If you have lived in the same area for years, have you seen many changes and do you like those changes?

[Picklemeyellow]

I have lived in the same village for most of my 50 years. I have nothing but fond memories of living in a lovely village surrounded by countryside and with a nice nearby town which I spent most of my teens and 20’s shopping and socialising in.

However, over the last 5+ years the changes within our village and other nearby villages have been really quite dramatic with large new estates popping up everywhere. Our village alone has seen 3 large estates built over the last few years, built on the beautiful fields and meadows I grew up in, without little thought for these green areas. The lovely meadows across the road from my house, which I spent many years walking the dog on, now sits 8 very expensive, large houses. And that’s another bugbear, few of the new builds are actually affordable, many are £600k+, somehow can that be helping the housing crisis? Surely it’s just all about landowners and building companies making £££££’s?

I live next to the main road which runs through our village. It wasn’t too busy when we moved in 25 years ago but since these major builds within the whole area it has become just so busy. I often say it’s like living next to a motorway. Sitting in the garden is no longer enjoyable. I can’t leave bedroom windows open during the summer months as I’m woken by noisy traffic from 4am.

Our lovely old town has recently gained city statues and is now a nightmare of a place. It takes me well over an hour to drive 8 miles back home from work, through the town. I can not see how the place has benefited from a city statues, it’s so scruffy and run down looking. The hospital car park is chockablock and many people end up missing appointments as there just are not enough space for everyone.

As much as I love the fact I’ve loved in the same area all my life, know people and the area so we’ll, I have reached a point that I really want out but we just can’t move due to family and work commitments so that’s out of the question. I just need to suck it up I suppose but that doesn’t stop me feeling downhearted about it all and having the occasional whinge session.

I know it’s progress, I’m lucky to have a house and we have a housing crisis etc so new builds appear to be a must but it’s still sad seeing the place change so much and not really for the better.

Have you seen similar changes in your area, does it make you feel like moving?

This is NIMBY behaviour. You acknowledge that there is a housing crisis, and happy for that to be addressed, just not on your doorstep.

I live in a city centre and blocks of flats are being built everywhere. I prefer it as the alternative was derelict office buildings which hadn't been in use for 30 years.

OneRingToRuleThemAll I 200% acknowledge the housing crisis and know full well houses need to be built but building £600k houses isn’t helping this crisis at all. I’m sad that our lovely countryside is being dug up for greed.
My dc won’t be able to continue living in our area if so many new builds are going for these figures.

Well, city centre living, when properly planned, is a far better idea than building on agricultural land, or endlessly-spreading suburbs with poor public transport and services. With more people living in city centres, they both become nicer places to be, high street shops are supported, there's less need for cars, better use of public transport, cycling etc. (I live close to a city centre, don't have a car, and walk, cycle or bus everywhere. The main development problem where I live is that, while there is a huge housing shortage, what is being built in the city centre is mostly (expensive) student accommodation, and there's no capacity for it to be repurposed, as most people don't want to live in mega-flats with eight en-suite bedrooms and a shared kitchen.)

OneRingToRuleThemAll and regeneration of derelict buildings is completely different from building on lovely countryside.

I've lived in a village for 12 years. The good bits are the way the community responded to covid.

In terms of housing, we have our 5 year supply in a small devt of 42 2-4 bed houses that will be built nearby. All houses will have solar panels, electric charging points etc. A sensible manageable development that is welcome.

The application for 400 houses (in a village of 200 houses), in a water meadow, with single track access, no employment and an overflowing sewage works, has been thrown out, thank goodness.

It's common sense, not nimbyism.

I lived in the same village for 45+ years (in fact I bought my parents home, so raised my family in thr house I was raised in).

It changed. For very different reasons that those you give op. It became more socially deprived, the schools went downhill, more teens because disaffected, larger numbers of unemployed residents. These kinds of issues.

Interesting that I moved to an area not dissimilar to that you're complaining about OP. We moved to a bigger, more expensive property in an estate that was new built 5-10y ago. There are two additional new build estates in the immediate locality and about 5 or 6 new build estates in the wider locality.

So I guess I'm part of the 'problem' you describe. Except I love where I now live. From a social perspective it is a much nicer place to live and raise my family. That's why so many people want to move to the area. Which in turn is why the builders build the houses and the council grant planning permission for more homes. The fact that they are not cheap housing is neither here-nor-there, from my perspective. I wasn't looking for cheap housing when I moved. Can't see that as a problem.

I really liked where I grew up and moved for better paying work. During that time loads of houses were built and a bypass. It is a real shame to see the devastation to open agricultural land and the places I actually spent my time.

I then moved and have spent 20 years in my current location. Again it has been built up to a horrible degree. I can also see plainly all the streets and estates that have been added on since the early 1900s. It devastates the natural world.

I understand why more houses are being built, but the impact that has on the natural world and us as humans losing is bad.

