OK, sure, not exactly the same thing: they’re building up or out instead of down, they’re not doing it in England. However, they’re extending their houses or replacing them with much larger ones (in my non-plutocratic neighborhood houses are regularly replaced by houses twice the size), and many of the amenities are comparable to the ones in the London houses. Most of the London owners would probably be happy to extend their living spaces the same way – after all, it would be cheaper – but planning permission doesn’t permit it. Yes, it is much more expensive to do it in London, so it looks like wealthy excess, but the basic principle is the same. They’re trying to increase the size of their living space, and maybe the value, and doing it the only way that is permitted.
The linked article sets out to examine the narrative that most of these excavations represent “luxified subterranean lairs of gigantic proportions” and does a good job of debunking it, a the same time highlighting that the twisted distribution of wealth in London does make it possible for a number of people to create excessive mega-basements.
The problem isn’t the basements. It is the property values in London and the distribution of wealth. Most of the homeowners creating these basements are doing exactly roughly the same thing as homeowners everywhere often do.
As for
gross displays of conspicuous consumption
this seems to me to be truer in the American examples – where the extensions are, for example, visible – than for the London hidden basement examples.
If living in a particular neighbourhood is important enough then abide by the zoning restrictions instead of bypassing them
If there are zoning restrictions that they are bypassing then they should be brought before the relevant authority (and the basement filled in at their expense). Otherwise, let’s not pretend they’re doing something they’re not.
