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Paul Williamson is from Deloitte »I am lucky to hold a post for the Environment Agency covering both the north east and Yorkshire/Humberside, as such I got to hear the chairman of the Environment Agency give his retirement speech in London, Sir John Harman came from the world of local authorities (Kirklees) and as such has been at the very centre of environmental politics for the last couple of decades. He is doing other lectures so I will only touch on his conclusion.
It is also relevant to the current thnk-tank controversy. The reason we should not send the population of Sunderland to Oxford is as much about ecology as it is economy!
The Competition Commissioner of the EU Gunter Verheugen said "If something is ecologically wrong it can't be economically right". In terms of the South East it is struggling to cope with the inflow of people and cars and as such the infrastructure risks being overwhelmed. I am getting increasingly annoyed at the short term politics running into the long term politics. As an environmentalist I buy into the warnings that Sir John is giving which reminds all of us that our resources are not completely elastic.
The irony is that a downturn is an excellent time to consider the sheer waste that the modern economy produces.....save pounds and the planet is very compelling. So it's the ecology stupid! There is an optimum level of activity and we really do need to harness a significant amount of the worlds creativity and wealth to develop a lower impact lifestyle. The choice for society is getting increasingly urgent and perhaps politically unpalatable!
Meanwhile 80% of the population want to live in the countryside......not sure that works but as a region which is often said not to have enough critical mass and suitable infrasucture to be competitive then I think the new world order just might be one that plays out well for the north east.....in the end.
The wealth of the North is crucial, its happiness too but give me steady growth that doesn't cause damage to the environment over boom and bust anyday! As for Oxford the three day farming conference will do me fine!
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