Breeding like Rabbits Options

[Simon Kirby]

I was thinking, how many new homes would we need in the district if there wasn't any net migration into West Berkshire? To make a guestimate I need to know the rate of population growth, so take for example Richard Adams, author of Watership Down. He and his wife have two daughters and six grandchildren, so that's an average population growth of 22% per generation.

If we assume that this is typical of West Berkshire residents, and we assume that a generation is actually 25 years, this means that the ethnic West Berkshire population is growing at 0.8% per year. Now we know that in 2006 there were around 60,000 households in West Berkshire, so in 20 years how many new West Berkshire born-and-bred households will need homes? Turns out to be approximately 10,500. That figure familiar to you? That's 10,500 new West Berkshire homes over the next twenty years just to accomodate West Berkshire's growing native population.

Much as I love the book, I wonder that Richard Adams might want to reflect on his opposition the the Sandleford development.