Leaders

社論

 

Britain's planning laws

英國規劃法

 

An Englishman's home

英國人之家

 

The shortage of housing is a gathering national crisis. Rev up the bulldozers

英國住房匱乏，危機重重，應大興土木！

 

NOW that the economy is at last growing again, the burning issue inBritainis the cost of living.

既然英國最終恢復了經濟增長，如今國民生活成本問題便成了燃眉之急。

 

Prices have outstripped wages for the past six years.

過去六年來，物價一直超過工資水平。

 

Politicians have duly harried energy companies to cut their bills, and flirted with raising the minimum wage.

政治家們已適時地督促能源公司削減賬單，輔以增加最低工資水平的措施。

 

But the thing that is really out of control is the cost of housing.

但是真正失控的是房價。

 

In the past year wages have risen by 1%; property prices are up by 8.4%. This is merely the latest in a long surge.

去年，工資已增長了1%；房地產價格卻增長了8.4%。

 

If since 1971 the price of groceries had risen as steeply as the cost of housing, a chicken would cost 51.

這僅僅是長期價格飆升中最近的一次。倘若自1971年，百貨商品的價格以房價一樣的增長比例大幅上漲，一隻雞將會賣到51英鎊。

 

By subsidising mortgages, and thus boosting demand, the government is exacerbating the problem.

政府支助房屋貸款，進而促進需求，如此是不斷使問題惡化。

 

But that is not the main reason for rising prices.

但是這並不是房價上漲的主要原因。

 

Driven by a baby-boom, immigration and longer lives,Britain's population is growing by around 0.8% per year, faster than in most rich countries.

受嬰兒潮、移民、壽命延長的影響，英國人口每年以大約0.8%的比率增加，要比大多數富裕國家更快。

 

Foreign wealth, meantime, is pouring into London.

同時，外來人口正不斷湧入倫敦。

 

If supply were rising fast too, increasing demand would not matter; but it is not.

如果供給也增長迅速，那麼日益增長的需求問題也就不值一提了；然而事與願違。

 

Though some 221,000 additional households are formed in England annually, just 108,000 homes were built in the year to September 2013.

儘管每年英國都會新建多達22.1萬的額外住房，2013年年初到9月僅有10.8萬建好。

 

The lack of housing is an economic drag.

住房的匱乏一直給經濟拖後腿。

 

About three-quarters of English job growth last year was in Londonand its hinterlands, but high prices make it hard for people to move there from less favoured spots.

去年，四分之三的就業率增長是來源於倫敦與一些內地貿易區，但高昂的房價如今使人們對這些地方望而卻步。

 

It also damages lives.

人們的生活也因此深受其害。

 

New British homes are smaller than those anywhere else in Europe, household size is rising in Londonand slums are spreading as immigrants squash into shared houses.

新的英國住房變得比歐洲其他地方更小，但隨著移民不斷擠進合住房屋，倫敦的家庭規模日益龐大，貧民區也不斷擴張。

 

Inequality is growing, because the higher property prices are, the greater the advantage that accrues to those whose parents own their homes.

不平等性日益明顯，因為房價越高，對於父母擁有房子的家庭佔據的優勢越大。

 

This is all the result of deliberate policymaking.

這都是政府經過深思熟慮後才制定的政策。

 

Since the 1940s house-building in Britain has been regulated by a system designed to prevent urban sprawl, something it has achieved spectacularly well.

自從20世紀40年代，英國就有專門的體系來控制建房以免城市擴張，部分成果顯著。

 

It is almost impossible to construct any new building anywhere without permission from the local council.

要大興土木必須要經過當地議會批准。

 

In the places where people most want to live—suburbs at the edge of big cities—councils tend not to give it.

但對於人人皆眼紅的寶地—緊鄰大城市的郊區—議會一般是不會批准。

 

Ministers have tried to override local NIMBYs.

部長們也努力推翻當地的鄰避主義者。

 

The previous, Labour, government set regional house-building targets and bullied councils to accept high allocations.

之前的英國工黨政府設立了區域性的建房目標以及強迫議會接受高額分配。

 

The current coalition has scrapped that approach in the name of local democracy—but it, too, has resorted to strong-arming councils to release more land.

現在的聯合政府以當地民主之名不再採用了這種方式—但是它也有使高度警惕的議會讓與出更多的土地。

 

It has also worked with the Bank of England to reduce the cost of credit and has subsidised high loan-to-value mortgages through a scheme called “Help to Buy”.

目前政府已和英格蘭銀行合作以減少信貸成本，也通過出臺“購買幫手”這項體制以支援高額的貸款比率。

 

This has boosted demand for housing but not supply.

