Devon and Cornwall will be inundated with refugees? Ifs, maybes, and conjecture

[Devonian]

(25 March 2014, 10:40)NorthernRaider Wrote: Morning LS, chaps and plebs
I think some of us MAY be missing the point and that is there is not one single scenario that will or will not happen, it could easily be any and all of them in varying degrees what IS important is that people stop looking at the west country or Wales or Scotland or the Pennines with rose coloured glasses, ALL of these areas are part of one tiny grossly over crowded island infested with millions of people who think they are ENTITLED to come and redistribute YOUR supplies, food, fuel, shelter among the hordes of displaced sheep.

YOU need to at least be AWARE of the possible problems you MAY or COULD face if millions or even only thousands of refugees come pouring out of ALL the cities. EG the West country COULD possibly face people coming from Cardiff, Bristol, Bath, Reading, Swindon, Basingstoke, Southhampton etc as well as Brum and Londonabad.

The west country is indeed the land of plenty with its green and pleasant land and MILLIONS of people know that, millions may not come maybe only a few hundred thousand but even that number will overwhelm the region's resources in days.

As gorgeous as it is ( and it is) its on a peninsula, its to close to London and the massively over crowded south west. At least west Wales has a few natural barriers as does Scotland, plus space to try and reduce the influx. The NW will see people from Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford and all the other northern areas pour into the Lakes, Dales and Moors. Up here the Middlesbrough, York, Sunderland, Newcastle, Gateshead, Carlisle populations will pour into the national parks, moors and dales. All worst case scenarios of course and all utterly hypothetical but you MUST consider them in your plans.

Where I think some folks seriously underestimated the power of fear and desperation is when it comes to comments about turning them away, I don't think you have the numbers or resources to stop large numbers of desperate people arriving by car, boat, plane, bike, motorcycle, golf cart, pony, quad, foot, canoe, dinghy, coastal and riverine vessels. Hell even with the English channel , French and British border agents we cannot stop more unwashed herds of migrants from getting here.

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Q. How many caravans are there in the UK?
- Over a million! Of the three main types for leisure use, there are:
- 500,000 touring caravans
- 330,000 caravan holiday homes (ie: Statics) and
- 135,000 motorhomes
Souce: National Caravan Council statistics

Aye the the bastards all break down on the A1m and A19 every summer, they should be banned along with cyclists

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LS Scribed "The statistics I have found, and my own historic thinking, lead me to believe that a significant number of C&Cs will be heading towards Devon and Cornwall as these counties will have greatest draw-factor, being significantly the most popular camping areas in the country. "

Yup it has a warm, pleasant and very pleasing environment that attracts millions of holiday makers, second home buyers, semi retired over paid south easterners etc every year it is only natural that in a crisis many people will elected to head to that region in the belief they can disappear into the rambling rolling countryside. Its geography and climate is why it is so attractive to such huge numbers of people compared to the Anglian region which though green pleasant and nice is pretty flat, not as easy to get lost in cos of the many fewer roads, it faces the north sea, it will still attract many folks from London as well as the east midlands but has much less favourable topography unless you intend to live on a boat.

There may be only a few hundred miles tween the west country and Lake district nat park but the climate and topography is much less gentle or forgiving, the same can be said of much of Wales. Theres a good likelihood the South Downs and New Forest will attract quite a few displaced persons but neither area has the capacity the WC does.

My own area in the NE has much going for it but it still does not have the climate and topography of the WC, BUT it is MUCH further away from the primary and secondary cities that are likely to be the main threat to us. and I still have to contend with the three coastal conurbations or Tyne, Wear and Teesside. But there is more room for manoeuvre, property is less than half of the cost of London and many SW areas, but its offset by our greater altitude and more barren rural spaces.

This Pleb agrees with most of what you have stated there and this is the first time you have actually acknowledged that people will also flood into "other areas" as well, which is exactly what BP and myself keep saying.

We know there will be an influx to the SW, but we also know that we will not be the only area affected which is what everyone else keeps banging on about.

You also seem to forget about about the teeny tiny areas known as Dartmoor; Exmoor; and Bodmin Moor which make up a significant proportion of the SW and which are not exactly warm and hospitable areas, even in Summer, so that actually reduces capacity in the SW further. But those geographic areas also mean that access to the region can be controlled and blocked off 'very' easily.