Clean up or get bought out...

I recently noticed a new tool available to bloggers that actively manages blogger links & makes it much easier to add one on a whim than have to consciously edit the HTML template. On checking some of my links, my eye was caught by a news article on the Morley Today website about the state of Morley Bottoms. (I won't link to it as they are transient).

The Bottoms is a rather run down, neglected bit of Morley around a rather complicated junction at the bottom of a hill that was secondary retail at the turn of the century. Unfortunately, the main shopping street can now be considered as secondary retail as many people prefer to shop at supermarkets & out of town developments. Several businesses have flowered, bloomed and then wilted in the Bottoms. One particular property is boarded up due to bureaucracy alone, it was a failed business venture with some public funding & apparently the rules say it cannot be sold on or developed for a period of time afterwards. A few of the buildings look pristine but many are shabby & one or two look like they might be uninhabitable. Shortage of parking in the area discourages casual trade and gradually what were live-in shops are being converted to apartments.

Enter fellow Councillors stage right, Town and City. I've known them for a couple of years and respect many of their views but one thing they are not are advocates of small Government. Having talked with many of the property owners about cleaning up their act and found not all of them willing to invest, they have mooted the idea of compulsory purchase as the threat of last resort.

Come on people, get a grip. Compulsory purchase is frequently unwarranted intrusion of the state on individual property rights often used with the excuse of being "for the greater good". It might be fine for Marxists who believe that property is theft, but not for individualists who believe that taxation is. Go too far down that road and we become a banana republic where the President evicts people on a whim with token compensation in order to build a showcase palace, or indeed re-house his supporters. Think Zimbabwe, Holyrood, Brussels...

If I own my house it belongs to me and provided I don't break any laws or restrictive covenants, I can choose to not paint my front door, break all of the windows, board it up or even knock it down. I might impact on my neighbours if I live in a terrace but it is up to people to persuade me not the State with threat of force.

The other thing about compulsory purchase is that it is very easy to be generous when spending somebody else's money, as Tony Bliar is currently offering with extended maternity leave...