That people object to council plans for selfish and uninformed reasons

[Bamboozle123]

I live in a village which has doubled in size over the last 5 years (still pretty small tbh).

It is well located, 5 miles from a major town and has potentially good public transport links but with really low service levels (hourly trains, no buses on a Sunday sort of thing). There are few amenities here - no petrol garage, supermarket, pub, cafe but does have a few corner shops and a primary school. Loads and loads of countryside and good walking.

The council plans to create loads more houses along the main road here, probably doubling the village in size again.

I'm really surprised that so many locals are objecting for what seem to be really weak reasons - e.g. don't support compulsory purchase of farmland, the village is "already too big".

Perhaps they are just going through the change curve but I don't see how they can't see the benefits in improving the amenities and services, providing more affordable housing in an area that desperately needs it, whilst still retaining almost all the countryside.

So AIBU to think they are being blinkered / selfish and actually this is a scheme for the greater good whilst also benefitting us residents.

No, we have a crisis of overpopulation and unaffordable housing, neither of which are solved by schemes like this.

Housing developments in villages are unlikely to include social housing which is one of the key needs at present. So-called affordable homes are out of reach of many. Having opposed a large development I have no doubt that infrastructure will not keep pace - you won't easily get more GP surgeries, local shops, schools and community facilities. Developers are supposed to contribute to infrastructure but they often plead lack of profit and try to wriggle out in my opinion. And most developments are on greenfield sites (cheaper to do than brownfield) on the outskirts so leading to more car journeys to school, work and shopping with attendant pollution and traffic. Local councils should be helped by government to build social housing but I don't think the Tories care about that, given Mrs T sold off so many council houses.

In our village they added basically another village to the outskirts of it, promises of a new school, doctors surgery, shop, park. All empty. Half built estate, half built links to the estate and the original village. It's a shit show. Don't bank on the amenities being carried out. Completely understand why people are objecting.

Could it be because you literally made it all about you?

Wrong. We have an ageing population not over population. Are you suggesting the birth rate should reduce further then? Who will care for you in old age?

I used to live in a lovely village where the council gave permission for a large number of new, large houses. They consulted locally and the response to questions about capacity of the separate infant and junior schools - neither of which had any room for expansion- was that there were spaces in other schools several miles away. What I need to add is that the land for these new houses was closer to the schools than the old houses in the village - meaning that this was existing residents (many of whom had lived in the village as children) who might well be denied places for their children by incomers buying the new houses.

The council's response was that those parents affected would "have to get their children to the schools where there were places". End of story.

OP, THAT (qnd issues such as the fact that the one GP surgery was already overstretched) is why people object. The fact that there was available brownfield land a couple of miles away meant nothing - because (of course) the developers wouldn't be able to demand such high prices if they built there.

I couldn't say if YABU or YANBU here. I know where we live there are similar plans. I always think objecting is useless because the plans have already been agreed but maybe that's just cynicism. For very small villages I think it's a shame because they don't widen the roads and it means more children have to walk along busy roads with narrow pavements and it's just a matter of time before they're going to see a nasty road accident.

But in the main I agree with you. People need housing and we need to accept they have to be built somewhere.

As that's pretty much how averages work how does it impact on planning objections ?

Are you saying that only those with above average intelligence get to object?

How disappointing to hear from all PPs where improvements to amenities, services and infrastructure were promised but not followed through on. I can see how this would make some very wary.

However, this actually supports my point that objecting to the development that will probably go ahead anyway is the wrong thing to do. The focus should be on ensuring the right improvements to amenities are made.

Nope, usually the idiots with no awareness or understanding tend to object over the silliest of reasons.

It very much depends on the plans.

What we do not need in most cases is more commercial and retail space given the level of empty shops, or locations where there is no established public transport so all you do is just add car traffic. Until government is prepared to tackle things such as parents driving half a mile to and from school and then back home, you have to expect more cars, usually larger than is needed or desirable.

Small village here ruled by NIMBYs. Because there has been no development, the family houses are still occupied by singles or couples in their 70s who refuse any development. Meanwhile the school roll number is dropping and the bus route has just been massively reduced due to no longer being viable. Still they insist the village wouldn’t cope with more development.

Another village near us is losing its primary school due to falling roll numbers. 30-40 family houses in these villages would be transformative. Local demographics are important and mob rule shouldn’t be allowed to drive planning.

So nothing to do with the average leveli of intelligence, that was what I couldnt work out

I have no idea on the statistics on the proportion of objections with valid grounds. Do you work in planning?

I work for a council in a related field to planning.

I'm no expert in this, but from the peripheral involvement I've had I'll say this: People, in the main, detest development in their area, and fight it tooth and nail. Where this is fundamentally changing a place, I can I understand that!

Councils have government targets to achieve to provide new housing, so have to make provision for this in their local plans. All the easy to develop places have generally already been developed, so what's now left are the less popular sites, the technically more difficult sites, the sites which require investment to make them feasible.

Developers try to screw councils down to provide as little mitigation funding as they possible can, maximise the amount of units they can deliver, and employ consultants to downplay the impact of their development on existing infrastructure. Ultimately the majority of house builders are private businesses aiming to make a profit.

Councils try to condition developers to deliver amenities, but often the developers will argue this should only be done once they've built a certain number of units. Sometimes once they've got to that number of units, they stop building. Most developers I've had any involvement will do everything they can to reduce the extent of the mitigation funding they give to councils. If this gets to legal proceeding, the developers can generally afford better legal representation than the councils. It's not a fun game to be in to be honest...

good grief, you’re an idiot and hard work at that

So do you no if extra schools/doctors surgeries etc are included in these plans?

Yes it's awful for the countryside and hedgerows

Yes, the birth rate needs to drop to get some quality of life.

i agree we are living far too long. I hope not to and will take necessary steps to avoid it. I think we are going to see people stopping taking all the life extending options, I think there's a slow realisation that battling disease to die of old age, with dementia, is not a good outcome.

It's a pyramid scheme if we keep producing more people to look after other people.

re infrastructure, with labour shortages, I think councils know they are making false promises.

none of the housing is affordable housing so limited in how helpful it is.

Yes there are plans to build new / enhance existing amenities - it is still a draft plan so opportunity to shape specifics still from the consultation.

Also even the parish council are supportive provided the improvements happen.

You are so right

I think this may happen unfortunately. It's a way of controlling people. The UK is so short sighted in its policies

I remember Barry Smith a Christian preacher talking about this happening in the future in the 80s.

You sound completely insane.

What steps are you going to take to avoid living "too long". And what does that even mean?

OP "You sound completely insane."

this has given me the giggles.

you aren't disputing the labour shortage and lack of affordable housing, I hope?

I think we live in thesame area.

i don’t have a major objection to it. I think the brownfield but is ideal. But, they need to build amenities at the same time, the council don’t have the money. I’m also annoyed that they have reduced the amount of affordable homes.

local schools currently don’t have any extra capacity, so they need to build primary school and a drs surgery (or give money to the new one so that they can). Plus a couple of green spaces a dog walking area and a playground.

councils need to ensure that developers are building a community with support, rather than just lots of houses.

They are entitled to their views, just as you are entitled to yours. It's called democracy. They may have good reasons for feeling the way they do.

It really annoys me when open countryside is agreed for building on.
Not all land needs to be built on. Why should it? Council's don't have respect for open land too often.
And especially in villages where people have moved specifically to get away from all that.