WITH reference to Teresa Vance’s letter of July 8 titled “Time to halt spread of urbanisation”, I thought that I should bring some actual facts to the table that are not based on emotional, heart-string tugging, edited figures.
As you must know, there is always an element of misinformation, and seeking out figures to suit themselves with these things.
My view is that people should stick to, and use only reliable and unbiased facts, as sometimes they find that exaggeration can, and often will be self defeating.
With that in my mind, I would like to bring to yours, and Save Grange Fields organisers’ attention the following published information: According to the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) completed and published in June 2012 “6.8 per cent of the UK’s land area is now classified as urban” (a definition that includes rural development and roads).
The urban landscape accounts for 10.6 per cent of England, 1.9 per cent of Scotland, 3.6 per cent of Northern Ireland and 4.1 per cent of Wales; however it’s important to note that urban is not the same as built on!
For example 54 per cent of towns and cities consists of green space ie. parks, allotments, sports pitches and so on.
Domestic gardens account for another 18 per cent of urban land use; rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs an additional 6.6 per cent.
The report concludes “78.6 per cent of urban areas are designated as natural rather than built”.
Since urban only covers a tenth of the country, this means that the proportion of England’s landscape which is actually ‘built on’ is... 2.27 per cent.
That’s a pretty low figure, especially when you also consider that woodland is now calculated to cover 12.7 per cent of the UK, the highest proportion since 1924 when records began.
Bryan Billau
Stroud
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