Can the UK’s infrastructure withstand an ever-increasing population?
by James P. Outreach & PR ExecutiveWe can’t escape the fact that Britain’s
population is rising at a concerning rate. The upper dependents, or those of
state pension age (65+) constituted for 18.2 per cent of the population in
mid-2017, a rise by more than two per cent from only a decade before. The baby
boomer generation — those born between 1945 and 1964 — are nearing, or have
already reached, retirement age. Furthermore, thanks to technologic
developments within the health care system, baby boys born between 2015 and to
2017 are predicted to live to 79, while females are expected to surpass 82
years — both of these figures significantly higher than they were ten years
prior.
Back in 1939, the British population stood
at 47.55 million. 60 years later, just before the turn of the millennium, that
figure had risen to 58.68, charting a climb of 11 million over six decades. On
May 19th, 2019, that same statistic was measured at 66.91 million,
and by 2039, as we mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the
Second World War, analysts propose the occupants of the United Kingdom will be
counted at 74 million. The only word used to describe this growth could be
exponential.
(https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/briefing-paper/243)
No matter where
you go in 2019, you are never more than half an hour away from a conversation built
around concerns around this rising population. However, do these arguments that
have supported much of the Brexit campaign warrant any real justification, or
is it simply just scaremongering?
Tackling the
debate from a different perspective, used Nissan Micra
dealers, Lookers, have decided to examine the strain the significant increase
in population is having on our infrastructure, while similarly analysing
whether transport constructions and the likes, built more than a century ago,
are going to be able to withhold the weight of humankind.
Housing
At the start of 2019, housing charity
Shelter estimated that 277,000 people were without a home in England. In order
to battle the ensuing housing crisis, three million new social homes will need
to be built by 2040. The government announced that by 2022, they expect to
build 250,000 new homes, “partially inspired by the Grenfell Tower fire” in
2017. The cost of building the necessary 3.1 million houses is expected to cost
around £10.7 billion a year — this may seem catastrophic, however, consider
that with considerably lower pension pots, less younger families moving into
home ownership due to property prices and simply unaffordable rent prices. It
appears to be the only option if we are going to prevent further tragedy.
Sewage
Between 1853 and 1854 more than 10,000
people in London died from cholera. The bacterial disease, which is spread
through contaminated water, causes severe dehydration and diarrhoea and often
prove fatal.
In 1858, a particularly hot summer in the
capital, the tag of the ‘Great Stink of London’ began to circulate, thanks to
the wretched smell multiplying around the city caused by the flow of foul
water. Through the work of Joseph Bazalgette however, by 1866, the vast
majority of London was linked with free-flowing water that was not contaminated
by dirty water, thanks to the development of low-level sewers, where the water
would be intercepted and transported through.
Back to 2019, the Thames river is often
described as a toilet, owing to the fact 39 million tonnes of raw sewage makes
its way into the water every year due to severe overflowing — in 2013, Thames
Water reported this figure to be as high as 55 million tonnes. Currently, the
company are hard at work building the 15-mile-long “super sewer” named Thames
Tideway Tunnel. The project, expected to cost a total of £4.2 billion, is due
for completion in 2024, and its development will mark the 200th
anniversary of the birth of revolutionary engineer Bazalgette. The sewage
system is certainly one example of a piece of infrastructure which has
seriously struggled to match the demands placed upon it.
Road
Its almost impossible to imagine a time
when the whole of the UK wasn’t connected by motorways. When we’re forced to
take an alternative route using A and B roads, the driving experience does
begin to get considerably longer and particularly more stressful. However, we
don’t necessarily have to time travel to find the creation of the UK’s first
full-length motorway — the first section of the M1 was completed in 1959.
Crossing five county borders, the M1 runs
from the now Junction 5 at Watford to Junction 18 at Rugby. Constructed in four
phases, the road now consists of 47 different junctions and cost approximately
£26 million to build. Back in the ‘50s, when the road was being planned,
engineers of the M1 estimated that a maximum of 20,000 cars would use the road
each day — now the road is used by around 140,000 vehicles on daily basis. In
2017, Highways England set aside £10 million to help ease congestion on the
junctions branching off the M1 — hardly surprising when London is the sixth
most congested city in the world, with 227 hours a year being lost stuck in
traffic, and the M1 is the major contributor to this.
Bridges
We often cross bridges without even batting
an eye lid, simply because we have become so accustomed to their presence in
everyday life. In London, there are 33 different structures built over the
Thames, providing ease of travel for pedestrians, motor vehicles, and thanks to
swing bridges, boats. Tarr Steps in Exmoor National Park is considered to be
the oldest bridge in the country, with records suggesting its infancy traces
back as far 1000 BC. Spanning the River Witham, the High Bridge at the bottom
of Lincoln, is the oldest river crossing in the country to still have houses
built on top of it — its creation dates back to 1160. Originally housing a
chapel, the bridge now supports the weight of a number of timber framed shops,
including a traditional English bakery and café. Despite existing for just shy
of 1000 years, the bridge has proved its worth and shows no sign of decay.
If we head up north, the crossing between
Edinburgh and Fife, connecting Queensferry to North Queensferry, has, always
been displayed immense levels of manufacturing ingenuity. The Forth Bridge, a
railway line stretching 2.5km and towering at a whopping height of 150ft which
was completed in 1890, became the first major structure in Britain to be made
of steel. Costing £3million to construct and employing a workforce of 4,600
men, the bridge is still used to this day, existing as part of the main
transport link between London and Aberdeen. 200 trains use the bridge everyday,
with more than three million passengers travelling across annually.
By 1950, the number of cars on Britain’s
roads had reached four million and more people were looking to travel independently
as opposed to taking advantage of the public transport options. This life choice
encouraged the further development of the aptly named Forth Road Bridge. Opened
in 1964, by Queen Elizabeth II, the bridge started to succumb to the pressures
placed upon it by modern society and so the Queensferry Crossing was planned,
developed, and opened in 2017. Both remain open to this day, with the Forth
Road used for pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport, while approximately
78,000 vehicles cross the Queensferry Crossing daily.
The infrastructure that we as a nation created
more than a century ago, which could not possibly have predicted the alarming
rate in which the population is growing, has performed particularly well. The
bridges and roads, which continually find themselves under increased strain,
have withstood the test of time. The likes of the sewage system, however, despite
its phenomenal achievements at first, simply couldn’t cater for the sheer
velocity of waste that was due to attack it come the twenty first century — as
neither did the housing industry. That said, each infrastructural section is
proving that even with pressure, they can still utilise technological
developments to further enhance what currently exists.
Sources
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-46788530
https://www.tideway.london/the-tunnel/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-29175607
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bazalgette_joseph.shtml
https://www.highwaysindustry.com/10m-from-government-to-ease-congestion-on-the-m1/
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tsgb-2011-vehicles
https://www.theforthbridges.org/forth-road-bridge/history/
https://www.visitscotland.com/info/towns-villages/forth-bridges-p243711
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/high-bridge-glory-hole
http://www.secret-london.co.uk/Thames_Bridges.html
https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/briefingPaper/document/243
https://www.mcginley.co.uk/news/the-uk-s-oldest-bridges/bp324/
https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/briefingPaper/document/243
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Created on Dec 11th 2019 11:10. Viewed 369 times.