[Sooty25]

It’s nice to see that the CAA used a proper chart to illustrate their response.

you should claim a copyright payment!

[TheFarmer]

Dreadful thing that SkyDemon, I tell thee. Software for the devils.

[GrahamB]

It’s nice to see that the CAA used a proper chart to illustrate their response.

That’s because theirs was out of date.

[CloudHound]

Kings Speech today (17/7) so Govt proposals wrt planning any housing should be revealed.

I fear Popham/Tollerton will be joined by others.

[MichaelP]

Of interest was an article somewhere about the record number of vacant homes in this country.

[T6Harvard]

Of interest was an article somewhere about the record number of vacant homes in this country.

And, at the risk of lighting the blue touch paper.... holiday homes.

I'm not sure anyone who has one can really complain about the building of more actual residences.

[Flyingfemme]

Given the rules on council tax and holiday/second homes, I object to councils giving planning permission to “holiday home” developments. If we are that short of homes everything should be able to be lived in.

[MichaelP]

In Vancouver they severely tax vacant properties.

[Shoestring Flyer]

As I have said many times before we don't need more houses! What we need is less people and that is less people coming in to the country and so reduce this seemingly never ending population explosion!
The current UK infrastructure is at breaking point. The NHS can't cope, congested roads, not enough schools etc. etc.
Please take me back to the UK I grew up in which had a total population of 52million people!

[eltonioni]

Whether there should be fewer people is a whole other discussion but on ownership - anyone should be able to own what property they want or need without government interference.

It should make no difference whether it is occupied, unoccupied, the main home, holiday home or left empty as an investment for years. So long as it doesn't materially negatively affect anyone else's life it's yours, not theirs.

It's a simple supply side problem that can be easily cured. We know how to do it, we have the tools, funds and willingness to do it. There's no shortage of land (of all people we should know that having surveyed it often from above) just political cowardice at losing a few dozen votes from permitting building on it. No airfields or other in-use land needs to be harmed in the process.

[CloudHound]

Doughnuts.

Actually a word associated with urban expansion and the hollow left behind in City Centres. Few cities have escaped the abandonment of spaces and decay that follows.

Two examples of reversal are Liverpool and Manchester. London too has vibrant communities. There may be other examples Forumites can point to.

My point is that not everyone wants to leave the city and live on expansion estates miles from their connections. So redeveloping city spaces should be front and centre of policy. It makes sense on many levels not least not digging up virgin land.

[G-JWTP]

The rampant population explosion is the driver of this political quest for more houses! Nothing more.

Rampant population explosion is the driver of most of the worlds ills.

G-JWTP

[Ben K]

As I have said many times before we don't need more houses! What we need is less people and that is less people coming in to the country and so reduce this seemingly never ending population explosion!
The current UK infrastructure is at breaking point. The NHS can't cope, congested roads, not enough schools etc. etc.
Please take me back to the UK I grew up in which had a total population of 52million people!

The current UK population is 67 million.
Net migration in 2023 was 685,000 (mostly students...)
That's about 1%.

Asylum seekers accounted for 85,000 of those (of which about 30,000 arrived on small boats).
That's about 0.13% of the population.

Maybe the infrastructure and NHS issues are the result of government underfunding and incompetence?

[Kittyhawk]

Isn't there a Politics Forum for this sort of discussion?

[Shoestring Flyer]

Yes the 'official' UK population is said to be 67 million. Also the official figure is forecast to be 70million by 2026. That is only 18months away.
Plus add on the unofficial high number of illegals over this figure, which is anyone' guess?
Taking the two figures together by 2026 that will be an increase of roughly 20 million+ people on this tiny island more in my lifetime!