Investigations and news

Two Wind Farms, One View, and No Assessment of Either Together

24 August 2026

Fifty-one turbines are proposed on the South Pennine moors, 15.7 kilometres apart. Neither applicant has assessed the combined view. So I mapped it.

Read full article

lancashireadult social carehousinglearning disabilityfylde

Nine Front Doors: Supported Living Starts in Lytham St Annes

27 August 2026

Work has started on nine supported living apartments in Lytham St Annes for people with a learning disability and autistic people. Completion summer 2027.

energydata-centresplanninggriddata

The state cannot see its own data centres

24 August 2026

The ONS says data centres are not separately visible in the national accounts. The grid operator's connection queue is fourteen times its own forecast.

lancashirelgrburnleylocal-governmenttransparency

Four Councils, One Decision: I Modelled What Lancashire's Reorganisation Actually Means

18 July 2026

15 councils become 4 from April 2028. An interactive, sourced model of the new councils, their budgets, the need they inherit and what it will cost.

dogeburnleyhomelessnessasylumspendingdata

The Asylum System Is Dumping Its Bill on Burnley

23 June 2026

I went through every penny Burnley Council spends on temporary accommodation. In one year the asylum share of its homelessness went from 1 in 60 to 1 in 9.

burnleytransparencyspendingdatacouncil

Where Burnley Council's Money Goes: Every Payment Over £500 in 2025/26

23 June 2026

Burnley Borough Council spent £38.06 million in payments of £500 or more last year, across 4,489 transactions to 843 suppliers. Every line, searchable.

lancashirecrimejusticepolicingdata

Nine in Ten Crimes in Lancashire End With No One Charged

22 June 2026

Report a crime in Lancashire and the odds anyone is charged are about one in ten. That is one of the better records in the country. The real numbers.

lancashirecrimedeprivationdata

Lancashire's Crime Divide: Four Times the Crime in One County

22 June 2026

I ranked all fourteen Lancashire districts by crime rate. A four to one gap that tracks deprivation. Not a high-crime county, a divided one.

burnleycrimepolicingdata

Put the Police Back on Burnley's Streets

21 June 2026

Violent crime in Burnley runs about a third above the national average, yet the neighbourhood officers who prevent it have been cut by more than half.

lancashiredisabilitywelfareworkdata

They Want to Work. The System Will Not Let Them.

20 June 2026

Most disabled people out of work want a job. A frozen savings limit, a year-long support backlog and a shortage of accessible vehicles stop them.

burnleyhealthdeprivationwelfaredata

Sick Sooner, Out of Work, Gone Earlier: The Burnley Trap

20 June 2026

Burnley is the 4th most deprived town in England. Its people fall ill younger, are pushed out of work by that illness, and die sooner than almost anywhere.

welfarebenefitspipfrauddata

PIP Fraud Quadrupled to £410 Million. The Real Leak Is £5.4 Billion.

19 June 2026

Fraud in the disability benefit PIP quadrupled in a year. The same figures show £6.8 billion lost to benefit fraud overall, most of it nowhere near PIP.

lancashireburnleywelfaremotabilitydata

Nearly One in Five New Cars in Britain Now Runs on Benefits

19 June 2026

Motability puts nearly one in five new cars on Britain's roads, holds £3.9 billion in reserves and pays its boss £924,000. What it costs, and who qualifies.

burnleyhousingrentdata

Where Your Rent Goes in Burnley

19 June 2026

Rents in Burnley are rising, most renters now pay a private landlord, and a large slice of it is public money. Meanwhile the help with rent is frozen.

burnleyhousingempty homesdata

638 Empty Homes, 2,657 Families Waiting

19 June 2026

Burnley has hundreds of homes standing empty long term while thousands of families wait for somewhere to live. The two numbers, side by side.

burnleybenefitswelfaredata

Ten Thousand People in Burnley Are on PIP. This Is the Bill for Managed Decline.

19 June 2026

More than ten thousand people in Burnley claim the disability benefit PIP, the 47th highest of 543 seats in England. This is why.

burnleyhousinghmodata

The Shared Houses Burnley Cannot See

19 June 2026

The official statistics say Burnley has 65 shared houses. The council's own research says 916, and it had no record of more than half of them.

burnleyhousingdatatransparency

Who Owns Burnley? Increasingly, Not the People Who Live Here

19 June 2026

Ten years of public records for my home town. More of Burnley is bought up by landlords, companies and faraway funds while local families are priced out.

burnleyhousingdatatransparency

The Names Behind the Doors: Burnley's Biggest Property Owners

19 June 2026

I pulled HM Land Registry's record of every company that owns property in Burnley. The biggest owner is a faraway fund, not a local landlord.

burnleyhousingimmigrationdata

More People, Fewer Homes: The Squeeze Nobody in Burnley Voted For

19 June 2026

In ten years Burnley's population grew almost entirely through immigration, home ownership fell, and the cheap housing was bought up to rent out.

Subscribe via RSS