The pandemic has highlighted the unity of the U.K. with the clapping for the N.H.S. , food shopping and deliveries to the housebound, Captain Tom and numerous charitable acts which kept our spirits up. At the same time disunity was reflected in the different rulings which confused and did indeed lead many to agree that devolution in this case had been “a disaster”.
Longer term problems have been side-lined: the ongoing housing crisis, youth unemployment, climate and greening commitments.
Now is the perfect time to bring all this together and unite The U.K. in building 7 new towns -carbon free, broadband infrastructure using renewable energy sources. Four to be built in England and one each in Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland.
The integrated housing would be 60% private owned and 40% social housing all built to the same standard using the latest energy saving techniques. This would avoid the issue of builders erecting virtual ghettoes after tendering for contracts parliament by this time, hopefully, having already banned the use of non-disclosure agreements in the industry.
New estates could be gated and staffed by security employed from within the community ensuring only non petrol/diesel cars ,vans and lorries are admitted whilst making people feel safe. Shops, leisure, power, gardening, security and roads can all be managed internally giving real meaning to the word devolution. The hope is that these new towns would inspire many other cities and towns to look and take action on their own infrastructures.
These developments would give strong credibility to the The United Kingdom’s assertion of it’s Green credentials going into the Carbis Bay G7 meeting in June and the U.N. Climate Change Conference (Cop 26) in Glasgow come November.
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