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.

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.

I grew up not far from here & it's astonishing to see masses of these tower blocks which have completely changed the landscape but as you say will sit empty. Tbh I don't think there is actually enough space on the ground if they were all occupied. There are thousands!

Someone has to build home for all these smaller household units. More single women (with or without children) live alone. The immigration that mumsnetters love so much and cry racism whenever you complain. Or homes for people who have more than 2 children therefore increasing the population. And finally for those who wish to own second homes.

Those are the people I blame for the destruction of the Greenfield sites.

London still has plenty of space actually -- I live in SE London and there are thousands of units going up around here on brownfield sites, and there are still lots of areas that could be developed.

BUT the infrastructure cannot cope with it, there are not enough GP and school spaces, traffic is already really terrible, pollution is terrible. So it's not a real solution.

Every space near me has been developed or is in the process of & I don't think local infrastructure or pollution has ever been considered. It's certainly not financially as attractive though & developers & investors are looking outside London.

What you say is very interesting, @BG21031 and sounds entirely plausible.

The size of developments now being approved is often so big that they're only of interest to very big developers. Smaller firms can't compete or don't have the capacity. So the same few companies are building the vast majority of new homes.

That's why you get identikit builds going up all over the country. They use the same designs, the same materials, similar layouts and it's impossible to tell one Persimmon or Redrow development from another.

There's no use of local materials, no nod to the local vernacular architecture or anything. It's grim.

Exactly @jihhy I was away from London for a few years and when I came back I was like, what the hell happened to Vauxhall?? It's crazy.

@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.

'Your local authority will consult...' Our selection of useless tossers, aided and abetted by a planning dept that is either utterly shit or corrupt somewhere, didn't have a local plan for seven years. Guess what happened in that time? Literally thousands of houses going up like mushrooms. No amount of objections got us anywhere, because we couldn't refer to the plan, because, conveniently, there wasn't one.

I see one of our local councillors out and about quite often and I can barely look at the man.

It's literally 😮

@Whoarethewho

Someone has to build home for all these smaller household units. More single women (with or without children) live alone. The immigration that mumsnetters love so much and cry racism whenever you complain. Or homes for people who have more than 2 children therefore increasing the population. And finally for those who wish to own second homes.

Those are the people I blame for the destruction of the Greenfield sites.

So the people to blame are:

single mums
immigrants
large families
second home owners

Not the property developers or their cronies in government? Not incompetent councils or greedy land owners? Not the government policies that prevent locals from blocking sites?

And people are also desperate to buy even if it is an overpriced ugly box because renting is not a good alternative in the UK. For many a mortgage is cheaper.

@dreamingbohemian I definitely blame greedy government, councils, land owners, development companies. There is just such a lack of joined up forward thinking

@LakieLady I know exactly where you are talking about and we moved away from the next door village to escape it. The A road is already ridiculously busy without this and its a disproportionately huge development for the setting.

@jihhy this is what I really dislike about the U.K. mentality, buying is made out like the be all and end all when many European countries renting is more popular. It’s like people think they are superior because they own

It's a disgrace. I live by the coast, the roads can't cope with all the traffic as it is. I feel for the emergency services as everywhere is grid locked and like most seaside towns it only has one main road in and out
There is an area near me called Princes Parade that is right next to the sea with a beautiful canal next to it. Its teaming with wildlife and a haven for everyone but it used to be a tip in the years absolutely everything went to landfill
The council have decided to build on it and reroute the road, even though there has been a history of flooding there, plus nobody knows what's buried
They have also bought a castle and a race course and plan to build a garden village that's huge
I want to cry

....just looked to see whether any environmental charities are involved in protecting the green belt. www.cpre.org.uk was all I could find.

No one should feel superior but for many ownership is the more secure alternative.

@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.

Is the housing shortage real..or is it a convenient myth that is constantly repeated so that it comes the "truth"?

who stands to gain?

[quote AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii]@jihhy this is what I really dislike about the U.K. mentality, buying is made out like the be all and end all when many European countries renting is more popular. It’s like people think they are superior because they own[/quote]
Yes and this gets back to the lack of joined up thinking you mentioned.

Lots of people are only desperate to buy (even tiny cramped houses) because renting is so expensive,

Renting is so expensive in part because the government encouraged Buy to Let, sold off council homes, doesn't do anything about foreign investors and people buying hundreds and hundreds of properties

Renting is also undesirable because tenant rights are not great and people don't want the insecurity

If you could improve the situation for renters it would take some pressure off the housing market but that will never happen either

@dreamingbohemian the whole farce really is just a sad state of affairs

[quote AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii]@jihhy this is what I really dislike about the U.K. mentality, buying is made out like the be all and end all when many European countries renting is more popular. It’s like people think they are superior because they own[/quote]
I rented for many years.,until I was 40 in fact. its generally a miserable existence. ..short term lets....wanky landlords , sub standard accommodation. .rip off rents, which in part does explain this attitude

@AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii completely agree, it's so depressing

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

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

And that’s exactly the kind of response that shuts down debate and ensures we continue with a policy of just chucking up housing anywhere, anyhow without actually considering whether it is addressing housing needs or making things worse.

My local council is meeting its house building targets, but the housing crisis for those of us who live here has actually deepened, and added a whole load of other issues too.

@LakieLady

What you say is very interesting, *@BG21031* and sounds entirely plausible.

The size of developments now being approved is often so big that they're only of interest to very big developers. Smaller firms can't compete or don't have the capacity. So the same few companies are building the vast majority of new homes.

That's why you get identikit builds going up all over the country. They use the same designs, the same materials, similar layouts and it's impossible to tell one Persimmon or Redrow development from another.

There's no use of local materials, no nod to the local vernacular architecture or anything. It's grim.

Where is the real benefit of HS2?

Passenger numbers on West Coast Mainline not released. £106bn and rising. Legitimate arguments and evidence against HS2 suppressed.

There is only one agenda behind HS2.

[quote AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii]@jihhy this is what I really dislike about the U.K. mentality, buying is made out like the be all and end all when many European countries renting is more popular. It’s like people think they are superior because they own[/quote]
The thing is you can be chucked out of your rental home with two months notice and often they don't allow children. Or even hanging a picture on the wall. We wouldn't be so fussed about buying a soulless box if we could be guaranteed being able to live in our rented house for 5 years at a time or so.

@dreamingbohemian absolutely. @tootingbeclido experience is very normal I would say.