On Thu, 30 Aug 2012 08:46:05 +0100, "News" wrote:

77002 wrote:
On Aug 23, 1:33 pm, "It's only me"
wrote:
Proper urban development will beget more business rates and council

tax, so there is local government interest here. As more homes are

built the market loosens and becomes more affordable.

If there is an oversupply of offices and shops, rents and therefore
rateable values will decrease. There is no sense in having empty
commercial properties unless rents are rising quickly. Remember
Centre Point?

Centre Point was a ploy to not pay any taxes to the council as the building
was not completed and waiting because the land prices were rocketing because
the boom in the economy meant community created economic growth soaked into
the land and crystallized as land values. That is where land values come
from - economic community activity not the landowner. In short the
landowner was freeloading.

Unless the UK indulges in another round of building "new towns", the
national housing shortage is actually only solvable at the local
level. In other words build homes where the people and jobs are, or
move the people and jobs.

I lot of sense in that. But the archaic Stalinist Town & Country Planning
act prevents building on green fields. Only 7.5% of the UKs land mass is
settled and that figure includes green spaces and gardens which brings
masonry on land to about 2.5%. Ignore right-wing propaganda that we are
concreting over the Countryside.

England already has over 400 people per square kilometre, one of the most crowded in Europe. As we have to import much
of our food, we are vulnerable to worldwide food shortages. Over-development is causing problems with the hydrology, as
heavy rainfall is flushed out to sea rather than recharge the aquifers. Much of the undeveloped land is not suitable
for building on, unless you propose to put new towns on moorland and on the Pennines. Opinion in this country is
overwhelmingly against urbanisation, which is why local authorities do it by stealth.

We should be making sure that empty homes are brought back into occupation (compulsorily after a year, say), and
discourage the growth of population by limiting child benefit to two children per family and reducing immigration to
below the emigration rate.