Emerging Constraints in the South East

For 50 years or more, the ‘North South Divide’ has been shorthand: for southern affluence and complacency, and northern depression and envy. Suddenly, however, this simple distinction is less clear. True, the North still has genuine problems. But in some places, at least, prospects do now look better, and increasingly the benefits – particularly the quality of life – of the North are being appreciated and promoted. The major change comes in the South: it is the realisation that the very success of the region – the basis of its relative comforts – is reaching the point where it produces distinct discomforts.