Over crowded Britain...really

[Dowser]

I know it’s the daily mail but these stunning pictures show just how huge swathes parts of our fabulous country are practically uninhabited which as I’ve driven round a lot of it or gone by train I quite suspected.

Yet we are fed the lies, overcrowded Britain etc
Yes, I agree there are overcrowded cities..but uvercrowded Britain..I don’t think so

www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-6154439/Royal-Geographical-Society-aerial-photos-capture-unique-perspectives-Britain.html

Do you have some concept of the difference between land that is habitable, suitable for buildings, close to jobs, schools, and infrastructure, and empty beauty spots that are nice to visit but unavailable for mass settlement?

I've honesty heard some one say the rising waters are down to the weight of immigrants and the houses we are building for them.

Not global warming, no.

sorry but that sounds really stupid.

of course there are 'huge swathes' of this land are uninhabited they are probably owned by wealthy aristocrats who kicked the peasants off 500 years ago and aren't about to let them back now.

Besides , as uponthedowns pointed out, what would be the point of living in the middle of a 'huge swathe' of countryside.....people need you know, jobs , schools, etc

There is no doubt that the cities are overcrowded.

You’re right. We should build over the whole countryside forthwith!

And it’s quite useful to have somewhere to grow some food to support the population

We don't need to build over the countryside or the green belt. They're are loads of empty homes in cities which need to be brought back into use instead of sitting there empty.

Yup sod wildlife/sod growing food. Who cares if it’s a flood plain field build on it!! Who needs green spaces after all... let’s just be surround by never ending concrete.

I think overcrowed means too many people for the NHS, schools, housing......

yes what should happen is that all the rich foreigners and british aristos that keep empty property in London should have their property re-possessed and it should be filled with people off the council lists.

that is as about as ridiculous as your statement was.

Good grief! Maybe you think it’s time to try colonising again??? Perhaps the peasants won’t notice this time around?

not sure why people are so angry at OP - I think a lot of people don't know what a tiny tiny proportion of land in this country is actually built on.

Even these comments about 'oh yeah let's just build over the whole countryside,' suggest people don't really understand what OP is saying - it's not like we have built on 80% of land and we now need to stand firm to keep the last few remaining fields green.

This article www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18623096 which states that " the figures suggest Britain's mental picture of its landscape is far removed from the reality:"

"The proportion of England's landscape which is built on is 2.27% [...] According to the most detailed analysis ever conducted, almost 98% of England is, in their word, natural. Elsewhere in the UK, the figure rises to more than 99%. It is clear that only a small fraction of Britain has been concreted over."

You don't need to look at some daily mail pictures of green fields to see this - just do satellite on google maps.

Of course this doesn't mean all this land is suitable to be built on. But when we are talking about overcrowding and lack of infrastructure we shouldn't be put off by worries about lack of land and NIMBYism. We were perfectly capable of planning and building new towns from scratch post war, why can't we do so now? We have land, we have people wanting to work in new hospitals, schools, etc. (does it matter if they were born here or not?), and a population desperate to access them. We are in a better position from 70 years ago as new technology means that there is no real reason for the vast majority of government hubs or large buildings to be based in capitals other than the prestige factor and traditional thinking.

It just needs someone with courage in the government to commit to large scale planning, and obtain funds from wherever needed, even if it's an unpopular move like raising taxation.

Geldof thinking - he talks like this but I bet if you asked him where food comes from he would say 'Waitrose'.

'build on the flood plains' is all jolly good until your house gets flooded - and it may not be one of those new builds, which is why people protest about them. Sometimes it is - there are estates which have been flooded when half built, those unlucky enough to have bought there will be trapped in a house that no-one sane will buy.

buy to leave is an issue, although only in London. However there are a lot of empty or wrecked properties that could be brought back into use. Trouble is our tax system penalises that - not just help-to-buy insisting on crappy new builds, but also the VAT that is charged on renovation but not on new builds. It's nuts. Add that to the refusal to invest anywhere except London (which gets transport upgrades while the rest of us don't) and it gets worse.

our main problem is 70 million people with infrastructure for 50 million, because we won't pay higher taxes. Hence it all starts to fall apart. The babies aren't being put back and the immigrants aren't going home, so we need to put our hands in our pockets. Think about where you shop, as a start.

