How much of your area is built on?

A  lot  of  the  UK  is  so  rough,  steep,  hilly  or  down  right  mountainous  that  it  cannot  be  built  on.  So  including  this  in  the  way  it  was  in  the  news  item  is,  at  least,  a  little  disingenuous  to  my  way  of  thinking.

Someone like Corners has been playing with statistics ..... 0.1% they said on the BBC news, I think we all know that's a manipulation of figures.

It's quite rural where we are in Harrogate Borough: Built on 3%, Green urban 2%, Farmland 70%, Natural 25%

In complete contrast my eldest son lives in Hackney which is Built on 71%, Green urban 28%, Farmland 0%, Natural 1%

No wonder he likes coming back home and likes our house in rural France even more, where I would guess the result is Forest 50%, natural 47%,  Built on 0.5%. Farmland 2.5%.  

It was an interesting little insight but it doesn't seem an exact science. Our area is 90% farmland however that could be an excuse to build, we are seeing rapid expansion around local towns. Where you live David, our family used to farm. Losing farmland is a worry. 

Surprised by our result too. 

Built on9%

Green urban4%

Farmland82%

Natural4%

I wonder if this includes all the proposed and lots approved of new building? 3,000 in just one development. No new roads or hospital infrstructure,  in fact there were going to take away our A&E 😲😲.

Just goes to prove you can say almost anything with figures.............

Not enough apparently. So should I be selling part of my garden to the builders?

According to the Office of National Statistics there are 27 million households in the UK so whilst 3000 extra houses might seem a lot to be built locally they are hardly a drop in the ocean in the wider picture. We might have to accept, given the national housing shortage, that will have to build perhaps a million or more extra homes to satisfy the current and future demand?

David

And yet, in continental Europe where they have much more space than we, it is common to see buildings on high, rocky promontories.

I wouldn't know what percentage is built up round here but I do know they're building on every vacant patch, or that's how it seems.

When I was younger the population of our township was about 6,000 now it's said to be 9,000 and obviously growing.

If you go to the link you can put in your postcode which should give you some information.

David