Brits think almost half of England is ‘built on’ – but real figure is less than 10 per cent
Brits think almost half of land in England is built on by towns, roads or rail lines – despite the real figure being under nine per cent, polling has revealed.
Six in 10 people in England also say retaining the current green belt should come before meeting housing needs, researchers at Ipsos for the Economist found.
This is despite a majority of people in Britain saying housing is unaffordable for them, with many linking this to problems with supply.
55 per cent of Brits say housing is not affordable in the UK for “people like me” and in England, 72 per cent say housing is unaffordable in their local area.
And most Brits also agree that housing prices won’t come down until the number of new homes being built goes up every year – with 46 per cent backing this in their own areas.
‘Warped mental image’
Ben Marshall, Ipsos research director, said: “Even people instinctively pro-building are cool on prioritising meeting the country’s housing needs at the expense of some green belt land.
“This is likely to be related to the pretty warped mental image of how much of our landscape is built upon, likely to reflect the way people live but also their innate concerns.”
Rental figures in the capital highlighted today indicate average costs skyrocketed to over £2,500 in April, according to Rightmove and the Centre for London.
A two-bedroom home in Westminster is now going for an average of £2,925 a month.
‘Housing crisis’
Last week, mayor Sadiq Khan stressed the growing problem, posting on X, formerly Twitter: “The national housing crisis is not just piling pain on households, it’s also threatening future house building and putting the homes people across the country need in jeopardy.
“I’m calling on the government to inject investment urgently to keep our city and our country building.”
It came after the Tory split on the issue deepened in the wake of the local elections earlier this year, with ministers and MPs divided over whether the route to electoral success lay in Nimby-ism or Yimby-ism, while Labour said it was backing “the builders not the blockers”.
Marshall added: “This research further underlines the power of ‘green’ and ‘brown’ as words in narratives about building new homes and infrastructure.
“At the same time, public opinion is nuanced, something which politicians and planners should see as an opportunity as much as a threat.”