we all agree on the need for more houses but just not here !!

[billysboy]

As title really , everyone seems to agree on the need for more houses regardless of type but doesnt want them here ,
Green belt is supposed to ring fence existing settlements , I like the idea mooted this morning about Wild Belts to encourage wildlife etc ,
I cannot see how this government or any other hopes to build there way out of a crisis where in a lot of places it seems to be 10 x income to get a foot on the ladder
Ultimately it would seem lower house prices would be good for everyone apart from those in negative equity or using housing as an investment rather than a place to call home and the only way to achieve this is to oversupply the market causing prices to remain static whilst wages / income catch up
I thinks its unreasonable how long planning can take on a small domestic extension let alone 300k + house s needed per annum so cannot see how Angela Raynor thinks she will achieve this

No easy answer on this one

This is the problem, resources don’t keep pace.

i live and have always lived in what was a small village. Lived here as a kid, moved back after uni just over 20 years ago. When I moved back there were maybe 1000 houses, there’s now well over 2500. With 500 built last year and planning permission just granted for another 180. All on what were green fields surrounding the village.

They have built another 3x classroom at the school but you still can’t necessarily get in the village school even if you live in the village.

the vet won’t take on new clients

the dr surgery is beyond capacity, very hard to get an appt.

there is one road in and out of the village, it goes straight onto a busy A road. The queue of cars at 8am most mornings is 50 plus cars. It can take 20 mins to travel a few hundred yards and get out the village. Apparently they can’t do traffic lights because of a bend on the A road!

the chemists is now taking 7 days to process prescriptions (they still say 3). Dd needs daily life saving meds. They come in a box of 28 tablets. If I try to order a repeat prescription a week before I need them it says it’s too early for me to order them and I have to wait a few more days. So every month she has a few days without her meds and I just have to hope she doesn’t die 🤷‍♀️. In fairness the chemist will do an emergency supply for me but I feel so sorry for him as he’s so stressed I don’t ask anymore. It’s an hour wait in the pharamacy and it just adds to the queue as he has to take me in the cupboard and ask a million questions and I can tell he’s annoyed.

The waiting times at the local hospital are beyond a joke.

i could almost cope with the loss of the countryside if I wasn’t so personally affected by the accompanying shit like this!

@Periperi999 i agree. A lot of older people leave it far too late to move and end up in a crisis. People in their 80s shouldn't be rolling around in 4 bed houses alone. my grandparents all got to the stage where you weren't able yo handle any sort of maintenance, having falls, unable to cognitively handle the thought of moving or logistics. It's selfish and makes you a burden.

Things are stretched everywhere. Rural areas were just insulated from it longer.

Some good points earlier about parking on new build estates - why is it so completely inadequate? So many estates are clogged up with cars because of it.

I live in a 90 year old house on a long street of 90 year old houses. Despite being built at a time when car ownership was far lower, they all have good sized driveways and a garage. There’s also ample on street parking, so it doesn’t feel like the street is full of cars all the time. It’s really pleasant.

One reason "nobody is having any children", is because people can't afford to 🤷🏻‍♀️

Rural areas have terrible services, always have, just even worse now.

England is quickly being destroyed.

We are completely changing the make up of the country and not for the better either, with no roads, schools, health services for the 100s of 1000s we invite into the UK each and every year... meanwhile millions claim benefits and dont work who should be.
We've shocking numbers of sick and young people not working... why???

Our political parties are so wrong on this.

Migration solves nothing, its like continually painting over a damp wall.

I never thought i'd leave the UK but that time is coming soon.

I think a lot people would move if was more affordable. I know quite a few who want to move but cannot afford the stamp duty cost.

More decent quality low cost flats need to be built, with balconies and good sound proofing. Mainland Europe has plenty of apartments, it makes sense here too when there isn't the land space and no we shouldn't destroy our beautiful countryside.

More people are living alone than ever before. Apartments would be a good option for younger people and single people.

