House building is out of control

[Caterpillarsleftfoot]

Every where I turn at the moment the countryside is being turned into housing developments. If we carry on like this our habitats and green spaces will be decimated. Not to mention the flood risks. Also our beautiful rural way of life that we associate England with will be lost.

There is no way we need this many new developments. The latest one I saw is on the edge of a beautiful historical town in the countryside in a neighbouring county.

We need flats for council properties to save space and fewer air BnB properties.

Haven't a clue - I was simply sharing what helps me

Unfortunately a lot of them are bought by investors and never used as homes.

Yeah, why can’t the surgeon I work with live in a tent.
I know this Government has signed treaties with the rest of the world to increase immigration to cover the loss from the EU, but do they have to expect a roof over their heads?!

"England will be lost" - utter tosh, I'm sorry but your talking hogwash. Government stats show only 10% of the country is built on. More land was designated green belt or wildlife area than taken out for building last year.

Added to that, house building is massively behind. We build on average 250k a year when we have massive migration issues and household formation continues, and prices drive up which prices people out locally.

You sound like a classic fuck everyone else nimby. I want my kids to have a house, they need to build millions. There is a study showing 1% of green belt across England could prove 1million homes. And not all green belt is good quality either, talk to the Land Trust. It would drive growth and prosperity and add taxation so we can pay nurses etc etc.

It's people like you with no grasp of facts that contribute to the housing divide. Have a word with yourself.

So saying we have only built on 8% (or whatever) is a bit pointless really.

Thanks very much for your feedback. It is important to us and I'll make sure it's passed on.

I don’t think it is catastrophising actually. Someone up thread stated the aim is to build 300,000 new houses each year. For how many years though? Because our island isn’t going to get any bigger, we can’t acquire more land? So sooner or later, we will be building over the majority of good farmland surely?

That is the essence of catastrophising. Taking what someone up thread stated and spiralling into the majority of farmland being built on, as if there's no mechanism for changing the 300k new houses a year at a certain point. As people keep pointing out, about 8% of England is developed. Building that number of houses for a few or even several years isn't going to ramp that figure up to 'the majority'. Of course there needs to be checks and balances, but to panic about losing rural England within our children's lifetimes is OTT.

Of course we need houses. There aren't enough houses currently which keeps prices of rent and ownership artificially high. Overcrowding and homelessness is not preferable to some people losing their view of fields. However the government could -

Stop or reduce foreign ownership of uk housing to use as holiday homes (or tax this enough that they could build quality housing from the proceeds) - some high end blocks in London are 75% empty at any one time

Do the same with second/ holiday homes

Encourage more investment in under populated areas to divert population growth from overcrowded areas

Make it harder for people to develop on greenfield sites and easier on brownfield sites. In my city there is loads of waste land near the city centre, some with old factories etc sitting vacant for years and years. They should ensure its sold or developed not just kept in a run down state

Change the right to buy scheme which is depleting housing stock

Improve the laws and recourse around quality of housing (eg you can withhold your rent if the house is mouldy) so more current housing meets minimum standard

Ensure that any new developments actually have to implement the actions recommended in an independent flood risk assessment and build in flood resilience measures as standard, rather than let developers get away with a flood assessment as a tick box, and find a way to ensure these developments can access insurance,

Ensure there is enough infrastructure in places with building e.g. traffic planning, schools, doctors, and green spaces

Not sure what can be done about the UK culture where people are reluctant to live in apartments (outside London and selected other pockets of the UK). In many other countries its the norm but in the UK its seen as settling or a stepping stone, rather than a valid long term choice

Complete nonsense. The only reason you think everything is being built on is because you only view the world from the parts that are already developed ie towns, villages and roads. You don't see the rest because it's not accessible.

Get up in a plane (or look at satellite pictures).

But liberal immigration policies have consequences. And local plans for each town have to meet the increasing demand for housing.

Lots of good points made on this thread about build quality and corrupt councils and very correctly pointing out we are still covered in green space!
I know three people who are always moaning about this. 'Ruining our green spaces!'
One has 6 kids.
The other two have three each.
...
Where do they think all these kids are going to live?!?

This 👆🏼
Actual proposals rather than demonising the already dispossessed 👍

YANBU. Our small town has had 3 developments in recent years. One only got through because of a loophole and another 100 houses were built.

