To think, without upsetting anybody, we are massively overpopulated on this tiny Island??? What sensible non punitive solutions are there??

[PasstheBucket89]

Its pretty relevant with all the talk about migrant boats, priti patel saying she will make the passage unviable etc she has done some awful things, it makes my blood run cold tbh i doubt she cares about the safety of them in that boats. But, what di we do, and when suggestions are made its often motivated by hate not quality of life issues. And yes, the ageing massively adds to the overpopulation aswell, but what should we do? reasonably? this tiny Island is massively overpopulated, it doesn't benefit anyone to be crammed in like sardines like this, massively effects access to housing, healthcare, education etc, What should the gov do, not adding to the hostile environment??.

I bet the posters on here moaning about ‘overpopulation’ have at least one child can’t wait for them to produce many DGC. But they don’t count unless they are brown and come over in a boat right?

I don’t think the U.K. is overpopulated. Distribution of resources to infrastructure, people and nature is not effective clearly. Importing goods is perfectly viable in a globalised world and more space should be ring-fenced for public goods not growing food that can be imported from more sparsely populated countries.

Refugees stop being refugees once they arrive in a safe country. Last I checked, France is not considered a dangerous country.

A great deal of these migrants are not refugees. Many are economic migrants and should be returned. However, most arrive undocumented and its almost impossible to remove someone who isn't cooperative in the process. Many are hold a false view of life in the UK. I don't know what the answer is but I disagree with the point presented here that people in Britain should reduce their expectation of living in a house with a garden just because higher density housing could be built. Surely we want the sort of society that allows us to live comfortably? Therefore, we need policy to ensure that housing and services are available to meet the needs of the population and that we regulate population change to some some extent both domestically and externally. One thing is for sure, crossings will increase next year as the UK exits the transition agreement, as a result more will die at sea and smugglers profits will increase.

Everything that's been mentioned as a sign of overpopulation, lack of GP appointments, places in school, crowded roads is because of lack of investment in infrastructure. We need to encourage people to come here and work.

So therefore one solution is encouraging British born citizens to leave and then you don’t have to worry about numbers.

Haha, yeah, you can up and leave and live where you want - not.
Unless you are a doctor or have a Phd in something like mathematical modelling, IT. Or a cool million or two.

I hate the language in these threads.

'These migrants' are people. How many of you have ever spoken with one of 'these migrants' and heard their life story from their own mouth?

The question of resourcing Britain's public services is valid, we don't have enough e.g. GPs but this is not to do with 'these migrants' it is to do with underfunding of UK services.

I don't know if I have would the strength or the guts to do what some of 'these migrants' have done to cross the entire planet with nothing.

We need to see the people as people.

I don't know what the answer is. But I don't want to lose sight of the fact they are people.

@Binswangers - but then all the immigrants need GPs, schools etc - that was what caused Brexit in the first place. Too many moving here, no provision.

I think Covid 19 will result in fewer babies being born - so a reduction in population. With life so hard for working parents I'm sure people will not want big families (unless for religious reasons).

I find so much of this thinking cyclical:

We're not overcrowded we need better resource management!
We need more taxable working adults to fund the management!
The working adults are all old now and need care!
We don't have the resources to look after them - more immigrants and babies needed! More houses! More imported food!
Let's turn that 12% into 50%.

Utterly depressing. Perpetuating and expanding the human race over every bit of land until there's nothing wild and free and different, just a complete dominance of the environment by us.

Mindlessly continuing down that path is utterly stupid. If you could wave a want and eliminate all the cheek by jowl terracing and replace it with the same coverage of adequately sized and spaced homes with a population to match, the difference would take your breath away.

Eat the rich?

If you want an even lower birth rate & no migration then how do you find the ever ageing population?

[quote MistressMounthaven]@Binswangers - but then all the immigrants need GPs, schools etc - that was what caused Brexit in the first place. Too many moving here, no provision.[/quote]
The immigrants might actually be GPs and teachers etc. Certainly, my GP, hospital consultant, various nurses, plus several teachers at my DC school are immigrants.

We have some beautiful, valuable green spaces in this country (national parks, aonbs) etc. What we need to do is have a proper review of green belt and build on some of that.

@Binswangers

Everything that's been mentioned as a sign of overpopulation, lack of GP appointments, places in school, crowded roads is because of lack of investment in infrastructure. We need to encourage people to come here and work.

Is the loss of natural habitats caused by a lack of infrastructure? I think not.

The UK has been overpopulated since the mid-19th century.

[quote MistressMounthaven]@Binswangers - but then all the immigrants need GPs, schools etc - that was what caused Brexit in the first place. Too many moving here, no provision.[/quote]
They could have taken our contributions and build the provisions...
www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-workers-uk-tax-treasury-brexit-migrants-british-citizens-a8542506.html%3famp

Re GP. Unless people are on their death bed they often go to original country when they need a doctor. I used to too.

I find the phrase economic migrant particularly horrid. These are people who are seeking out a better life. One where their children could get medical help when sick, one where no one need go hungry for lack of food. We would not call someone moving to London from elsewhere in the uk and economic migrant, yet that is exactly what they are doing. Simply the chance of where they were born gives them priveledge denied to others .

Many are coming from countries that have been torn by war , and it's rare that the west never meddled in any of those , from counties stripped of wealth by the west, or from circumstances made worse by climate change that the west kindly gave them . We reap what was shown by ourselves and our ancestors

I don't have much sympathy for them. If they really were fleeing danger, there are plenty of closer places they could have gone.

The french understandably aren't that interested in solving the problem because it's not their problem.

We have to employ more staff/security, and check the vehicles coming in more, check the places the boats leave and arrive.

And in terms of contributing to infrastructure and taking from state provision, the average contribution from the immigrant community is more positive than than of the native population, so if you feel the infrastructure isn't good enough, you need more immigrants to fund the improvements

People will go where they know the language as a preference because then you can work, and the English had fingers round the world so English is the most common language.

What’s the answer? Certainly not building over every available green area and turning every village into a town. No thank you

When ever I go abroad and return you immediately feel that there are too many people living here. Perhaps that's just a perception.
I guess given time we will become a less attractive option. Yes many do come here for our health and welfare system.

Roads are too congested. Schools too full, not enough surgeries. Not enough jobs. And Covid has made all this worse.

@midgebabe

And in terms of contributing to infrastructure and taking from state provision, the average contribution from the immigrant community is more positive than than of the native population, so if you feel the infrastructure isn't good enough, you need more immigrants to fund the improvements

Or start working and paying taxes👀

We might not be overpopulated in terms of land, but we are overpopulated in terms of Resources

Agree with the above statement. Also, we need lots of open, green space. You can't cover the whole place in concrete!