To be sad about houses being built on Greenfield sites

[Orangemochafrappacino]

Its rife in my village at the moment. There are a few brownfield sites but these seem to be being ignored and farmland is being snapped up for development instead.

The rulebook for this seems to be slowly being torn up by this current government and I'm now hearing stories of developers being able to purchase land on a forceful basis and even proceed building giant housing estates without proper planning permission.

Has anyone else noticed this in their local area? I understand houses need to be built but it seems completely nuts, we are going to have no farmland or trees left at this rate.

Someone just pointed out blocks of flats sold off to Chinese investors standing empty that shouldn’t be allowed

I don’t really have issues with 2nd homeowners or holiday home owners as such - I live in a holiday area and our local economy is very dependent on tourism so on one hand, the more the merrier.

However, our local council are patting themselves on the back for achieving their house building targets, while actually making the housing crisis worse for your average local.

@NotMeNoNo

People need housing. Many of the outraged village dwellers are themselves living in 20th century housing built on fields. Your local authority will consult on land allocation and you need to challenge it and make constructive suggestions.

I don't disagree the housing design and infrastructure and transport could be improved, and councils could manage it better but the housing shortage is real.

I'm no outraged village dweller and I've supported housing development in the past even when its come at the cost of 'my view' (used to be farm animals, then become a housing estate).

People aren't being consulted enough anymore and that's the problem - there is automatic planning permission in some areas and land can be grabbed without needing the owner's consent which is just plain wrong in my opinion.

@AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii but not enough of the public will vote against second homes or holiday homes as many have them or aspire to them.

Yes in a ideal world derelict buildings would be converted but the current system pushes profitability above all else.

I understand tourism is needed but what happens to these place outside of peak times? I know there are places in the Lake District really struggling to keep shops etc open because local people can’t afford to live there and a large majority of housing is holiday homes therefore shops etc can t afford to run outside of peak times

I don’t really have issues with 2nd homeowners or holiday home owners as such - I live in a holiday area and our local economy is very dependent on tourism so on one hand, the more the merrier.

However, our local council are patting themselves on the back for achieving their house building targets, while actually making the housing crisis worse for your average local.

And that's the trouble it's a vicious cycle

@ILoveAllRainbowsx I voted for brexit

We live in a small village, population of just under 400.

Some clever farmer stopped using a couple of fields for about 10 years so it could be declared as wasteland, and got planning for an 80 house estate. What no-one thought about was the surface drainage, and sewer system........ we had an absolute nightmare earlier in the year with local flooding and homes that have never flooded before were caught out by flash floods and a torrent of water pouring down the roads. We've had several occasions where toilets don't flush and baths won't drain........ all because the system can't cope and wasn't designed for the amount of houses added.

And the worrying thing is that 2 other huge fields on the outskirts of the village are now being left to go the same way.............

That is why our productivity is so low compared to other countries.

Which has helped cause wage stagnation & again means that property continues to be seen as a way of making money.

Yes it's infuriating. Then near me they built on flood plains, then redirected the flood water, built flood gates in different places. Then opened them to protect the flood plain estates. So old villages that have never flooded now end up knee deep in water!

Alaska, my DB lives in a village in the Lake District (lived there for nearly 30 years and is a teacher locally). During lockdown, over a dozenhouses in the village went up for sale and they have ALL been sold to people escaping cities. ALL bar 2 have been bought as second homes. ALL have been bought at inflated prices. The village pub is opened very reduced hours during the winter purely because there are so few permanent residents in the village to justify openeing.

@reprehensibleme it’s ludicrous honestly, then people are up in arms about places closing but what do they expect?

NIMBY is just the latest term being mobilised to divide us while the powers that be grab yet more of the country’s assets

@hedgehogger1i would be furious if this happened to me

I live in a village in Bedfordshire where it can be a struggle to get into the main town in the morning during term time. The main issue is a roundabout which is one of two exits from our village. It's also an exit for a bypass and a big new build development on the opposite side. Current plan is to add 400 more homes to the village which will add more cars trying to get out. On top of that, they're planning a 10 year project to build a train line which goes over the bypass and through the village. At various points over the the ten years, either the bypass will be closed ( so they drive through the village) or the village exit will be closed (which means driving out the other way and trying to join the bypass). I'm really worried about how long it will take to get to work when it all starts.

“Yes we need more housing but not disturbing me”- lovely attitude lol- sorry should we just keep piling people vertically into London?!

I'm a Londoner & was lucky enough to have help onto the ladder in London. However many friends weren't & have had to move to other places or couldn't afford to upsize so have used that money to upsize elsewhere. This will push locals out but what should they do?

We will probably have to move further out soon which will be very difficult to leave family & the community I know but it's just far to expensive for a bit more space.

@Weirdwonders I was called this when I commented on a post on Facebook about the 200 houses being built in the town next to my village (maybe a mile along the road so am on the community page). I was called a NIMBY for having legitimate concerns about schools, roads and GP when so many houses had already been built in the last year and a half

@reprehensibleme Oh I hate that building. Still don't want to see it fall down in 80 years!

RE empty high rises, a friend of mine worked on some of the new high rises in Vauxhall London, that have completely changed that neighbourhood, he said they're almost exclusively bought by foreign investors and will just sit there empty most of the time.

There are very easy ways to discourage all this but property developers will never let the Tories do it.

Another town on the outskirts of London which is facing a doubling of its current size, all on greenbelt. Our Lib Dem council seems unwilling to challenge the targets and is also using the tactic of redrawing greenbelt boundaries to remove that obstacle to development.

As we're by the M25, traffic is already dire. The greenbelt is the one little bit of green that stops up being consumed into the outwards sprawl of Greater London. It's mad to add more houses on that scale without considering whether the infrastructure can cope (it can't with the houses we currently have).

I will say what's happened in London over the past few decades is now being pushed to other areas because London is likely over saturated in terms of space & affordability.

The local district council seems to want to turn a big chunk of the area into a “garden village”. They held an on-line consultation survey for people to have their views but all the questions on the survey were what people would like in an ideal new community and nothing about the impact of this proposed one! All on green field.

Maybe the same area Lakielady!