Dealing with, this forest belongs to Sir Whatshisname, and that wildlife(+habitat) belongs to the Crown, doesn't help either. More a mater of cultural restrictions, than suitability. In the words of Alfred the Great, fuck off, peasants. ;)

There are definitely cultural factors too. But there are also historical factors. When a town or region developed and with what industry plays a major part in determining the kind of building that happened and still happens there.

In terms of planning restrictions - those are fairly modern. Mainly they were brought in as a response to some of the more negative results of unrestricted development. 'That wildlife belongs to the crown' is far less of a factor in building than the concerns of wildlife protection agencies. God help you if you haven't brought in a bat expert to do a bat report. I am not kidding.

It is also, generally, one of the most common reasons for large-scale public protests against developments. Protecting wildlife and preserving the land and ancient sites for future generations to enjoy. As with the infamous Twyford Down M3 development. That attitude is not shared by the conservative elite - who would prefer to monetise the land.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/gal...otest-pictures

Doesn't cultural become historical and vise versa? Become intertwined in public perception? But, we've always done it/never done it, that way. :crone: To be fair, it's not just us old farts, most people, even kids, are skeptical of change... makes people uncomfortable.

Yes, the plant that gets built and the surrounding infrastructure to support it, is hard to change. One, because of the cost, and two, the longer it's there the more people don't want to see anything changed.

Here, because we have room, those places were usually on the outskirts of urban areas. Then it would be cheaper to abandon, and something new built further out in the sticks. The old place would either become a bedroom community for workers commuting to the new business site or back toward the city, or in some cases become a ghost town.

They say money talks, but the reality is money is a spoiled brat that will buy enough lawyers and politicians to crush anyone in the way. Especially after the supreme court decided in Kelo vs the City of New London, the politicians can take your land and hand it over to private developers. Most fucked up, anti-American, unconstitutional, oppressive development in out history.http://cellar.org/2014/willy_nilly.gif

travelled across both Europe and US. US is a lot of the same, but it's definitely interesting .......the first time. I'd plan to fly back ;). Nah go one way across the north and Canada, the other across the south and central in a zig zag and downs the coasts to connect, you'd be OK, they're different enough.

In response to that overlay of Texas on Europe, in the first post...

If you drive 45 minutes in the uk you're probably two or three towns from where you started.

as long as you didn't go on the M6

... or across Leeds.
It takes half an hour just to get out of Leeds on the X84 sometimes.

Just to clarify what Dani said - we don't need floods of Biblical proprtions to make areas unsuitable for building. A few days rain can do it.

Link to BBC website re flooding yesterday in Dani's and my part of the world.

A precis:
These are all places I know now, and have been to.
The X84 usually runs from Skipton to Leeds, via Otley. Yesterday it was only running between Otley and Leeds - Ilkley was impassible. And "my" bridge - the one with my love locks on, the one I walk over pretty much on a daily basis, was closed to traffic.

I know it's not much, compared to some of the awful, cataclysmic floods I've seen on the news in America (and in fact the ones we had in 2007) but I've never lived in a flood prone area before. I'm safe, I'm on the second floor (third floor by American counting) but it shocked me just how little rain it seemed to take to create a flash flood. It rose and fell within a day, with what felt like no more rain than usual.

Closed the carboot sale though. Gutted.

We can get flooding here, but we haven't in a few years. Maybe it will flood next spring. Hope that the flood does not get any worse. Evacuating is a PITA.

I live on a flood plain. I ain't scairt.

If it floods my house...

...expect to hear about a man building a rather large boat, and gathering wildlife by twos.