Garden villages. The Conservatives enthusiastically redefine the meaning of the word "village".

Since Theresa May became Home Secretary back in 2010 the Conservative pledge to reduce annual net immigration to “the tens of thousands” has never been kept. 

As a result of this failure of policy it is little wonder that Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, recently predicted that due to high levels of immigration the UK will become Europe’s most populous country by 2050. 

There will obviously be a need for new homes in the medium and long term but, to help ease the immediate housing shortage the government proposes that 14 garden villages and 3 garden towns should be created. 

However, the new communities announced so far will all be built in an already overcrowded England.  Where are the plans for such communities in less densely populated Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland? 

Be that as it may, it seems rather odd that the so-called garden villages will vary in size from 1,500 to 10,000 properties. Those numbers suggest some pretty big villages! 

England’s green and pleasant land is to be bulldozed and built upon to accommodate Britain’s burgeoning population.  Meanwhile, the Conservatives are enthusiastically redefining the meaning of the word “village”. 

I submitted the above post as letter to the Western Daily Press and was pleased to see it published unedited on January 18 under the title "Tory redefinition of the English village".  It was also published, slightly edited, in the letters column of the Western Morning News on January 25.