To think at some point there will be no green spaces left in the UK

[SoBloodyFrustrated]

I have just read this..

Dartmoor National Park have asked Cavanna Homes to prepare a Development Brief for this Allocated site, which lies on the fringe of the village with great views to the Tor.

Dartmoor is so bloody lovely, how long before all our green spaces are taken due to new builds?

I think the percentage of UK that has been developed is actually very low - less than 5% ( will check figure)

Yes, have a look on google earth. We have vast areas of wilderness outside major cities.

I don't think there is much chance of them paving over even a tiny percentage of Dartmoor or any of our other upland areas as the land is too hilly and the infrastructure (roads, power, water) would cost too much.

Housing is very expensive in the SW because there are too many second homes.

We should also stop trying to cram all the people and jobs into a tiny South eastern corner and create jobs in the north, the midlands, wales and Scotland etc, where there is much less pressure on housing.

I'm not convinced by the 'less pressure on housing in the Midlands'... It depends on where in the Midlands you are. Lots of proposed building round here too.

I can't see there is a solution to our housing problems tbh.

If you travel north of Birmingham, you'll find plenty of green space that has no prospect of building development. The UK doesn't stop at the latitude you're thinking of. However, as pp have pointed out, it is problematic that no effort is made to evenly spread economic and social goods over the full UK, and this is what causes excess building in the south while also causing unemployment, depression and low life expectancies outwith the far south.

Agree with you Brettgirl2

The irritating thing to me is the amount of abandoned brownfield sites - it is far easier to build on green fields.
As an example a brownfield site in a small town where I work was developed for housing. It took
Ages...while the greenfield site on the edge of the town was built and had people living in the houses before the brownfield site had the foundations in. It really opened my eyes as to why these sites are abandoned. Not least that for similar house they were more expensive on the greenfield site!

So many reasons why we have a (affordable)housing shortage. Too many second homes, too many empty houses, too many under occupied houses, not enough social housing being built on brown belt land.

Only 2% of the UK is built on. There are not enough homes to meet demand. Assuming you don't sleep rough, you do realise somebody had to build on a green space to build your home? They used to build whole new towns to house people, the lack of building at the moment is disgusting and shafting a generation.

We will one day run out of space, population is out of control and that's not just the UK. I don't think it will be in my time but it will happen.

According to the latest UK National Ecosystem Assessment, the "urban" landscape covers 6.8%. This figure, however, is made up of 1.9% for Scotland, 3.6% Northern Ireland, 4.1% for Wales and 10.6% for England. Clearly, England is much more urban than the rest of the UK.

Population Matters

I've found this organisation quite informative in relation to population issues and the long term impact to society and the environment.

Well assuming the population continues to rise then of course it will one day be unsustainable. That just takes simple arithmetic. What usually happens at that point is lots of poor people starve and that makes room for the rest.

In the meantime the people alive now need somewhere to live. I doubt anyone would be willing to give up their own home to make room for some homeless people so there must be more houses built.

Yes, in the meantime people need places to live but don't you think it is up to our generation to start planning for future generations so it doesn't become unsustainable. It would involve sacrifices which I think people are just not prepared to make.

I agree OP. it really depresses me, especially when you fly over France and see all that beautiful space. Also, there seem to be huge areas of brownfield space, derelict factories, disused warehouses etc, but developers don't want them as its much cheaper to build on a nice green field.

Randy, I really do think it is up to our generation and have argued this before. I've had people say that the world will 'never be full up', that having one more child is not a burden on the environment because they 'will teach their kids to recycle' and so on.

People are gradually becoming more aware of the problem, but I think many don't appreciate that it's easier to do something now than later.

I looked at the site you linked to and what I read made good sense.

On the brown/green site point I'd be happy enough with pressure to use the brown sites first, but any land must be available for building in the long run even if it's pretty.

YANBU There was a developer being interviewed about the flooding saying Oh we can't stop building on flood plains and it's too expensive to try to build in flood defences WTF??? They must be MADE to change empty office blocks into apartments and MADE to repair all the run down empty houses, ruins etc. before starting to build new towns.

Otherwise there won't be buildings everywhere there'll be water everywhere and the rich living in yachts !

Even small changes now can make a huge difference in the long term.

For example, an ever increasing population puts pressure on the eco system. Making an effort to recycle is a small step we can all take.

If the population grows we have to do our bit to reduce our carbon footprint etc.

These are the easy things though in my opinion, there are much tougher issues to address like contraception in third world countries. This is where it gets messy and people don't want interference in their cultural and religious lifestyles. It's just so complex.

Randy there seem to be plenty of parents on here who don't see why they shouldn't have 4 or 5 DCs, drive 5 mins down the road, not give a shxx about anyone else, (i just hope the place isn't flooded before I KTB!!).

There does seem to a particular mentality in the UK where you need to have a house with a garden. Apartments/multi family housing is much more common on the continent. Much of the Netherlands is built in what is effectively a huge flood plain. Maybe there are lessons to be learned.

MOST people don't have 5 dcs though. It balances out with those that have 1.

ppeatfruit. I agree that people do have this sense of entitlement about them. Many think that because they want something and can afford it then they go ahead and do it. The question is what is the price to the environment is in the long term. Many don't give a damn because it's all about them.

Portofino makes a valid point about the types of property we expect. Perhaps there may come a time when the amount of space we are allowed is limited. So no matter how much cash you have you won't be able to have that converted barn size house with several acres of land! Property may no longer be an indication of wealth.

Fuel to heat these homes will continue to be an issue. Will all the new homes re built around fracking sites or vice versa.

They care building loads of houses in our adjacent town. Trouble us, no one on local wages can afford them