Bernard Deacon's Blog, page 71

INOX’s Langarth: a place to question

INOX of Exeter has placed a sign on the A390 to the west of Truro. The sign proudly announces the imminent arrival of a ‘major urban extension’, although building on open countryside well outside the current urban area looks more … Continue reading

Replacing the unaffordability strategy

We have to move from a strategy of Unaffordability, meeting external demands, to one of Affordability, meeting local needs. The final section of Going West: Housing, migration and population growth in Cornwall contains a few preliminary proposals. “We have a … Continue reading

Is developer-led planning affordable?

In Section 6 of Going West: Housing, migration and population growth in Cornwall I ask whether the associated costs are making developer-led growth any longer affordable. “More housing is justified ostensibly to meet the needs of ‘the local area’ (Local … Continue reading

The ideological prison

Section 5 of Going West: Housing, migration and population growth in Cornwall suggests that the planners’ inability to empathise with the meaning of Cornish landscapes helps to create a dismissive attitude to Cornish landscape and culture. Here’s where I come … Continue reading

Growth: the new heroin

In Section 4 of Going West: Housing, migration and population growth in Cornwall we see how the ‘growth fetish’ gives more green lights to the developers. Here’s the beginning … “Economic growth is the heroin of capitalism. And we’re all … Continue reading

A self-fulfilling prophecy

In Section 3 of Going West: Housing, migration and population growth in Cornwall we find that inflated projections of population growth become self-fulfilling prophecies because of aggressive marketing of Cornish property upcountry. I conclude that building mainly unaffordable (for locals) … Continue reading

Robust evidence or rigged data?

Section 2 of Going West: Housing, migration and population growth in Cornwall discovers that official statistics have been grossly exaggerating population and household growth in Cornwall. Here’s an extract … “As we have seen, ONS and DCLG projections are far … Continue reading

Doubling the urban area in a lifetime

Section 1 of Going West: Housing, migration and population growth in Cornwall puts Cornwall’s housing and population growth in context. Despite the surprising difficulty in discovering precisely how many houses have been built, we can be certain a lot more … Continue reading

Lifestyle and lifestruggle Cornwall

Going West: Housing, migration and population growth in Cornwall begins with the contrast between Lifestyle Cornwall and Life struggle Cornwall. Is the gap growing? “Cornwall continues to experience severe development pressures. On the edge of most Cornish towns the JCBs … Continue reading