SOT wrote:
While the overall figures are alarming, I suspect the Hillingdon's growth is down to one thing which has little to do with the colour of anyone's skin: Heathrow. I do not mean that its all those nasty foreigners jumping off the plane and into a 4 bed house, I mean in people living here to support Heathrow's operation.
The figures that determines Hillingdon's growth are taken over a period from 1939 (No Heathrow) to now
Hillingdon as a borough has increased from 159,000 residents in 1939 to 289,000 this year,
With the proposed runway 3 or runway extension, plus the Heathrow Hub plans, plus the huge over development of parts of Hillingdon (massive blocks of flats rather than low rise living) - I dont suppose the growth has peaked yet
Heathrow as a whole is a massive source of employment, providing approximately 50-60,000 direct jobs, and many times that in indirect jobs in the South East. Johnson wants to close the airport down and turn it into some ridiculous parody of a garden city. Where will all the proposed inhabitants of his hair-brained scheme work if he gets his way ?
Heathrow has soaked up a lot of the local unemployment which was created when Hayes abandoned its past as an industrial centre in the 1970's and 1980's, without the airport the future looks grim.
The so called ' Mayor for London ' is far more interested in pimping himself around the Far East selling off huge swathes of the Capital to 'developers' who have no interest whatsoever in the future of our city or it's inhabitants. To them it's just a cash generator. You need look no further than Nine Elms and Battersea for evidence of that. The occupancy rates there will be disgustingly low at a time when essential workers are being forced further and further away.
The rise of gated communities has already spread to the outer suburbs in recent years, with many of the properties remaining empty whilst speculators accumulate even more wealth. there is something seriously flawed with this system, but on and on it goes.
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