many riparian owners and occupiers.English Nature is cooperating with the National Rivers Authority to produce a ‘special ecosystem’ classification so that statutory Water Quality Objectives can be set to protect river SSSIs like the Blythe.8. The goodwill of the riparian owners and occupiers is needed for the protection and enhancement of wildlife habitats along the river.

Design of embedded retaining walls in stiff clays : Symons, I F TRL Research ReportRR359, 1992, 29P

Increasing use is being made of embedded retaining walls for the construction of roads below ground level in urban areas. This report considers the design requirements of these types of structure in heavily overconsolidated sedimentary clays on which many urban areas in England are founded. The Report reviews methods of determining wall stability and of assessing the structural loading in service. Results from simple limit equilibrium calculations are compared with predictions from numerical analyses. Attention is drawn to the importance of wall flexibility, the initial in situ stress state in the ground and the effects of excavation on the equilibrium pressure distributions likely to act on embedded walls in stiff clays in the longer term. (A)

Roads in urban areas: to build or not to build?

This paper reports and reviews the findings of a wider research project recently completed at Imperial College, London. The research investigated the actual impacts of building new roads in urban areas in order to throw more light on whether it is worthwhile building such roads. A number of examples of road building in different urban areas in Britain, Germany and Sweden were examined to see whether these schemes met their stated objectives, with particular attention to re‐distributing traffic and relieving traffic congestion. Additional case studies of major improvements to public transport systems in different cities were also undertaken to examine the extent of relief they offered to the roads in their corridors. Finally the lessons to be learnt are discussed and comparisons are made between the priorities and approaches in the different countries studied.

Patient satisfaction with general practitioner deputising services.

Proposed increases in the average hours of surgery sessions of general practitioners as part of the government programme for improving primary health care may result in more use of deputising services to provide off duty cover. The satisfaction of patients with such a service was studied during one week of October 1987 at nine of the 29 branches of Air Call Medical Services in urban areas in Britain by means of a postal questionnaire. Of a sample of 4626 callers to the service, 3887 (84%) responded. An estimated 32% of the patients expected that a doctor from their own practice would have attended them, 19% expected that they would be admitted to hospital and 8% were admitted. Over 90% of patients were satisfied with the telephonist's handling of the call; 79% of those visited were satisfied with the waiting time; and over 80% were satisfied with various aspects of the doctor's handling of the visit (bedside manner, communication, taking of history, physical examination, and explanation of findings), the lowest figure being for explanation of findings (81%). Satisfaction was generally higher during the daytime; among the elderly, especially men; and among patients who did not anticipate that a doctor from their doctor's practice would call. The results suggest that a high proportion of patients were satisfied with the deputising service they received.

Trash Screens on Culverts in Urban Areas

ABSTRACTThis PAPER DEALS with the performance of trash screens on culverts on urban watercourses. An assessment of the scope of problems associated with screens has been obtained from a survey of land drainage authorities in urban areas in England and Wales. The findings have been analysed and this has resulted in the development of four basic design criteria for screens. A detailed survey of the performance of some 17 sites in the river Ravensbourne catchment of the Thames Water Authority was undertaken over a number of years allowing relationships to be identified between debris amounts and types of upstream catchment area, screen/culvert area ratios, and priority of location.The paper describes considerations to be taken when providing a screen and advocates an individual design for each location rather than installing a standard arrangement. The lack of practical information in the UK, and the high level of problems experienced overall underlines the need for proper consideration to be given to this subject. Current research work is being undertaken to obtain preferred efficient screen configurations, but it is concluded that this should complement rather than replace the need for good trash screen design.

Small feet and Perthes' disease. A survey in Liverpool.

There is a high incidence of Perthes' disease among the children of unskilled manual workers in underprivileged urban areas in Britain. The skeletal measurements of 38 Liverpool children with Perthes' disease were compared with those of their siblings and of normal children from the inner and outer city. Children in families where Perthes' disease occurs have retarded growth of the trunk, with reduced sitting height and bi-acromial diameter. Among those who develop the disease there is also retarded limb growth, most evident as unusually small feet.

Components of Social Change in Urban Areas

A model for components of social change which distinguishes expected or structural change from positional change is applied to census indices for physically defined urban areas in England. Census profiles are evaluated for groups of urban areas defined by positional change. The model of change used shows a widening of unemployment differentials but convergence in housing stress and car home ownership. At local level, outer city municipal estates undergo positional increases in unemployment, while diffusion of car and home ownership is apparent in middle income owner occupied inner ring towns.

Housing land availability — some observations of the process of housing development in contrasting urban locations

Summary Housing development operates at different levels of intensity in the urban areas of Britain, and private and public housebuilders exert varying pressures on local planning authorities. The findings of a research study on the provision of land for residential development in urban areas are examined by means of six case studies. These expose the significance of landownership and planning policies in influencing the rate of housing development. In order to exploit fully the potential of urban sites for residential development there is a need for coordinated action by local authorities which may include compulsory purchase power and a housing development budget.

Development of resources

Abstract This review compares and contrasts opencast coal-mining, dolomite quarrying and an open pit tungsten proposal with the planning impacts which affect new underground coal-mines. Deep-mining is emphasised in view of its past widespread effects in urban areas of Britain. Papers in the session on mining subsidence, long-term quarry slopes and sand and gravel construction materials are also considered in the context of the present planning system.

