Why "Urban Sprawl" is not a "Measure" of "Economic Success"

"... the legacy seems to be one of urban sprawl - a measure, indeed, of continued economic success."

This quotation comes from an English Heritage publication entitled "England's Landscape - The West Midlands" by Della Hooke. English Heritage is a UK government agency which is , supposedly, the custodian of the historic built and green environment, and, to be fair has does some good area regeneration work.

However, "urban sprawl" should not be regarded as a "measure" of "economic success" for the sake of both the historic environment and the economy. On the contrary, urban sprawl is a major existing and predicted problem for the West Midlands, and perhaps the single greatest obstacle, if it continues on the scale of recent years, to sustainable regeneration.

For a start, the West Midlands, in the context of the UK economy, does not (even before the Credit Crunch) demonstrate "continued economic success". The only net contributors to UK plc in recent years have been London, the South East and East of England regions. Those parts of the region which are "successful", against official indicators, are in a minority.

Nevertheless, the "ideology" behind "urban sprawl" - with it's spurious "growth agenda" based, amongst other things, on deregulated land use planning and excessive release of greenfield sites for development - prevails across central and local government, and the wider "corporate sector" almost to the point of religious fundamentalism.

Therefore, any serious attempt to tackle the regeneration of the English Regions, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland needs to address this ideological obtacle at the outset. One would hope that the likes of the UK's Sustainable Development Commission might be up to this task, but there has been little real evidence of this todate.