What is the role of National Government in regeneration?
- Responsible for considering levels of inequality across the country
- Disparity (separation) doesn’t aid development - north-south divide must be overcome
- Spending on infrastructre - £2500 pp annually in london
- £5 pp annually in North
What is deregulation?
- Margret Thatcher (Tory) deregulated the financial centre
- London doesn’t have a monopoly on all share dealings - any banks, financial advisor, individual could trade in Shares.
- Barriers shopping overseas were removed
What is the positive of deregulation?
The “big bang” policy encouraged European banks to migrate to London.
What is the negative of deregulation?
Could be blamed for the 2008 financial crisis
What are the positives of EU free labour movement?
- Led to higher employment and lower unemployment rate
- Higher productivity and income
- Positive impact on taxes and social contribution
- Migrate easily without barriers or required permission.
- Provided free eduction, healthcare
What is the negative of the EU free labour movement?
- Culture clashes and refugees being put into substandard housing
What does the government spend on economic infrastructure?
- High levels on transport: railway (£12 million)
- High levels on transport: national (£3 million)
- High levels on transport: local roads (£3 million)
What is the definition of infrastructure?
The basic physical systems of a place:
• Economic infrastrure - includes highways, energy distribution, water and sewage facilities and telecommunication networks
• Social infrastructure - includes public housing, hospitals, schools and universities
What is HS2?
Train-line, connecting London Euston and Birmingham, which travels up to 400mph.
What are positives from HS2?
- Reducing congestion - help in the fight against climate change
- People can work (by laptop) while they travel
- Reliable, quick (London to Birmingham 80 mins to 49mins) and comfortable
- Estimated 60,000 construction jobs
What are negatives from HS2?
- Planned route will pass through AONB (area of outstanding natural beauty)
- No immediate stations, so communities will not gain from it
Arguments for HS2
- Good for business and rebuild Britain’s economy
- Competition for European’s railways
- Reduce domestic air travel and carbon emissions
- Helps bridge the North-South divide
- Will benefit ordinary people
Arguments against HS2
- It is not the right investment of money
- Bad for countryside and communities affected
- Not as many people will benefit as they proposed
How do rate and types of development differ in the UK urban and rural regions?
- PLANNING LAWS: local government administers planning laws, but UK government decisions sometimes override these - deciding how land is used. It can help create places that people want to live, work, relax and invest into.
- PERMISSION FOR FRACKING: government considers it national priority to secure energy supplies and economic prosperity - increasing energy demands lead to fracking - means licenses required but causes uproar with anti-fracking groups.
- HOUSE BUILDING TARGETS: national decision to increase house buildings. National governments have threatened that councils that do not build enough homes to meet their target, or they will lose their control over planning laws.
- HOUSING AFFORDABILITY: There’s been a need for more housing since the 1980s. However, a lot of social rented housing has been lost through the “right to buy” scheme, leaving a shortage of suitable properties to those on low incomes.
What is fracking?
The process of obtaining gas from shale rock, by hydraulic fracturing - drilling down into horizontal layers of shale and injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into the shale to fracture it and release gas trapped in the rock, which is then brought to the surface.
What are the benefits of fracking?
- Natural gas produced (socioeconomic benefits)
- This therefore reduces the need for imported gas (env. benefit)
- Improves the UK’s energy security (socioeconomic benefit)
What are the problems/costs of fracking?
- Conflict with landscapes of value e.g. national park (env. problem)
- Local opposition in every location where test drilling occurs (social problem)
- Unreliable reserve size - estimate energy supply for a year (socioeconomic problem)
- Not possible to determine the danger of Earth tremors (Social, Economic & Env. problem)
