Jeremy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I know there already council properties in > Bloomsbury, Kensington, Chelsea, Notting Hill, and > all sorts of expensive areas. I just meant that > while it's not realistic to build new council > accomodation in prime central London locations, > neither should they all be stuck in places like > East Ham or Thamesmead. There's a balance to be > struck. > > I guess the "sensible distribution" would be > primarily numerical, but would also depend on > things like available land, current density of > population, infrastructure, green space, etc. I agree entirely with Jeremy on this one. London is often cited as a brilliant example of how different social strata live alongside each other and, generally, get along. The dangers of "ghetto-isation" where, essentially, the inner city becomes for the rich only whilst the poor are restricted to a sort of donut-ring outer can be seen clearly across the Channel where Paris has this exact model. It causes social unrest and an "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" tendency. Whilst the need for affordable housing is important I'm not sure it should be at the expense of social cohesion.