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Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Property/DIY

To stay or go before new homes are built?

13 replies

naturalbaby · 18/05/2017 09:25

We live at the edge of a lovely town with a huge garden. The house needs modernising/renovating and we had spent years looking for the right location, potential and outdoor space.

We're right next to a pretty big junction which is not great but ok. We don't have to sit in heavy traffic to get out of town, the house is set back a bit from the road with lots of trees, fencing and hedging around it. On the other side of the junction is a huge patch of land and 700 houses are planned to be built there, with a new primary school. The junction will be improved to cope with increased traffic.

We are daunted by the thought of, basically, a small village popping up across the road. I've seen it happening all around other towns nearby. HS2 would also be crossing the other end of town, so we've looked at other houses for sale in the town but prefer the end we're at.
If we don't move now then I'm worried we'll get trapped and be unable to sell with all the construction work. We could sell to a developer though because of the size of the land.

Would you move or stick it out? The previous owner's family had owned the house for over 100yrs. It has character, charm and potential so I'm very reluctant to let it go. We had plans to stay for 20+ years.

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fessmess · 18/05/2017 09:33

Tough call, it's how YOU feel about it that's important. I couldn't live by a busy road so would never have bought. Is it the view you're bothered about or the increase in traffic? Ultimately it depends on how you feel about the house.

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Bearbehind · 18/05/2017 09:51

It depends if there is anything else you'd like better.

You said it took you years to find this place and it doesn't sound like that much has changed other than new houses being built but they're the other side of an already busy junction so I'm not sure how much of a problem that will be.

The HS2 route and the planning permission are public knowledge so they'll likely already affect your ability to sell.

The noise from building the houses will only be short term.

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GloriaV · 18/05/2017 09:55

There will be more traffic - is that really an issue? will it head your way or do the roads take it away from you?
Is the new school an advantage?
Is there more shops which could be handy for you.
If you move maybe they will develop there.
What about getting planning permission for more properties in your garden then selling for larger profit.
Or just stay, construction traffic will be a pain but only for 2-3 years.
How easily will you find a nice new place to buy?
No one really knows what the best option is.

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naturalbaby · 18/05/2017 11:47

I know there's no way of knowing what the best option is. There isn't anything else planned - just the houses and a school. Other resources in town will be extended or moved like the GP surgeries and secondary school. 700 houses is just starting to feel like a lot when I look at the size of other new build estates nearby.
We're on the edge of a junction that feeds into a big A road. I never wanted to live so close to a main road with kids and pets but the size of the garden and location won us over.
I've just been noticing the double decker buses going past recently (the fence and planting hides most of it visually) and it's made me think again about the increased traffic - and increased pollution.

One thing that really makes me sad is the character and history of the house - it's nearly 200yrs old and would be knocked down to put 2 new builds in it's place. The ongoing maintenance is draining though - financially and emotionally, which is why we've been rethinking options.

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dancingqueen345 · 18/05/2017 20:03

700 houses will not be done in 2-3 years. You've not said where you are in the country, but even in a good market they wouldn't sell that quickly- it's not in the house builders interest to release them onto the market that quick!

Personally it wouldn't bother me as I think the value of a new primary school and any other community facilities they are providing would outweigh the negative.

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EmBeEmBe · 18/05/2017 20:23

It's not quite the same, but nearly 30 years ago a huge number of houses (maybe 200) were built on land behind my parents house. As kids we were gutted because we lost our play area but I don't think it impinged massively on my parents. And after about 10 years the trees and bushes had grown to them from view - and now they can't see us and we can't see them.

I think the positives will outweigh the negatives. There are no playgrounds and a small shop where before there was nothing. If you have think about screening your house from view it may not be such an issue.

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bojorojo · 19/05/2017 00:02

This location wouldn't suit me because the building work will take forever because the houses will be constructed in phases and probably be ugly boxes.

I don't see why a developer couldn't make your house into flats and develop the garden if it is large. That was the Georgian (or early Victorian) house would still stand. I am not sure your heart is in it and the location will be spoilt, in my view. Not sure a new school and a few shops makes up for this. I would move to a village but go for pp first!

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bojorojo · 19/05/2017 00:03

That way - not That was.

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naturalbaby · 19/05/2017 08:59

The garden is partly woodland and can't be built on. Finding another house with a patch of woodland out the back door and close to a town with good shops and train station is going to be hard to beat.

My main worry is that I can't see how they would get another main road to link into this new development so potentially all the traffic will be flowing past our driveway, on top of the rest of the town accessing the A road that leads to the motorway. There are very established trees and shrubs but I'm wondering what else we can plant/build to screen the house and garden from the road if we stay.

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misforme · 19/05/2017 09:06

Have they submitted the planning application yet? If so you should be able to view their plans and drawings on you local Authority planning portal. That way you can see what is being planned in terms of roads. Also there should be a document called a transport assessment which should have a detailed traffic analysis and predicted numbers of extra traffic on local roads.

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Nospringflower · 19/05/2017 09:18

If you love the house I would wait until the development is finished and then decide. It might be fine!

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bojorojo · 19/05/2017 10:10

This will take years so just plant more trees now. Unless all the trees have TPOs they can be taken out. However if you want to stay then that doesn't matter. The development will not add value to your house I would have thought.

Large developments usually have meetings for local residents to look at the plans and highway solutions. My DH spends a lot of time at such meetings talking to residents about flooding and highway issues. Has the developer been announced? Or is it just in a local or neighbourhood plan? The local plan should give some background to Highway considerations.

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naturalbaby · 19/05/2017 11:21

At the moment it's at the neighbourhood plan stage.
We were told when we bought the house that the woodland can't be built on. I can't remember the details of the tree survey - I don't think they have top's but we couldn't touch them when we had work done in the garden.