Relation between lead in air and in petrol in two urban areas of Britain

The recent reduction in the lead content of petrol in the United Kingdom, following government legislation, has been used to investigate the relationship between lead in petrol and in outside air in urban environments. In parts of London and Manchester, the airborne lead concentration closely followed the petrol lead concentration, within a time resolution of about 1 month. These results indicate that, in these areas, the petrol lead content has a fairly direct and prompt effect on the urban air lead concentration, i.e. any environmental lead reservoirs in the pathway from petrol to air (and hence to man by inhalation) are not significant on this timescale. A small component of the airborne lead, apparently independent of the petrol lead, was also observed.

Modelling Population Changes in Small English Urban Areas

The authors examine processes underlying the growth of small urban areas in England. "There is evidence of 'people-led' growth in environmentally attractive locations (for example, through retirement migration). However, growth of small- and medium-sized towns also reflects employment decentralisation and deconcentration to freestanding or satellite towns, and the extension of commuter hinterlands.... Government policies encouraging growth are also demonstrated to be significant." The processes resulting in population decline in some small towns are identified. "The impact on modelling growth in urban areas of a diversity of causal processes and locational contexts for growth is considered."

Provision of first contact care out of hours in four urban areas in England.

In a typical two week period in 1984 in three urban areas with general practitioner deputising services roughly 40% of first contact patient encounters out of hours were with hospital accident and emergency departments, and only a quarter were with general practitioner deputising services, although 47%, 64%, and 97% of general practitioners in the areas had permission to use such services. Roughly a third only of the encounters were with the practices themselves, and even fewer occurred overnight (11 pm-7 am). In a fourth urban area where 68% of general practitioners formed an out of hours cooperative rota a third of the encounters were with the accident and emergency department and half (more overnight) were with the rota. The presence of a woman principal in a practice and large partnerships of four principals or more were associated with an increased proportion of encounters with the practice itself. Undue prominence may have been given to the role of deputising services in out of hours care. Paradoxically, the use of general practitioner cooperatives may result in even less personal care being given by the patient's own practice.

Nature conservation, water and urban areas in Britain

The paper describes the ecology and nature conservation interest of the aquatic ecosystems of urban Britain. The paucity of published information is attributed to the historical lack of interest by the government's ecological and nature conservation agencies, research workers, and those concerned with the management of urban green space. Urban water bodies are classified according to their origins and use, as modified by age, size, water quality and level of public use. The plants and animals to be found in each category are described. Most of the information relates to London and to birds. However, London is atypical in many respects because of its size, large estuary, large parks, an active natural history society, and because it is the capital city. Apart from Milton Keynes (a new town) and some areas of the West Midlands, there is very little information about the ecosystems of other British towns and cities. The data indicate the importance of urban water bodies for the conservation of wildlife in Britain. The potential for improving the value for nature by ecological engineering is demonstrated. The diffused management responsibilities are described together with the need to impose a discipline on the maintenance authorities by the preparation of management plans in order to ensure continuity and consistency of treatment. A programme of research is advocated on the basis of the re-allocation of existing funds. The prime objective of such a programme is the acquisition of pragmatic information that will allow planning, design and maintenance operations to respond to inevitable development whilst maintaining a high-quality environment.

Youth unemployment and labour market withdrawal

There is much concern that today's unemployed youth, particularly those belonging to ethnic minorities, are in danger of withdrawing from the labour market. However, there have been few attempts to test this assumption or to examine the social-psychological processes which may be involved. The literature on attitude-behaviour relationships and on human motivation implies that attitudes towards job seeking, expectations of obtaining a job, and the value placed on employment may all predict job-seeking behaviour. This hypothesis was tested with a sample of 1,150 unemployed 17-year-olds obtained from 11 urban areas in England. The hypotheses that lower values of all three variables will be associated with longer spells of unemployment and with ethnic minority status were also tested. Results provided support for these hypotheses. Multiple regression analyses suggested that these three variables had a mediating role in the relationship between reports of job-seeking behaviour and both length of unemployment and ethnic minority status.

A study of long-attending psychiatric day-patients and the services provided for them.

A year's follow-up study of day-hospital long-attenders underlined doubts as to the adequacy of service provision in urban areas of England and Wales for the increasing numbers of chronic psychiatric patients living in the community. Very few of the 82 men and 53 women were married or capable of employment, and both psychiatric and physical morbidity were high; 2 young men committed suicide and 3 elderly men died within a year of discharge. Over the age of 45 men tended to be socially isolated and over the age of 60 they were also physically ill; a number probably required better residential care. Few women under 45 attended, possibly because the services offered were unacceptable.

Fieldwork for land use students: an appraisal

Abstract The paper attempts to evaluate a series of field courses undertaken with Land Use Studies students between 1977 and 1982 in different urban areas of Britain and draws some general conclusions with regard to environmental fieldwork. The complexion of the first field course programme is outlined and it is shown how, during subsequent years, the emphasis has shifted both in respect of content and methods. Activities and exercises are evaluated and a three‐dimensional ‘learning experience space’ is suggested for the purpose of analysing individual tasks as well as the structure of entire field course programmes.

Prevalence of intestinal parasites in feral cats in some urban areas of England

Of 92 feral cats necropsied from the London and Sheffield areas, 49 (53.3%) were infected with Toxocara cati, 32 (34.8%) with Dipylidium caninum, 11 (12.0%) with Taenia taeniaeformis and 1 (1.1%) with Toxascaris leonina. Isospora felis was seen in 3 (4.3%) of 69 samples of faeces. Twenty-two cats (23.9%) were simultaneously infected with 2 helminth species.