Biodiversity Offsetting

[peatff]

I've been reading about this and wondered what others think about it ? I think it would be a disaster for the environment if developers were allowed to say cut down a wood to build houses somewhere and replace it by creating a wetland somewhere else because they will just use financial pressure to cherry pick locations aided by politicians who know nothing about people's needs like something as simple as somewhere quiet to walk their dog or for kids to ride bikes off road away from traffic or just climb trees. They will just find somewhere completely unsuitable for building and flood it claiming they have fulfilled their responsibility by creating a new environment. I hope they start with Hampstead Heath and places like that but they will go after sites where they know there will be pressure for new housing which they will claim to be affordable for local workers but which will be sold on for profit within a few years turning them into weekend retreats for commuters when (if) the new high speed rail link ever gets built. Let them build on golf courses, they are just a waste of space, and that there Sandringham, do they really need all that land for just one family ? Sorry I'm getting carried away a bit but it has helped to calm me down a bit.

[difflock]

Shortage of housing is largely a myth.

At least here in Northern Ireland.

But to a lesser extent the same factors are at work in the rest of the UK

(i) Divorced couples insisting in living apart, at the taxpayers expense.

(ii) Feckless young woman getting pregnant to gat a place of their own, at the taxpayers expense.

(iii) C0-habiting couples on benefits claiming to be living apart, requiring 2 roofs to be paid for by the taxpayer.

(iv)Older parents living alone because their children have left home, due to independance and job mobility.

(v) Single young people, due to increasing prosperity, being able to live in a place of their own.

Nett result, houses, despite getting ever larger, have far far fewer people living in each house.

Especially those on benefits.

marcus