The schools are full, the doctor/dentist are full. The sense of community is disappearing.

it is horrible. Meanwhile, people can't find houses to rent, and nothing is selling either.

Those new build estates with one road in and out, usually down the road from the nearest town and cut off make me so mad. We really have awful planning policy in this country. I get people don’t want new housing near them but if we are going to build it, at least make it integrated.

A few other thoughts.
A lot of towns and cities need better medium density housing. Like pretty buildings with 3-5 floors, balconies and big rooms that could take people from flat share, starter home, to starting family. Like you see in Europe. The challenge is these need to be built with green space nearby. My nearest city is great at chucking up high rise flats but there is hardly any green space. Most flats don’t have balconies now.

Allowing iterative growth to villages/towns. Building is expensive and seems to be in the hands of large builders so they want big plots. But most villages/small towns would be happier with smaller iterative plots being developed than suddenly 300 homes appearing. How we make that happen not sure. Maybe tax breaks for small house builders and encouraging self build opportunities.

Infrastructure. I worry nationally we are just not prepared for more housing. No new reservoirs since the 70s. I often look at the new high rise flats going up and think about all the extra water and waste…. How do we cater for this when the private firms responsible can’t cope and the government won’t regulate them properly to invest?

final point, so much new built stuff is so ugly. Small windows, no nice brickwork or exterior detailing. It makes me really sad, everything is done for cheapness and I think the planning system should pay attention to this. Smaller windows might be more energy efficient for the home overall but you know… light is also good especially when it’s dark for 5 months of the year.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/16/cities-need-goldilocks-housing-density-not-too-high-low-just-right

NIMBYism!

I just can't stand the "I live in a nice town but how dare others move there" attitude.

Of course the 2 elephants on the room is the immigration numbers and people living far too long now, the natural balance of things is just way out. As someone else pointed out we should have immigration similar to Australia

Over simplistic insult.

Good luck. Developers make more money on large estates built in the countryside. The economics and the taste of the English to have a house means it will not stop.

Hardly any of the ‘developed’ land is used for housing. Construction rates would need to increase ten fold for hundreds of years to get anywhere near 20% of the country being built on.

we do not build new roads or railways. We don’t build new hospitals or schools. Leisure and retail building has fallen off a cliff. The only thing we build is housing and even that can’t keep up with demand. Fears of the countryside being concreted over are very much exaggerated - we don’t have the workforce, materials or money to do it even if we wanted to.

@Fieldofbrokenpromises exactly this is always trotted out, I probably am a nimby but I chose to live rurally as I cannot stand the overcrowdedness of cities and would be gutted if they started building on huge levels in my village

People are living far too long?
Perhaps us oldies should just fuck off and die. We could be made into Soylent Green…

final point, so much new built stuff is so ugly. Small windows, no nice brickwork or exterior detailing. It makes me really sad, everything is done for cheapness and I think the planning system should pay attention to this.
I mentioned this upthread - planners are supposed to insist on good design, but listening to our local committee, they are resigned to the fact developers just do what they like as the LA has no power to stop them.

Exactly this!
We are desperately short of housing - so crazy to import so many people freely- as for solar panels- even in conservation areas they are appearing. Hideous things.
modern housing is apparently made of matchwood and will barely last the length of the mortgages on it.
Air B&B's ought to be banned as well- houses for local people, not holiday makers.

This in spades..

No, but it's a factor that needs to be factored in, when people are bemoaning new housing in their nice rural villages. Well, people used to die younger and then houses were available for other generations to move into. If people are living decades longer, it stands to reason that those houses will be tied up much longer so younger generations need new places to live. Can't have it every which way, living on in your rural idyll and nothing changing. You don't need to be soylent green, but you might have to suck up a few new estates.

I thought Australia also has a housing crisis - high rents and buying costs.

I did wonder at Radio 4 presenter having an epiphany - the public is not really against immigration per se but worry about housing and infrastructure already being over stretched - so if you ask about immigration to work in NHS all for it - ask generally about immigration same people express concerns - I thought it was obvious conclusion.

We need workers in many areas but housing them and adding them to existing stretched services can make other already problematic areas like housing and schools worse - but if we don't things like NHS waiting list will worsen further.