To feel really upset about the lack of scrutiny on new housing development in the countryside

What's Labour's promise...1.5million homes over the next 5 years isn't it? That will barely keep pace with the current level of net migration. So you are constantly chasing your tail. How many homes do we need? 5 million? 10 million?

It will never be enough.

Ultimately the problem is too many people in this world, so when I read threads about plummeting birth rates I look around where I live and think jeez, no one's got the memo here.

Sorry folks - Gotta dash. I need to go out and I know it's going to take 10 mins to get off my drive.

@DoraSpenlow we also had the houses built on flood-risk land on the big estate where I used to live

The guy who originally owned the many acres made so much he's now living offshore, but apparently even that wasn't enough and some piffle was spouted about "special techniques" which would protect the homes. Predictably these didn't work, and now those homes too are practically uninsurable

Never mind though ... the councillors and planners probably feel it was worth it considering the money he spread around them in order to get his way

Crackers!

This country needs less housing in many areas because of environmental and infrastructure problems.

Our area & most of Cornwall, has housing issues, not because of lack of properties but because so many are now short term hols lets, Labour need to be sorting tis out, not building more unaffordable houses that end up as rentals or even lay empty.... over 30 houses built in Launceston are stil empty, even though are rentals.

Its a great shame we don't protest like those in Spain etc do over this problem.

Cannot see a HA taking over Bridge View, there are still 1000s of tones of excavation still to be done & imho the c/council inc the PC fucked this up, by believing the promise of 15 affordables within a luxury development, he was never going to build these, we all knew this at the time, as many objections stated.

Labour have just announced that nutrient neutrality regs are holding things up too much, and that developers can start building straight away and=sort out all that pesky environmental stuff later.

The sheer naïve stupidity of this beggars belief frankly.

@Alexandra2001

We live quite near Calstock and know all about the complete farce that is Bridge View. Last I heard (from a friend on the PC) was that they were hoping a housing association was going to take it on.

It was only a smallish developer but he made such a hash out of it.

That would certainly help, and I would add sound proofing and elevators or stair lifts to that list! It’s not just people with kids who struggle, older people like myself with disabilities can find flats more than a bit challenging - we can’t all find a ground floor apartment or afford a bungalow. That’s why I think planners need to encourage some creativity and flexibility, and perhaps try to provide a wider variety of accommodation than just high rise shoe boxes for singles or red brick noddy houses for families - but that needs to be achieved without further encroachment on greenfield sites. It will take much smarter brains than mine to figure it out, but right now the powers that be don’t even seem to be trying.

Singapore social housing is extremely well designed. I spent a week staying with a relative in their government flat. It was spacious, practical and very comfortable. Every block has a small supermarket and a car park. The lifts work and everything is clean. Plenty of facilities.

Labour have not been an advocate for the working classes for many years.

Our village is desperate for cheap and affordable rental properties but what does the council build? 3 and 4 bed executive housing and expensive self builds for wealthy couples, on v desirable plots

An example is Bridge View in Calstock, SE Cornwall (Google it) 34 executive houses (cheapest over 450k) 10 of which were meant to be "affordable" (what a loads of bollox that is!) developer pulls the plug on the affordable options, so now the whole scheme is mothballed.

Meanwhile the local sewage plant cannot cope with another new housing estate (240 builds) so the shit is tankered out each and everyday, the Doctors surgery has less Doc's than 20 years ago and there are no NHS dentists.

I have to say, that the most vocal supporters of this most recent housing scheme has been Labour councillors, both county and Parish, many of whom have a lovely portfolio of BTL's....

Well built flats are the answer. I've lived in continental Europe - lovely, airy flats, big windows and balconies, with great amenities, well planned out services, playgrounds for the kids, raised beds, good transport. If they actually made decent flats in this country, people could be convinced. There are lots of advantages, especially if air conditioned, have garages/cellars, communal waste, etc. People who live in them long term as rent is controlled, rather than just blowing through.

Yes but it does seem to me those of us who are expected to live in flats are us who havent reproduced. See the post upthread about how we need flats because there are more single people.

