Adding Leeds to London?

Housing. Many people find it difficult to afford decent housing - in Kingston, London or the South East. Whether it's a flat to buy or a terrace to rent, prices have rocketed.

Why?

Oddly, it's mostly a problem of success. With unemployment down to 1970s' levels and mortgage rates historically low, people will pay more: that extra "demand" pushes up house prices and rents.

Yet there's a second "demand" factor: more people. After the war, London's population was 8 million. Helped by policies of "new towns", the population slowly declined - to 6.8 million by 1983.

Then it went up - to 7.4 million today, with a predicted extra 700,000 people by 2016. That's the equivalent of adding a city the size of Leeds in 15 years.

Why this growth? Over half the extra people are London families: we are a younger city now, and many more native Londoners are being born. Another quarter are British nationals coming from other UK regions or repatriating. The last quarter is a mixture of EU citizens working in London, asylum seekers and non-EU citizens on work permits - such as Kingston Hospital's excellent Filipino nurses.

With housing problems already and a predicted 700,000 extra souls, what do we do?

First, new housing developments must include more homes on affordable rents. Second, we need economic development in other UK regions. By speeding growth elsewhere, London may not have to accommodate Leeds.