Nye tall fra Storbritannias uavhengige statistikkbyrå (ONS) viser at de tettest bebodde områdene i England har hatt en befolkningsvekst på 10 prosent de siste 15 år. I London bor det nå 5.000 mennesker per kvadratkilometer:
But that figure does not include the hundreds of thousands who are living here without declaring themselves to the authorities.
The rising number who choose to live in England’s prosperous southern regions made the country the most overcrowded in Europe two years ago.
The latest figures show there are an average of more than 400 people living in every square kilometre of England.
Critics blame the population surge on the last Labour government’s policy of encouraging large-scale immigration. The population density of London has risen by 11.6 per cent since 1997; in the East of England by 10.5 per cent, and by nearly 9 per cent across the rest of the South.
Kritikere mener at den nåværende befolkningsveksten vil føre til utålelig press på transport, boliger og vann- og energiforsyninger. Koalisjonsregjeringens valgløfte om redusere nettoinnvandringen til 1990-nivået på under 100.000 i året er enda ikke blitt oppfylt, og iht ONS‘ siste tall er nettoinnvandringen på over 250.000 mennesker i året.
Befolkningstettheten i Sørøst-England er nå større enn i Nederland og Belgia:
The population density of London has risen from 4,462 people in every square kilometre in 1997 to 4,978 in 2010. The most jam-packed part of the capital is the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which has 13,973 per square kilometre – an increase of 16.2 per cent.
By contrast, Berwick-on-Tweed and Tynedale, both in Northumberland, have only 27 people on average to each square kilometre.
With 447 to every square kilometre, the South East is now more crowded than the Netherlands or Belgium.
-The most crowded region of England remains the North West, which has 492 to every square kilometre. However, its population density has gone up only 2.1 per cent since 1997. Scotland is the least crowded area of Britain. It has 67 people to each square kilometre, up from 65 in 1997.
Leder for den innvandringskritiske tenketanken Migration-Watch, Andrew Green, sier at tallene er et “krystallklart bevis på masseinnvandringens følger for befolkningen på en heller liten øy.” Ifølge Green står innvandring for to tredjedeler av befolkningsøkningen, som tilsier at landet må bygge 200 boliger hver dag de neste 20 årene for å imøtekomme den innvandringsdrevne veksten.
The evidence is mounting that the country cannot cope with mass immigration on this scale and it is high time the political system responded by taking effective measures.’
Surveys used to gauge population levels do not take into account people from the EU who come as visitors but stay long-term and those from elsewhere who overstay their visas or are here illegally.
The national census in 2001 missed at least a million people, many of them in London. Results of the new, and possibly last, census, are due out later this year, but this time it may have missed as many as two million people.
Attempts to get a more accurate picture, taking into account NHS records and databases from banks and storecards, are under way.
Daily Mail: Britain full to bursting: Population up 10% in 15 years…and they are just the ones we know about
