ES Views: London’s success is at the root of our housing crisis

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Is London's booming economy behind the housing crisis?
PA Wire/PA Images
20 February 2018
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Your article [“If the Tories can’t do housing, then what are they for?”, February 16] highlights the problem governments have when it has an economically successful city.

As jobs and population numbers grow, magnet cities such as London become victims of their success. While there is enough land to build all the necessary structures and infrastructure, housing costs can remain stable. As most land gets built over, it becomes a scarce commodity and costs escalate. Authorities then expand public transit systems to connect locations with relatively cheap land with central major job opportunities.

London is becoming an endless city with boundaries defined by a two-hour commute. Building on green belt land and creating new towns will improve supply of homes. The use of tax incentives to bring many of the 2.7 million underused homes onto the market would be a productive strategy.

An alternative solution would be an economic meltdown, which would reduce housing costs and demand. A government led by Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell may very well achieve this result.
Howard Rafael


Contrary to the widely held view, we do not have to build to solve the housing supply crisis in London and the Home Counties, even in a controlled way on parts of the green belt [Comment, February 16].

Outside of London, there is plenty of unprotected agricultural land and locations where another version of Milton Keynes could be built.

A vision for two generations ahead will also break the logjam in the hands of the big builders. This is the bold plan needed for the future. Without it, the Conservative Party will lose the support of the next generation.
Ian Campbell


Russell Lynch asks “if the Tories can’t do housing, then what are they for?”. The answer is clear from their track-record: promoting free-market ideology, except with regards to misleading “help to buy” subsidies, and defending the accumulated unearned housing wealth of the  over-70s, who are the Conservatives’ electoral bedrock.
Christopher Clayton
 

Last week, news outlets were full of the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ latest report on the housing shortage. Yet your correspondent Diana O’Sullivan [Letters, February 16] illustrates the nimbyism that contributes significantly to the problem.

Despite the coverage of the housing crisis, Ms O’Sullivan still thinks certain areas “should be allowed to stay as they are” because new buildings “do not resemble period architecture”.

We will never solve the shortage while this thinking prevails.
Mike Mitchell


Soaring art prices won't kill museums

I am writing in response to your piece on the Art Fund and Wolfson Foundation report on the ability of museums and galleries to add to their collections in light of a buoyant art market [February 15].

Fine art galleries only represent a small part of the nation’s museums. Many different subjects, types and themes are represented around the country. Excessive inflation in some parts of the art market does not affect collecting across the entire sector.

Tight budgets for local authority and government-sponsored museums place great pressure on these institutions. But the Government has invested £8.4 billion in museums in the past decade, with museums expected to benefit from another £30 million from the new tax relief supporting exhibitions.

There are many examples of museums that continue to give visitors education and enjoyment. My report, the Mendoza Review: an independent review of museums in England, published November 2017, found that the sector is resilient in difficult conditions.

It is, of course, very good that the Art Fund, which runs such successful campaigns on behalf of museums, continues to make the case for public support for our museums.

The flip side of soaring art prices might give us pause to appreciate the efforts of museums and donors over the years to ensure we have so many priceless pictures, sculptures and artefacts in many places across the UK.
Neil Mendoza, author of the Mendoza Review


Tree-climbing fines are tax on the poor

Wandsworth council clearly does not believe in children playing and enjoying the outdoors [“Killjoys!”, February 16]. The move to fines for climbing on trees suggests children are a nuisance and irresponsible parents should keep them locked to their iPads so they don’t incur the anger of the parks police.

The council’s decision to fine parents is not about the enjoyment of public parks by the public, but another stealth tax on the poorest members of the community. Someone has to pay the salaries of the parks police.
Peter Wilson


Wearing the hijab suppresses children

Education Secretary Damian Hinds is quite right: Neena Lall, the headteacher who banned the hijab for girls under eight from her Newham school, should not have suffered abuse for her decision, which was made solely for the wellbeing of her pupils.

Wearing the hijab is not a matter of faith; it is not symbolic of devotion or of modesty but merely of oppression. The idea that women ought to hide away from the world has nothing whatsoever to do with religion and there can be no justification for it. Imposing this societal subjugation of women upon girls of primary school age is beyond defence.

Education is about teaching our offspring to question and challenge boundaries, not wrapping them in the ignorance of ages. Our children are our future — we need to let them choose their own paths.
Julian Self


Londoners, show Brexiteers respect

I visited London yesterday and was staggered by the amount of negative reaction to the UK leaving the EU.

The contempt shown to people who voted Leave in the referendum, labelling us as xenophobic and saying we do not have a grasp of the consequences of leaving the union, is condescending to say the least.

London is a great city but seems, unfortunately, to be out of step with the rest of the country. Please give us Brexiteers the respect we deserve.
Chris Smith


VAR trial is proving farcical for football

The farcical workings of the VAR system were on show again in the FA Cup ties at the weekend. It has created more uncertainty rather than eradicated it.

How can we trust this system to work in the Champions’ League or World Cup? It is only on trial and I like the concept of VAR but there is much work to do before it can be widely used in football.
Matt Vernon

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