I have a relative. Recently retired. Loves in a 5 bedroom house in a lovely family oriented village keeping that house from being use by a family. Neighbours on both sides are the same generation living alone in large houses. My relative also owns multiple other properties and rents them out, these were purchased years ago when housing was affordable.

I just hate it. My relative has a good pension and no mortgage. They don't need the income. I'm in an overcrowded flat as that's all I can afford. If my relative moved into one of their smaller properties and sold he rest the could free up multiple homes for families.

But how will I feel when/if it's me? Living in the house I raised my children in, all my friends walking distance, the house I spent my life with my husband in that holds his memories? I would not want to move and would object to being pressured. But I guess I won't ever know that feeling because I can't afford more than my over crowded flat 🤷‍♀️

I don't want more houses. I'd like immigration to be controlled and to get off the population growth = economic growth ponzi scheme.

Yes to sound proofing!!

And a solution for allowing people to smoke without stinking out the other flats.

And more playgrounds and keep dog poo off the grass so kids don't suffer not having a garden

Yes totally agree

Give the people here the affordable housing as a priority

Yes so do aI but the stamp duty keeps increasing

Throw up 1000 houses on the edge of a town. Suddenly that's 1.5k extra cars on the road, or extra buses needed. Suddenly 2/3000 kids need school places. 5000 people need a dr/dentist.

That is not an argument to say why the homes shouldn't be created. All those extra people and children and dentist needs are going to exist somewhere in UK anyway. They will need services somewhere. Nowhere has extra dentists, enough road space for cars and buses and school places and doctors.

Stopping all immigration is fine, just fine, as long as you want most UK universities to shrink sharply because they then lack staff and overseas student income, and if you want care homes & NHS to be extra stressed, and plumbers & tradespeople to be even more scarce and hard to get hold of. Not to mention fewer people who can work in agriculture or food production or social care. It is absolutely fine to stop all immigration if you want all those and many other services to be even more difficult to get than they are now.

My dentist is from Bulgaria <muse>.

I never thought i'd leave the UK but that time is coming soon.

Er, so you yourself can become an unwelcome immigrant elsewhere?

Because you’re not discussing anything you just keep claiming ignorance. 🥱

There are many reasons why older people can't/won't leave homes that are far too big for them. Most of these reasons have been suggested in this thread.
But the bottom line is that these older people have not caused the housing shortage. It's disingenuous to suggest they have, and a disgusting example of ageism, which is alive and well in the UK. Calling older people "selfish" and "a burden" is absolutely disgraceful, shame on you.
It's also another method of using the good old "divide and conquer" trope, so that we all turn on each other to get governments off the hook.

Oh the look the shitty politics of envy, these people worked all their lives and paid for these homes.

Me and my Dh are now child free as they left home and we have just bought a 5 bed detached house we fancy the space and some room for our hobbies and home office space. It is being paid for cash by us so nobodies bloody business, we still live in a relatively free country.

900,000 new people a year come here. We are second only to the US on numbers of immigrants. We also have 18m more people in the UK than when I was born here. I preferred it with 18m fewer. Perhaps we should start by encouraging 18m people to leave before we decide to make the countryside a housing estate.

Yes definitely

So did I

Why does it have to be like this. It's not achieving anything

We invite nurses and doctors into our country, as we don’t have enough. Go into any hospital and you’ll see immigrants running the NHS & they have been since the 1960s

48% rises in immigrants being sent away in 2024 compared to 2023

unemployment is 1.49 million, millions may well claim benefits - but they are working claimants not being paid enough by their employers

if migration to other countries is like painting over a damp wall - what will you be if you migrate elsewhere?

Quite.

there’s not a housing shortage, too many cars on the road, not enough doctors, dentists or school places.

Theres too many fucking people.

I dont believe i was asking for any sympathy. but if you want people to sell houses (especially if they own several) you shouldnt make it increasingly expensive from a tax perspective to do so.

It really doesnt help when the government withdraws the NHS bursaries so that the young people from the UK could train to become health care professionals