這都促進了人們對住房的購買需求，但沒有提高住房的供給。

 

Compare global housing data over time with our interactive house-price tool

採用互動式的房價工具，比較全球樓市資料不同時段的變化

 

A much better way of encouraging house-building would be to give local councils bigger incentives to allow it.

鼓勵建房更好的方式就是刺激當地議會批准它。

 

NIMBYism is not always irrational.

鄰避主義者並不總是不理性的。

 

Housing developments spoil views; incomers fill roads, schools and doctors' surgeries.

樓市的發展會改變他們的觀點；不斷有移民者搭乘汽車上班、進入學校學習、去醫院看病。

 

Yet though land prices can soar 200-fold when planning permission is granted, councils cannot extract much of the increased value to spend on services.

然而儘管建築許可證的頒發使房價翻了200番，議會卻無法將增值的大部分用之於服務。

 

A new scheme, the Community Infrastructure Levy, nods in the right direction.

社群基礎設施徵稅   這一新的體系算是走對了方向。

 

But it is hedged with restrictions and is expected to raise just 650m a year nationally. That is not nearly enough to change minds.

但是它的限制條件依舊模糊不清，可能稅收每年全國範圍僅會增長6.5億英鎊。這還不足以改變人們的觀念。

 

Local governments, which are short of cash these days, could be allowed to charge developers much more.

當地政府如今缺乏資金，倒是可以向開發商收取些費用。

 （charge的用法

in charge of 控制……，in the charge of 在……的控制之下；
charge (sb/sth) for sth｜ charge (sb) sth (for sth) 要價，收費；
charge sth to sth 在某人賬上計入；
charge sb (with sth/with doing sth) 指控，控告，起訴；指責，譴責；
charge sb with sth 賦予……職責（或任務）；
charge sth with sth 使……充滿情緒；
charge (sth) (up) 充電；

But the ideal solution would be a tax on the value of land.

但理想的解決方案是對土地價值徵稅。

 

This would be low or zero for agricultural land and would jump as soon as permission to build is granted.

這對於農業土地而言，稅收近乎是零或者十分低，只要批准建房，那麼稅收就會猛增。

 

It would prod builders to get to work quickly.

如此可刺激建房者高效率工作。

 

It would also help to capture the gains in house prices that result from investment in transport or schools.

同時，也有助於獲取因投資交通或學校的房價收益。

 

The green belts that stop development around big cities should go, or at least should be greatly weakened.

阻止大城市發展的綠化帶必須去除或至少應極力減少。

 

They increase journey times without adding to human happiness.

他們只是增加人們旅行時間而沒有提升人們幸福指數。

(註解：

當time表示某事件發生的時間時，可以是可數名詞，也可以是不可數名詞。例如《牛津詞典》對time的釋義之一以及該釋義下的例句之一：

[uncountable, countable] the time when something happens or when something should happen

例句：A computer screen shows arrival and departure times.

本句journey times表示不同交通工具（卡車、大巴、小轎車等）走這條新路所需的不同旅行時間，故用複數。用不可數名詞也可以。

 

London's, in particular, mostly protects scrubby agricultural fields and pony paddocks.

尤其是倫敦的綠化帶只是保護矮小的農業土地還有小馬圍場。

 

Parts would be prettier with housing on.

其中部分割槽域，在上面建上房屋會更宜人。

 

This blessed plot

天佑方案

 

The government should also do more to organise and pay for industrial wastelands to be prepared for housing.

政府也應大力組織或買下一些工業廢址以為建房做準備。

 

“Brownfield” sites are typically built on only when land prices rise enough to cover the high cost of development.

只有當土地價格上漲至足以覆蓋發展的高成本時，“布朗菲爾德”地區才特別作為建築地址。

 

Urban development corporations, such as the one established in the 1980s to regenerate eastLondon's docklands, could assemble such plots of land more effectively than private developers.

城市發展性企業可以比私人開發商更有效地集合這類土地，比如20世紀80年代成立的一家城市發展性企業就使東部倫敦多克蘭港區改頭換面。

 

Not all these policies would be popular or easy.

並非所有的政策都容易實施或大眾化推廣。

 

Even the modest planning reforms  introduced by the coalition are resented.

甚至 聯合政府引進 的 最保守的規劃改革 都令人怨聲載道。

 

Building on fields in a country that is as crowded as England will always rile some people, however well-designed the system.

不管該體制有多好，在同英格蘭那般擁擠的鄉村田地上建房，總會激怒一些民眾。

 

But the alternative is worse: a nation of renters and rentiers, where only the rich own houses.

但是可選的辦法更糟：國家屬於房東與靠出租生活的人，只有這些有錢人才有房子。