Summary
THE GOVERNMENT's Kickstart scheme, aimed at making use of building sites that would otherwise remain vacant because of the credit crunch, has a key flaw. The Pounds 925million initiative, launched today, includes only a handful of sites in London, the majority being in the North and Scotland. Yet it is London where housing problems are at their most extreme, reflecting the capital's steadily increasing population and property prices which are still high relative to incomes. Despite the problems in the City, London and the South East will go on generating a disproportionate share of the nation's wealth.
Yet political pressures on schemes such as Kickstart mean most money is spent in Labour heartlands rather than the equally deprived areas of the capital that lie alongside its more prosperous districts. So the Londoners who work the longest hours nationally and contribute so much to taxes live in a city which is not getting its fair share of government largesse. That distortion shows up in crime figures, the often poor quality of public services such as education, and much else.See the full content of this document
Extract
Housing for London
The imbalance b...
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