Loads of people moving away, lots of air bnbs, so they’re empty for half the year, it’s never been a completely thriving place but it feels like it’s dying now, there was an article on the bbc recently about this problem too, I will probably be moving soon as well.

I live in a village and the amount of houses built is staggering. Unfortunately the number of GP places, and primary/secondary places hasn’t risen with it.

i typed a proper reply and MN ate it

you're not being a NIMBY.

Most of what I have seen in my area is positive, still have some independent businesses, like the wider pavements on my local high street, for example. Don't like the number of empty commercial premises, and every planning proposal with them I object to because no more is needed and ground floor housing benefits a range of people.

I’ve seen changes in our local shops, more than anything else. We used to have two banks, three building societies and four off-licences. There weren’t any takeaways. Now we have a fish and chip shop, a Chinese takeaway, an Indian takeaway and a burger bar and takeaway. Other new shops include a cake shop, three coffee shops and a small Sainsburys and a small Tesco.

I certainly can’t see that I am being a NIMBY, I feel this concern and dismay for all areas in our country which are seeing an overkill in new builds.

We are experiencing a major housing crisis and it makes no sense to me why most of these houses are so expensive. How on earth does that help solve the issue? I volunteer for a debt charity and most people who have lost homes, are sofa-surfing or living in shared accommodation etc want (and need) to live in affordable rental properties or have help purchasing affordable homes of their own. This is not happening on our area or most areas near me. I see it as nothing but absolute greed from land owners and building companies. They don’t give a shiny shit about our countryside, ecosystem or those unable to afford their ‘luxury’ homes they are building and selling.

FATEdestiny - So I guess I'm part of the 'problem' you describe. Except I love where I now live. From a social perspective it is a much nicer place to live and raise my family. That's why so many people want to move to the area. Which in turn is why the builders build the houses and the council grant planning permission for more homes. The fact that they are not cheap housing is neither here-nor-there, from my perspective. I wasn't looking for cheap housing when I moved. Can't see that as a problem. - I understand anyones need or desire to move to a nicer area but the fact that you can not see this as a problem shows that you are part of the problem.

There are plans to build a ‘City Garden’ in the village next to us. It will encompass 9,000! new build homes, crossing over fields and meadows and linking up to our city. There is absolutely noway our GP surgeries, schools, the one hospital, roads and infrastructure will cope with this.
It really does not make me or all others protesting against this NIMBY’s, we are just concerned our town, villages and lovely countryside are going to be overwhelmed and the damage will be irreversible.

"There are plans to build a ‘City Garden’ in the village next to us. It will encompass 9,000! new build homes, crossing over fields and meadows and linking up to our city. There is absolutely noway our GP surgeries, schools, the one hospital, roads and infrastructure will cope with this.
It really does not make me or all others protesting against this NIMBY’s, we are just concerned our town, villages and lovely countryside are going to be overwhelmed and the damage will be irreversible"
Too late, mate. Where I live, there has been building, building and more building. Probably more than the 9000 Garden City homes the OP doesn't want. The infrastructure cannot cope. Our local hospital was built of Aero bars and is falling down, we already have so called smart motorways to try to cope with the extra traffic - they don't- and yes, they are still yet building more homes.

I've lived in a part of London for 20 years, that is geographically very central but was mostly full of council flats when I moved there (into a council flat).It had a lot of empty unused areas, or office blocks, and lots of them have been developed into very tall buildings (20-30 storeys). The new flats are expensive, with high service charges and facilities like concierge, gym, pools, cinema rooms. I like the change to the landscape, some of the buildings are quite impressive, and some of them have communal areas where my dc like to run around. There are nicer amenities locally to meet the needs of a wealthier population - nicer coffee bars and restaurants and the shops have changed from grotty independent convenience shops to bigger cleaner supermarkets (though they are still convenience-store sized, no space for a proper supermarket).

I think all the new build homes are expensive but there is also some affordable housing too (there is a rule that developers must make some contribution to affordable housing). I don't know the details as I have a secure council tenancy and I'm looking to buy my council flat, but have no interest in buying in the open market.

The council flats will always be here so the community remains mixed. They can't drive out the poorest residents because there will always be large estates housing them, and the local schools still reflect the deprived population (I think the better off families go private).

Overall I'm pleased with the development. Most of the land that had been developed was simply wasteland or being used as car parks etc. Visually it looks far better to have nice new buildings in place, and the local population is definitely more mixed. The local amenities have improved hugely too - an impressive new leisure centre, redeveloped park and general tidying of the communal areas, LTNs.

If your village has had very few houses built over the past 50 years it is probably overdue some more.

I have lived in a smallish city for the last 30 years. It's got busier and busier, many houses sold and demolished to be blocks of flats. The nearby towns are now getting lots of housing estates as well as the demand for houses in the general area is high.

We have two of those "new towns" within 7 mins drive of the city explicitly for city overflow. They are now building yet another one.

House prices in the city have risen by x5 in the 30 years I have lived here.

I think you are very lucky if it is only now happening to where you live.