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Offsetting, Urbanization and the Neoliberalization of Space in Post-crisis England

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Abstract

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash, securing land for construction was identified as a key governmental priority. In the Coalition Agreement published on 20 May 2010 (HM Government 2010), the incoming government made clear its aim to support and facilitate housebuilding and large infrastructure projects (or megaprojects), with indicative examples the HS2 and the Thameslink Programme (Apostolopoulou and Adams 2019).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Megaprojects are commonly understood to be projects that cost at least a billion dollars.

  2. 2.

    See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2010-to-2015-government-policy-house-building/2010-to-2015-government-policy-house-building#background.

  3. 3.

    See https://www.gov.uk/government/news/red-tape-challenge.

  4. 4.

    See https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-councils-must-deliver-local-plans-for-new-homes-by-2017.

  5. 5.

    See https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-step-for-localism-as-every-regional-plan-has-gone.

  6. 6.

    See https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-vote-office/July%202015/21%20July/8-Communities-and-Local-Government-Local-Plans.pdf.

  7. 7.

    It has to be pointed out here that the UK is rather unusual among advanced economies in the extent to which it relies on the private sector to finance and provide infrastructure (https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/Political%20economy%20of%20infrastructure%20in%20the%20UK%20final%20v1.pdf).

  8. 8.

    See https://www.gov.uk/government/news/supporting-business-david-cameron-announces-new-plans.

  9. 9.

    See http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20150423101309/; http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/themehome/pm-speech-2/.

  10. 10.

    See http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20150418202319/; https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hancock-red-tape-drive-saves-business-a-record-10-billion.

  11. 11.

    See https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-going-further-to-cut-red-tape-by-10-billion.

  12. 12.

    Quoted in Cloke (1999, p. 281).

  13. 13.

    This does not mean that they would have managed to locate the offset site locally or that their interest would have been genuine but that these concerns would have been stronger in the previous system and less easily ignored.

  14. 14.

    See http://planningguidance.communities.gov.uk.

  15. 15.

    See http://www.cpre.org.uk/magazine/opinion/item/3845.

  16. 16.

    See https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/press-releases/2015/june/state-of-our-countryside-land-use-map-of-the-united-kingdom-reveals-large-scale-changes-in-environment.

  17. 17.

    See https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/22/green-belt-housing-crisis-planning-policy.

  18. 18.

    Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/economic-storytelling-about-debt/.

  19. 19.

    See https://thewire.in/economy/david-harvey-marxist-scholar-neo-liberalism.

  20. 20.

    For a detailed analysis of the Whitehouse Farm case see Apostolopoulou, E. (2019). Beyond post-politics: Offsetting, Depoliticization and contestation in a community struggle against Executive Housing. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12354.

  21. 21.

    See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Tyneside.

  22. 22.

    See http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/go-ahead-given-controversial-plan-build-5855195.

  23. 23.

    See http://www.nhsn.ncl.ac.uk/news/great-news-for-campaigners/.

  24. 24.

    See http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/should-britain-build-on-its-green-spaces-to-solve-thehousing-crisis-a7568341.html.

  25. 25.

    See https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/housing-white-paper.

  26. 26.

    For a detailed exploration of the Lodge Hill case see Bormpoudakis et al. (2019). the rise and fall of biodiversity offsetting in the Lodge Hill large-scale housing development, South East England. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619884890.

  27. 27.

    The Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalization.

  28. 28.

    See https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/campaigning/protecting-wildlife-sites-near-you/save-lodge-hill/.

  29. 29.

    Available at: https://www.medway.gov.uk/downloads/file/2203/development_strategy_with_cover_2018.

  30. 30.

    High Speed Two (HS2) high-speed north-south railway is being taken forward in phases: Phase One will connect London with Birmingham and the West Midlands. Phase 2a will extend the route to Crewe. Phase 2b will extend the route to Manchester, Leeds and beyond (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/627919/B1_Understanding_the_Bill_v1.0.pdf).

  31. 31.

    See https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/high-speed-two-limited/about.

  32. 32.

    See http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/7/pdfs/ukpga_20170007_en.pdf.

  33. 33.

    51m is a group of 17 local authorities that has joined together in a national campaign to challenge the HS2 rail project. For more information see: https://www.51m.co.uk/about-51m/.

  34. 34.

    See https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/our-campaigns/hs2-rail-link/.

  35. 35.

    Phase One London and West Midlands route of the proposed High Speed 2 (HS2) Railway is referred to as the Proposed Scheme.

  36. 36.

    See http://bbop.forest-trends.org.

  37. 37.

    This changing rhetoric has been described quite explicitly in one of the interviews I had with a conservation broker (see Chapter 7).

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  1. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Elia Apostolopoulou

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Apostolopoulou, E. (2020). Offsetting, Urbanization and the Neoliberalization of Space in Post-crisis England. In: Nature Swapped and Nature Lost. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46788-3_6

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