Wednesday 25 June 2008

Jobs for the Boys.

Accepting the premise that industry and commerce would be attracted to setting up shop in the eco-town, what mechanisms could operate to ensure that they would employ 4000 residents, as envisaged by the FAVG proposals?
Tax-breaks, subsidies, penalties for recruiting outside the town?
What business would want to operate under such restrictions?

What if a company needed skills, experience and qualifications that nobody in the indigenous population could offer? Obviously, they would have to employ a workforce from further afield. The other side of that, is that residents who had skills that were not required by local industry would have to seek employment outside the town.

What about the self-employed? Tradesmen, jobbers, care-workers ... people who need to be mobile in order to carry out their business.

The reality is that peak hours would see a mass exodus of people leaving for work outside the town, and a mass influx of workers driving in.
In short - commuter chaos.
Just like any other town.

Nothing 'Eco' there!

The more you examine these proposals for an environmentally-friendly community, the more unworkable they become.

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