Why don’t we, you know, just build another London?

To return to our current favourite subject. We’re told, endlessly, that Britons must live in chicken coops with no garden because we’ve just not got the land for anything else. We must preserve the national patrimony by everyone living in tattered shacks:

Up to a billion solar panels will be fitted across Britain by 2035 under Ed Miliband’s plan to hit net zero targets, data suggest.

The Energy Secretary’s proposals will carpet the country with panels covering an estimated 750 sq miles, a bigger area than Greater London.

But it appears that we do have the land. We’ve enough land to build another London. So, why don’t we, erm, just build another London? The current one houses, what is it, perhaps 8 million people? At the usual 2.4 people per household that’s about 3.3 million dwellings. Sure, we might spread it about a bit, use a bit of land here, a bit there. But 3 million houses would aid in solving at least some of our housing problems.

If we do have space for this much solar - something we are assured we do - then that means we’ve this much space available. We should use whatever space we have available for its highest valued use. Which is, in the case of land, under houses. We already have that proof that we’ve got the land therefore we should use it to build those houses. QED.

If MiliEd is serious of course we can always put solar cells on top of the houses and solve two problems at the same time.

Of course, this will mean that fewer Britons will have to live in tawdry chicken coops which is why some will oppose the idea.

Tim Worstall