How to end speculation and squalor in housing | Letters
Ann Pettifor (Journal, 27 January) identifies several important strategies for solving London's crisis of "unreal estate", but omits one that is vital: developing regional economies. By the standards of most European nations, Britain's economy is incredibly concentrated in a single conurbation. Today's online technologies should make it possible for every business with a huge London office to have regional offices all over the country.
There are plenty of provincial centres with large enough resident populations - let's say of 250,000 people - to build a wider commuter belt around. Even counties remote from the other metropolitan areas have such population centres. Along the west coast mainline Milton Keynes and Stoke fill gaps. In the east Midlands most of the counties' eponymous towns are now big cities. Along the south coast Sussex has Brighton, Hampshire and Dorset Southampton, and Devon and Cornwall Plymouth. Even the gap between London and Bristol now has Swindon.
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