It seems like each time I head back home to Essex for a weekend outside of London, the town I grew up in has expanded another mile.
Between 2011 and 2021, the population of my hometown increased by 11.3%, growing 3% more than the East of England average. All those people need somewhere to live, and all those new communities need services. So the trees and the fields are swallowed by ever-expanding blocks of identical new builds and fast food restaurants.
Governments love building houses. For as long as I can remember, housebuilding in the UK has been a measurement of success. Election campaigns proudly declare the hundreds of millions of houses the party would build each year if they were victorious, and the higher the number the better. The current government was thrilled to meet its housebuilding target in 2023, and since 2010 “millions of people have moved into home ownership.” Well, fine. But is it really surprising, considering over 20% of Conservative Party donations come from the property sector?
Smarter people than me have written at length about this topic, but I raise an eyebrow at the idea that plastering the country with houses will solve any form of housing crisis. Especially considering the income to house price ratio is more than double it was in the 1970s, leading to nearly half of young people saying they are “giving up” on ever owning a home.
The current government may be excited to hit its housebuilding target, but it’s lagging dangerously on any kind of climate target. Recent anti-green policies like delaying the ban on gas boilers and prioritising motorists suggest they aren’t even the slightest bit bothered.
Compare this with the passing of the EU’s nature restoration law, pushing member countries to restore at least 20% of land and sea areas by 2030. For this to make its way into law despite vicious resistance from the far-right and a tidal wave of online disinformation is enormous cause to celebrate.
Unchecked urban development is one of the primary drivers of biodiversity loss in the UK - already one of the world’s most nature-deprived countries.
I’ve previously written about ways in which property developers can incorporate nature in their plans. Nest boxes, trees, wildlife corridors, ponds, meadows, and insulated houses powered by heat pumps and solar panels are entirely possible creations. So let’s strive to make it happen.
This year will prove to be one of, if not the most decisive election years in world history. People across the globe will be turning out to vote in their millions, and how they choose to do so will determine what human society looks like for generations to come.
Wouldn’t it be something if we prioritised nature and wellbeing above the financial interests of the few?
A short walk from the house in which I grew up, there’s a neighbourhood that backs on to a thin green strip of trees and lakes. I head over there, wading through mud and bracing a late winter breeze beneath a leaden sky.
It’s not much, but it’s enough space for blackbirds to dance. Fungus-coated tree trunks stretch across a bubbling stream. Recently coppiced willow and a freshly laid living hedge suggest this patch of nature hasn’t been forgotten.
Moorhens chase each other across the lake, and mallards announce their arrival by skidding along watery runways. A family of swans greet me, hoping I bear crumbs. I disappoint them, but fish a few plastic wrappers out of the water which I hope goes at least some way towards compensation.
Long-tailed tits dart between trees. Somewhere, a green woodpecker cries out.
Looking east, tree-topped hills climb swiftly away, giving whoever lives in that neighbourhood envious morning views.
Further on, the bare branches the treeline are flecked with redbrick developments still under construction, lingering as if waiting to be a part of the conversation. Large, cramped, and expensive, with signs proudly promising paved driveways and grassless gardens, they begin to push their way into this green ribbon of peace.
It’s easy to oversimplify a complex economic and political situation. But it’s also easy to push nature to the bottom of the agenda, to shrug and to say the birds and the hedgehogs and the badgers will have to find somewhere else to live and then begin laying down the concrete and counting the profits.
But nature doesn’t have a voice, or a vote, or a seat in the boardroom.
It’s up to us to speak for it.
I can relate to this. There is something uniquely depressing about seeing green areas disappear under concrete, however much those homes might be needed. I know there’s a massive housing shortage but we also only have a finite amount of land, and we need it for a lot of things, including food and biodiversity. There needs to be a much more deliberate strategy for how we use our land. More urban sprawl cannot be the answer.