Two views of life outside Whitehall
Dave Jones has few regrets about leaving London. In 1990 he was a 37-year-old civil servant living in a rented flat in Purley, near Croydon, spending two hours a day commuting to the Department of Employment offices in Whitehall and Twickenham.
He welcomed the chance of relocation as his girlfriend was living in the North. Today, aged 51, he is married and living with his step-family in a spacious semi-detached house in Runcorn, Cheshire.
He says: "It's a different pace of life and I don't regret the move at all." He is a senior official in the Public and Commercial Services Union and has negotiated on behalf of colleagues facing relocation.
'We still miss the atmosphere'
When civil servant Stuart Campbell moved from London to Bristol to join the Ministry of Defence's Defence Logistics Organisation, he had dreams of fresh air and wholesome West Country living.
He and his wife Katie moved from a two-bedroom flat in Dartford to a three-bedroom house. They found the move refreshing, but miss the capital.
Stuart, 29, said: "We miss our neighbours and friends in London and we miss the atmosphere - the art galleries and West End theatres, all the different food and music."
