The illusion of a concrete Britain
Next time you worry about greenbelt erosion read this article by Mark Easton of the BBC – its spot on. It tells us:
The British people, it appears, have the mistaken belief that much of the UK has been concreted over. Could it be that the psychological impact of city living means people have a distorted idea of what our own country looks like?
This misunderstanding is suggested by new survey data produced by Ipsos Mori. Asked how much of the UK’s land area is densely built on, the average estimate was 47%. The far more accurate figure – based on satellite images – as highlighted in my blog last November, is 0.1%.
The average Briton thinks 356 times more of our nation’s land is concrete jungle than is the reality.
This isn’t just a minor misconception. The error helps to distort our mental picture of the UK and shift the politics of land use.
If the UK is viewed as a large football pitch, the people in the survey reckoned that almost all the ground between the goal-line and half-way line is densely developed when, in reality, it would fit into the tiny arc marked for taking a corner.
The 0.1% figure for what is designated “continuous urban fabric” (CUF) was named UK Statistic of the Year by the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) last month.
RSS president Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter said “whatever side of the argument you sit on, this statistic gives true insight into the landscape of the United Kingdom”