An Overcrowded Island? - The Great Myth of Urban Britain

[amateur51]

An interesting piece by BBC's Mark Easton:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18623096

[ahinton]

An interesting piece by BBC's Mark Easton:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18623096

Many thanks for posting this. It doesn't at all surprise me (especially as a Scot), although I suppose it will surprise others.

[Northender]

Very interesting - but then, I can't remember ever reading or listening to anything Mark Easton has ever written or said that hasn't been interesting.

[Serial_Apologist]

To me, not too well acquainted with "The North", the real shock is seeing on the map the extraordinary extensity in the conurbation of W. Yorkshire and Lancashire, representing a built-up area even larger than that of London, and with only a thin isthmus of Pennines separating the two.

[teamsaint]

plenty of land to build on...so that we can all have decent housing at sensible prices!!

The building land "shortage" is a myth designed to keep land prices high.

Don't want the whole country tarmaced over , obviously, but most of our land is owned by the powerful...aritocracy, agribusiness, the military, the crown, prince charles etc.

I expect to get lots of flak for this post !!

[amateur51]

plenty of land to build on...so that we can all have decent housing at sensible prices!!

The building land "shortage" is a myth designed to keep land prices high.

Don't want the whole country tarmaced over , obviously, but most of our land is owned by the powerful...aritocracy, agribusiness, the military, the crown, prince charles etc.

I expect to get lots of flak for this post !!

Come little friend, clamber 'neath my greatcoat (Neddy Seagoon voice, svp )

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The bit of tarmac you happen to live on is hardly the point. Britain is massively overcrowded because it cannot feed its population by growing food on its own land. To sustain a large population, you need huge areas of open land.

Simple mathematics.

[ahinton]

plenty of land to build on...so that we can all have decent housing at sensible prices!!

The building land "shortage" is a myth designed to keep land prices high.

Don't want the whole country tarmaced over , obviously, but most of our land is owned by the powerful...aritocracy, agribusiness, the military, the crown, prince charles etc.

I expect to get lots of flak for this post !!

I can't and won't speak for anyone else and what you might get from them about yourpost, but whilst the building land "shortage" is indeed a myth, one doesn't need it in order to keep the prices of it high - in fact, the more development that takes place, the higher those prices will rise and that would not be possible unless there were sufficient land to build on (subject to permission) in the first place. You have only to consider thatother myth -and this one really is a myth - of so-called "affordable housing" which is hardly ever affordable by the time it's built!

[vinteuil]

To sustain a large population, you need huge areas of open land.

Simple mathematics.

... poor old Singapore.

[salymap]

I'm very grateful to the 'Landed Aristocracy' of the past for leaving some beautiful large houses and parkland around here to relieve the monotony of all we small house dwellers. Danson Park, Hall Place, where Elizabeth I stayed, the Red House and gardens, largely built and planned by William Morris.
I am sure most outer suburbs have similar attractions and even if they are now garden centres, restaurants, counciul offices, they break up the endless motorways that now surround us.

I appreciate that I wouldn't be able to afford present day prices for a house or bungalow though and feel sorry for the young. There are lots of open spaces a little further down in Kent.