If a decade ago our little market town felt like a sleepy backwater, it now seems to be getting crowded.
In part, we might attribute this perception to rising car ownership, with many households now running multiple vehicles.
Several of our neighbours have to accomodate work vans as well as their family car, for example. Others are multi-generational households, with every member running their own motor.
No wonder our roads feel congested. But it’s not just roads. It’s school corridors and supermarket aisles too.
The reality is people are following in our footsteps, moving out of London and Slough because they simply cannot afford to live there.
It’s not that this area is much more affordable. Just that London prices are simply ridiculous.
We were very fortunate in our time in being able to buy a shell of a house requiring repair at well below market rates. However, it still cost more than the large suburban house I was raised in up north.
Politicians may hope to make upcoming elections all about immigration, but the truth is we are all migrants now.
We had to migrate to areas other than our place of birth first for the sake of employment, then again in search of affordable accommodation.
Naturally, the next General Election cannot be fought on the lack of affordable housing or the rising cost of living. After all, many of our multi-millionaire overlords have vested interests in the property market.
But the truth is, that is what it should be about. All over this land, people have been forced to migrate either from village to town, town to city, north to south, capital to commuter town, only to discover infrastructure is not keeping pace with needs.
How can it be that your local authority sells off old school properties, allowing them to be demolished to make way for new housing, but does not consider that the rising local population will increase demand for school places?
Our governments — local and national — specialise in short-termism. They don’t seem to be considering the actual needs of the people. Thus must the people make their own decisions: to migrate or not.
Last modified: 17 December 2023