I agree, but we live on a small island and need to be aware of that. We can’t simply magic up more land. I’m not saying go full Tokyo but we are in the same sort of situation. If the climate predictions are correct we will have less land, not more, by the end of this century. That said people aren’t always considerate of their neighbours in flats - my neighbour certainly isn’t. The other problem with flats is our feudal leasehold laws. The first problem could be solved by more resources to enforce antisocial behaviour regulations, which would in time also produce new cultural norms around higher density living. But the second will never be addressed while there’s so much money on the table. Our government needs to promote more creative architectural solutions, hopefully as some planning functions are being removed from local to central government control that will happen, but I won’t be holding my breath 🤣

Not sure the point of this. You might not like flats but I presume you like food to eat?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/money-matters/4997046-flats-as-an-answer-to-housing-crisis?page=1

It's not hard at all if you are a huge building company sitting on swathes of land. I realise not all building companies are large.

Then campaign for flats with laundry rooms, rubbish shoots, windows on more than one aspect to allow a breeze through… they are all building standards that should developed NOT an insistence on houses on arable land that will push up the price of food.

JenniferBooth · 31/01/2024 00:05
On the continent they arent expected to dry clothes with osmosis or the power of prayer. so if more flats are to be built in the uk FFS BUILD THEM WITH LAUNDRY ROOMS in the building. I currently have clothes as well as bedsheets drying all over the flat because there is no other way of drying them No room for a tumble dryer in my too small kitchen in a one bedroom flat.
And there IS an assumption in the social housing model that if you dont have kids you dont need to wash wear and dry clothes.
Housing associations will often come out with comments like "its your lifestyle"

NO!!! the UK does not have homes especially flats unsuited to lifestyle. The flats here are unsuited to LIFE Thats why people in the UK dont like them!!!!!

Posted this back in Jan. Now in July i would like to point out we have black cladding. BLACK And a black roof. It soaks up the heat We have also had cavity wall insulation put in TWICE on the insistence of the HA which has caused mould and made it into even more of a sweatbox. Flats in other countries have laundry rooms and rubbish chutes. Ask for that here and you are called entitled and yet at the same time moaned at for causing mould by drying clothes when the mould is caused by the cavity wall insulation that shouldnt be there. Cavity wall gaps are there for a fucking reason.

Im half Italian My relatives live in a house in Italy built to repel heat not keep it in. Fuck me the disingenuousness and obfuscation is off the charts.

Lack of scrutiny? Lack of scrutiny? Have you any idea how goddamn hard it is to build anything in this country?

Far more people live in flats in Europe including Mediterranean countries where temperatures regularly exceed those of the uk.

If animals were being transported in the temperatures flats get up to there would be prosecutions. NO MORE SWEATBOXES

Big yellow taxi playing on sound of the 70s

Just about sums it up

The probably mean it had agricultural barns on it.

One of the biggest developments in my local area is being built on what was formerly farmland. The term countryside can be misleading as most developments are on former farmland. Until about 250 years ago the country had an agrarian economy, producing wheat, livestock and other commodities for ourselves and for export. But there isn’t much left of either farmland or countryside which, as I am sure you know, has impacts on our lives that go far beyond a bit of nice scenery. But developers want greenfield sites because they are much cheaper to build on and so much more profitable. It’s always about money. The new government has invented this new term ‘grey belt’ land. This term doesn’t really mean anything, but they are using it to suggest that much of our green belt has been miscategorized and is now brownfield land. It’s all weasely words to get around the law and public opinion regarding building on green belt land. I’m not sure how green belt land can magically transform into a brownfield, sorry I mean grey belt, land overnight! 🤔

In a village near me a company put in planning permission for housing on land that was known to flood. It was used as grazing for dairy cows rather than cereal crops because it was easy to move them away from any flooding.The week after permission was granted we had a huge amount of rain and someone put a picture of the land under about a foot of water on the village Facebook page commenting that as many local people had pointed out this was probably not the best place to build homes and they were accused of being a NIMBY.

Permission was also granted on the understanding that a good percentage of the properties would lower priced homes for local people.

Development went ahead but they came up with some excuse which meant that only a couple of properties were 'affordable' and there were a lot more houses crammed onto the plot than originally granted because it would not have been 'economically viable ' for the builder otherwise.

It's probably been there about five years now and has flooded twice. It has also caused other places in the village to flood were it has never flooded before and apparently the house insurance is very difficult to get and is eyewateringly expensive.

As a PP has said, something needs to be done about long term empty properties and repurposing brown field sites before we concrete over land which provides us all with food. Goodness knows what developers will be allowed to get away with now.

Trouble is some people aren't good at being considerate when living in flats and it's difficult with small children