City Planner: Moving out of the big city Prof Samer Bagaeen MRTPI FRICS

It appears that Birmingham is the most popular destination for people moving from London, official figures reported by the BBC have shown. It appears that more than 6,000 people left the capital for England’s second city last year.

The second, third and fourth most popular destinations were all within 50 miles of London – Brighton and Hove, Thurrock and Epping Forest respectively. These figures will include students going to university in Birmingham as well as people moving from London boroughs because they were not able to afford the rising cost of housing in the capital.

One authority, Wandsworth, admitted offering grants of up to £7,000 to anyone prepared to move to Birmingham. The statistics comparing London and Birmingham show how big the affordability gap is. Where the average house price in London is £484,716, it is £162,184 in Birmingham.

What is the government going to do about it?

Compare that to the figure for Brighton and Hove reported in this column a few weeks: £350,000. The average monthly rent is not that much better, standing at £1,727 in London and £675 in Birmingham.

This information, as it turns out, is also of interest to the more elderly population who own their homes outright in and around Brighton and Hove. Following a recent talk I gave to my Rotary club in the city, it appeared that some of the older club members also shared my concerns for housing numbers. This was the case for those living in Brighton and Hove and those living further out in Mid Sussex, whose local plan was out with the Inspector. It appeared that their concerns were about the housing that their grandchildren were going to be able to afford in the years to come.

So if this is an intergenerational issue, then what is the government going to do about it? Probably nothing!

www.samerbagaeen.com, @samerbagaeen