Re: Massive Overcrowding


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Posted by Laurence Monkhouse on February 27, 2004 at 14:04:18 from 217.137.109.82 user Laurence_.

In Reply to: Re: Massive Overcrowding posted by Peter H on February 27, 2004 at 12:33:34:

OK. We are getting well away from AR, BUT

The UK population has actually gone up 17% since 1951, less than most European countries and compared with 80% for the US of A.

Yes in some areas there are a lot more houses. These are essentially not because of 'overcrowding' but because:-

1 We no longer expect hordes of the great unwashed to stay crammed into inner city slums but actually want them to be living in decent houses.
2 Old people (so unreasonably) will not die off as quickly as they used to - and many don't want to be shut up in old folks' homes either but like to keep their own houses.
3 Young people have the effrontery to want to have their own houses rather than living on with their parents.
4 Sadly, more people are getting divorced and each former partner wants her/his own house.

In addition a huge proportion of us want to own and use cars - lovely for each individual, but in total awful for (in particular) town centres.

So around many towns are large housing estates, especially in certain areas (like Poole) which are pleasant and attractive places to live. What are we supposed to do? Tell people to go back to the slums?

But if you look out of the window of an aeroplane, or look at virtually any 1:50 000 scale map you will see how tiny the developed area of England is conpared to the open landscape. There are still hundreds of unspoiled market towns - not just a few showcases. It is not a coincidence that every single site described by AR (apart, perhaps from Felixstowe Dock) is largely unspoiled and still very recognisable from descriptions in the books.

I travel, go boating and camp all over Britain and strongly refute the suggestion that most of it is 'overcrowded' - provided that you don't view it just from motorways. There are lots of places where you can walk, bike or canal all day and barely meet a soul. Britain is still lovely, despite blemishes which in most cases don't compare with the blemishes you can find overseas.

Sorry to blow up!



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