Houses for ‘ghosts’: ONS overestimated growth in many areas, census suggests

Population growth overestimated in some areas and underestimated in others, data from 2021 census suggests

Green belt land may have been torn up for housing unnecessarily, campaigners believe, after the 2021 census suggested population growth in many areas has been overestimated - in some cases by tens of thousands of people.

But the census also revealed other estimates were far too low - by up to 16% - meaning local politicians now face pressure to allocate more land for homes than previously anticipated.