EQ3 Regeneration

What is a cost benefit analysis?

• Those involved in an issue, proposal, or project. Sometimes also called stakeholders.

• A process by which the financial, social and environmental costs are weighed up against the benefits of a proposal.

• A downward spiral or cycle, where economic conditions produce less spending and less incentive for businesses to invest (therefore reducing opportunities)

• A flow of people back into cities to live (reversing decades of population decline)

What is fracking?

• An improvement in transport links which generates higher company profits and jobs from which the government can receive taxes.

• Franchise fees from train companies

• The process of drilling down into horizontal alyers of shale deep underground and then injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals at high pressure to release the gas trapped in the rock.

• How the media portrays regeneration, which illustrates conflicting opinions.

Why build HS2?

• Rail travel offers an alternative to driving a car and allows people to work on laptops while they travel.

• Some rail routes are already close to capacity and rail passenger traffic is at its highest level ever.

• It aleviates road congestion, which costs the UK £22 billion per year.

• Because it will help the economic core of the South to have more rail links available as there are so few at the moment.

Why do governments get involved in regeneration projects like HS2?

• Because governments want to show off to the electorate all they have achieved before an election.

• Because it helps with creating low cost housing, which is a national issue.

• Some projects are just too expensive for private companies to invest in (eg HS2's estimated cost was £50 billion in 2015)

• Governments see investment in infrastructure projects as positive because they get franchise fees and tax revenue when projects are completed.

Who does not gain from the HS2 route?

• The people of Birmingham near the Curzon Street station.

• The people of London near London Euston.

• The people in communities between the lines (as there will not be any intermediate stations)

• The people who are given construction jobs during the 2 phases.

What are the benefits of HS2?

• The rail companies will make ever greater profits as they can increase ticket costs whenever they like.

• The destruction of parts of the Chilterns AONB.

• The creation of 60,000 construction jobs.

• Improved journey times between major cities.

Why is housing an issue today in the UK?

• Immigration and birth rates

• Investors buying up housing in cities like London and leaving them unoccupied

• Increasing wealth and increasing single parent households

• Decrease in demand for houses.

How many houses do we need to build each year to keep up with increasing demand and fill in the backlog?

Why do we also need more affordable housing than ever before?

• since the 1980s, a lot of social rented housing stock has been lost through the Right to Buy Scheme

• since the 1970s, a lot of people make more money than before so social housing just isn't being built

• since the 1990s, the banking sector has reduced the range of mortgages available so people just can't afford to buy property privately.

Why is the UK government currently for fracking?

• Fracking causes earthquakes and the UK government want to utilise this for security reasons.

• Fracking could help with the UK's home produced natural gas, leading to potential lowering of prices for UK consumers.

• Fracking could make the UK more energy secure and less dependent on countries, like Russia, to meet our energy demands.

• Fracking causes contamination of water supplies, but the UK government doesn't care.