People are fleeing London for the cheaper and safer regions with resultant implications for housing and regeneration.
Figures compiled for the Office for National Statistics show for the first time since the recession the drift of people towards London from the north of England, Wales, Scotland and northern Ireland has gone into reverse.
The Council for the Protection of Rural England said the government and local authorities needed to make sure that increasing demand for new housing and industrial development outside the South East was harnessed to promote urban regeneration in the North – re-using brownfield land and bringing empty homes back into use rather than fuelling urban sprawl.
References: The Daily Telegraph 07/10/02 page 9
