London is different

How many new houses do we need to build in Salisbury? For that matter, how many do we need in the South West?

There is an interesting report by the BBC on the differences between London and the rest of the UK.

http://www.20plus30.com/blog/2008/04/london-and-england-have-little-in.html

Extracting a few facts and figures, over half the country’s population growth is in London where 40% of the population are foreign born as opposed to 7% in the rest of the UK.

In London one person in 10 is a pensioner, in the rest of the UK one in five.

Last year the economy in London grew at 3.5% while the rest of the UK showed 2.7% growth.

We are assured that the housing needs of Salisbury have been based on figures drawn up by the Office of National Statistics. Given that their estimates of growth are correct – and they were prepared by the government that originally estimated the cost of the London Olympics at £2.4 billion and are now facing a bill of £9.3 billion – then surely the real area that needs new housing is London.

Spreading new houses round the county may seem fair, but building lots of accommodation in places that people do not want to live and forcing more people to commute huge distances every day is going to create more problems than it solves.