Saw this recently ...

I think OP has a point.

We used to need to live in cities because of jobs, but now with remote access technology surely there could be more people living outside cities and working from home? I know there are some. But couldn’t there be more than there are?

Obviously agree with the posters saying these people would need access to schools etc.

Ive a feeling that we build the lowest number of houses in Europe. Not totally sure on that so don’t quote me. However if that IS true then that would add to “overcrowding” as we’ve never kept pace with the population.

Do me a favour. Scottish nationalists say this all the time. Come to Scotland! Fill up the empty Highlands! The Highlands are empty for a reason. Kids leave to go to university and they don't move back.

I bet everyone who thinks we can just spread out to the uninhabited bits can currently see a supermarket from their house.

If you live somewhere that isn’t having fields grubbed up for more and more houses, new roads dug out, than good for you.

Around here we are being built over. Traffic is a nightmare and some people have given up work because they can’t get there reliably on time because of constant new traffic lights appearing on roads at site entrances. No new schools or G.P. surgeries so far.

The new houses, even the expensive ones, in the main look cheap and squashed together. Lots aren’t selling as people can see they aren’t worth it. Developers have pulled the wool over people’s eyes.

And for this fields and copses have been given up and wildlife has lost habitat.

The problem with a lot of the empty looking land is that it's not useful to wildlife, and although it may look like a natural wilderness, particularly to town and city dwellers, most of it is managed for agriculture or other uses. There has been a slump in wild bird populations due to changes in farming methods, mainly pesticides. Moorland that used to be wooded is now bare and has sheep on it, so doesn't soak up water which pours off into rivers which have been dredged, that deliver it to built up areas. The natural world is really under threat, which is why people who care about the environment are trying to defend every last bit of it.

We need to be looking at ways to cater for human needs without destroying our natural heritage. I don't believe it's beyond human ingenuity but right now the environment that we all depend on is not a priority.

Once EU legislation is no longer a factor, things have the capacity to get much worse. Sadly, if what I see in my rural area is the same as elsewhere, the houses being built on fields that aren't making a profit (i.e. wild scrubby areas) aren't even going to help people who are desperate for homes, most of them are big executive type houses. I don't think the answer lies in blaming people who come to live here from abroad, but we do need to protect and increase the truly wild areas we have left, and exert some control over how our countryside is managed.

Yup we aren’t overcrowded.

And we don’t need to build on green belt either. Everyone needs a home. Nobody needs 2 or more homes. And there should be some legislation preventing people ‘investing’ in property and leaving it uninhabited, as well as preventing land banking. The people who run the country care more about wealthy people/big businesses than ordinary citizens.

You can all keep your hands off the countryside - where do you think all the bloody food comes from that we grow here? Shall we just build all over it?!
That land isn't just sitting idle. Even that which is not actively farmed provides the much need biodiversity for the countryside to function.

You can cram as many people into the cities as you like - I don't care where they are from. But you're not filling up the countryside and killing off agriculture.

I live in a ruralish county and there’s nowhere, not one place, I’ve been here that hasn’t been blighted by road noise. So I disagree. Far too many people about. I think non electric cars should be banned at the very least. Electric cars are available now so it’s time we ditched the noise and air polluting horror show that is personal transport combustion engines.

The Highlands are empty for a reason.

Isn't that reason the English clearing the inhabitants out so the gentry could have nicer estates ?

Yes, it's overpopulated. The sustainable population of the U.K. would be between 17-27 million, according to research by the Optimum Population Trust.

www.populationmatters.org/uk-overpopulated-70-cent/

Sorry? Op....where are we 'fed the lies'?? Where have you seen this and in relation to what?

@DieAntword

Quite agree! I have a fully electric car which I use to commute from very rural village to nearest city for work.
I do still have to have a noisy ICE though as so far nothing affordable that is 4x4 to tow horse and go offroad.
Won't be long before the farm machinery transitions to electric I imagine - I look forward to quieter harvest!