October 02, 2015

#BattleSatellite: Is Britain full?

23 minutes

Listen to the introductory remarks from this week's Battle of Ideas satellite at the House of St. Barnabas in London

The announcement that the UK population grew last year by half a

million – roughly the population of Edinburgh – has provoked much

discussion about whether the country will cope with an increasing demand

on resources. With half that rise coming from migration rather than

births, there have been inevitable calls to impose tougher limitations

on who can move to this country, heightening debate around free movement

in the context of Britain’s European Union membership and amid a

migrant crisis at Calais. For London, the situation is even more

pressing, with the population this year breaking its historical peak of

8.6million and expected to rise to 10 million by 2030. With UK national

house-building at record low levels – less than 150,000 new homes per

year and with soaring rents in the capital and beyond – many are

questioning whether the UK can afford an ever-expanding population.

Pro-immigration commentators counter that the UK’s growth is

testament to its economic health and that highly skilled migrants are

essential to maintaining that strength and support an increasingly

ageing population. Yet attempts to introduce Australian-style points

system of economic migration have proven to be politically fractious and

difficult to enforce. Others suggest that a radical overhaul of

Britain’s ailing infrastructure would ensure that a country which has

built on less than three per cent of its landscape has ample space.

Nonetheless, with a range of major projects ranging from fracking and

wind power through to HS2 to Heathrow’s third runway facing considerable

local and political opposition, there is plenty of pessimism

surrounding future UK capacity. Government plans to build a range of

garden cities to ease the burden on the housing sector generate

sceptical eye-rolling on all sides.

Should the UK’s continued population growth be a cause for

celebration, or seen as a worrying burden on stretched resources? Will

governmental plans to decentralise authority on planning and policy lead

to a range of national powerhouses to ease the strain on the capital,

or will it only encourage greater Nimbyism? Would tearing up Britain’s

notoriously restrictive planning regulations liberate the private sector

or lead to chaotic, unmanaged development? Does the UK face normal

pressures for a nation of its size and development, or are we suffering

from a lack of ambition?

SPEAKERS

Tom Chance

housing spokesperson, Green Party

Jonn Elledge

editor, CityMetric; writer, New Statesman

David Goodhart

director, Demos Integration Hub; author, The British Dream: successes and failures of post-war immigration

Phoebe Griffith

associate director, migration, integration and communities, IPPR

Alp Mehmet

retired diplomat; vice-chairman, Migrationwatch UK

Karl Sharro

architect; writer; Middle East commentator; co-author, Manifesto: Towards a New Humanism in Architecture

CHAIR

David Bowden

associate director, Institute of Ideas

To find out more about this year’s festival and buy tickets visit the Battle of Ideas website.

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