An over-crowded island? Not really

The Guardian columnist informs us of what this blog has highlighted before – we can accommodated many, many more people in the UK.

She writes: 

“There is no shortage of space on this island. It may be tiny, especially when you place it atop Sweden, and it may seem improbable, trying to visually conceive its geographical limits, that 74 million people could squash themselves on to it. But there’s really no need for that bogus exercise, when perfectly good data exists on how much of the UK is urbanised – 10.6% of England, 1.9% of Scotland, 3.6% of Northern Ireland and 4.1% of Wales. When you add in parks, gardens and other open spaces within the built environment, the proportion of “developed” England drops to 2.3%. There may be too many of us for the things we can be bothered to build – houses, schools, hospitals – but there are not too many of us for the space that we have, nor will there be in 2025.”

She continues:

“…the potential here is vast – were productive industry nurtured, developed but underpopulated areas would have jobs for people to move for. Were development undertaken systematically and with a social purpose, rather than up-against-a-wall and on the cheap, population growth could be welcomed rather than dreaded.”