Welcome to the October edition of the Place Bulletin. This month we have more from Communities secretary Eric Pickles, who has announced new measures aimed at increasing the transparency of local Council spending and procedures. We also have a piece from the BBC which asks what Britain would look like without a greenbelt (a response to plans to speed up the planning process in England, something which detractors claim could lead to developments which should not be sanctioned). In addition we have news of Nottingham’s night time economy successes and a story on how retailers are being encouraged to think beyond 9-5 opening hours to succeed. We also have news on a couple of interesting conferences that will be taking place in November.