Need to know There’s plenty of space for self-builders
How often have you been told Britain is full and that we are concreting over the countryside whenever anyone mentions anything about putting up new homes? I’m fairly sure advocates of the former view are looking out of a window in Islington, and the latter believe the AA road atlas is drawn to scale. As an ex-member of Her Majesty’s Royal Air Force, and having flown above a good deal of the UK in my time, it’s pretty obvious to me that most of it isn’t concreted over. Granted, the areas that are developed tend to be chock full, but everywhere else is virtually empty. Last year, looking out of the aircraft window as we approached Venice airport, I was struck by how residential dwellings in Italy seemed to be liberally sprinkled over the landscape – rather than squashed together in tight settlements. It looked to me like the residents there had room to breathe while still forming identifiable communities.