How much of the UK is built on ?

A surprising and interesting read.

Have a guess and a figure in mind BEFORE you read the article

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18623096


(I guessed 4% and was wrong, if thats a clue )

 

I guessed 4% too Evil, and that was after thinking about the City Planet in Star Wars.

Suprising.

 

with the clues above I'll say 15%, now i'll have a look

had look
way off

 

ruddy nora, and even with that amount, the towns and cities are way overcrowded. imagine the congestion with just that amount doubled!

 

Looking at the map makes me think surely there is more mooreland than that in England and Wales or is Scotland just a vast bog?

 

LMAO

 

What's classed as built upon - just the footprint of settlements or does it also include roads, railways, etc. out in 'open countryside'?

 

I guessed at 9%
When I went to Canada last Year to visit my parents and brother, I was speaking to my dads partner and we got onto this subject. When I told her that we have over 60 million on our tiny island she just laughed, she had a image of us all living like ants! Lol
Canada has a population of 34 million and is 36 times larger!

 

Aren't we lucky. Really, we are. Even if you live in smack bang in the middle of one of our biggest cities, you're still not more than an hour away from open countryside.

Before reading the article, I'd have guessed between 2 and 4%, but that's because I grew up on the edge of the moors where you can go miles and miles without seeing another soul (except for the ocassional sheep or grouse).

 

Its just misleading rubbish to come up with figures like this.
I've not found anywhere around here when you cant hear a high speed train, motorway or just traffic in general.
Its not about how much is actually under concrete, that is bound to be small.

Its the effects the concreted areas have for miles around.

Urban sprawl and villages merging with towns are the issue.
Medway towns are now a complete blur, they all run into one another.

I consider it like a new London in the making, that is until Greater London spreads and takes it over.
The amount under concrete is of little interest, its the loss of true open countryside, without wind turbines, rail links and motorways, which carve up the countryside that really matters.

 

When ever the BBC does anything it doesn't include the Isle of Man, we're non-existent.

 

quote="pete, post: 559332, member: 13"]Its just misleading rubbish to come up with figures like this.
I've not found anywhere around here when you cant hear a high speed train, motorway or just traffic in general.
Its not about how much is actually under concrete, that is bound to be small.

Its the effects the concreted areas have for miles around.

[/quote]

how true

 

Loveweeds come over here, you can here a pin drop at night and see the stars.

 

Not just you lot. The north east of England doesn't exist either. Next time you watch the BBC's national weather forecast, just watch our bit. They sort of start around east anglia or the south east, steadily go clockwise round the country (ignoring IoM), pause over Scotland just to rub in that its going to be wet and windy there, then sort of sweep at high speed passed us.