I'm astounded by how hot the street is!

[hajbajkajlad]

It's been boiling all week so I've been taking the dogs out at night into a couple of feilds near by. It's really hot on the walk down the street but as soon as I hit the feild the temperature drops dramatically. I needed jeans and a jumper over there.
However I'm now sat in the garden in need of a fan. And crossing the road the heat just jumped up again!

I know that urban areas are warmer than the countryside but walking from one to the other and back again has shocked me, it's so cool over there and I'm stuck in my house and garden absolutely boiling. I'm struggling to settle. I just feel so annoyed that this isn't considered in urban planning.
We have ad about 5 new housing estates built near to us in the last 15 years (with more to come) and the gardens are so small, front gardens are basically non existent and the lack of trees for shade make walking through in the day virtually impossible. It's still so hot at night.

No aibu really just fancied a bit of a chat about it.

Green space is vital. Cannot believe govt think it is ok to build on green belt land.

Fully agree
The green space seems to be shrinking and shrinking in my lifetime and im only early 30s

For several years I had a daily commute which involved driving from a rural-ish green village environment, through a built up town centre and out to another village. The car thermometer consistently used to register approx 3C higher as I drove through the town and back down again as I went into more green space.

most houses are packed together so I guess that’s part of it.
I am so restless and hot this evening. We are not set up for the new climate conditions we now live in.

We live in a city.
We also have a house in the country side about 50 km away. The difference is like night and day.

I live in one of those maritime towns that has lovely Victorian workers' cottages and narrow pavements. It is soooooo hot walking around. Plus it's in Essex, and so people love grey and AstroTurf, so there are no trees. I look at photos from the beginning of the 20th century and there are trees galore. Even looking at old editions of street view shows more trees.

MORE TREES MORE SHADE MORE BEARABLE LIVING CONDITIONS!

I'm so pleased we have an oasis of a garden with ten trees 😌

Ive got the windows and bacl door open, no difference.
We used to have a caravan in the middle of the countryside and it would get so chilly. i neve mad the connecttion when i got home boiled like a ham.

We have a very small garden front and back but im going to line the garden with trees this coming winter. Shall i opt for fruit trees as an F you to climate change?

YANBU

That's why people get so upset when dickhead neighbours remove all the trees AND try to get other people's trees destroyed, and idiots put fake grass everywhere.

Having trees or not makes a huge difference.

We’ve got a huge oak tree next door, and it’s so cool in its shade. Every layer of leaves takes away a couple of degrees, and sitting underneath it is blissful in the heat. Yes, they take away light, and I rake leaves for hours in the autumn, but it’s so worth it.

oh we have fake grass everywhere too.
Its so annoying! I see th thermometer rising every year when a new neighbour decids to get it

I wouldn’t plant right on the edge, as your neighbours can trim the over hang. Plant inside your boundary as much as you can tolerate.

Yanbu. I have a small tree and shrubs on one side of my garden. Despite it being in full sun the temperature drops under the tree. There was a good article about this in National Geographic a few years ago. Poor areas of LA had almost zero tree cover and the wealthy parts had trees to cool and shade the streets.

And then there's the dickheads who get plastic grass. I had lovely cool, soft real grass today.

This is why I hate high temps in London

I’m in my 40s and have watched the countryside slowly destroyed around me. My local woods were hacked into to make way for two new estates, then they built a giant new estate at the other end of the village. Now we’ve been told the fields in the centre of the village have got to go as well. But even that won’t be enough. It just never ends. Also, the traffic round here is hellish. There are just too many people jammed onto this little island, simple as that.

There is a beautiful village ten miles from here that I used to love walking round in the spring. This year I visited it and, what a surprise, a disgusting new estate is being built right in the middle. Normally, during a spell of weather like this, I’d have taken my dog to that village for a walk. But this year I can’t face it. It just upsets me too much. We are literally destroying the British countryside bit by bit.

I know I’ll get screamed at by some bullying leftie, but immigration is playing a part in this - illegal as well as legal. My home town is full of groups of young immigrant men wandering around in the middle of the day. I often walk through the new estates that have been built in my village. Judging by the languages I hear, I’d guess that over half the people who have moved onto those new estates were not born in the U.K.

I live in a village surrounded by farmland. We're in a valley though, so the heat seems to get trapped. I can hardly imagine what it would be like without all the green spaces and forests.

I know I’ll get screamed at by some bullying leftie, but immigration is playing a part in this -

It is but we also have people living longer. And those people living longer is why governments like immigration.

Our road is turning into concrete drives and no lawns. A lawn makes a big difference to lowering the temperature.

Apple trees need airflow so don't plant them close to a fence or hedge. You'll end up with apple tree mildew, which isn't so pretty. Our crabapple and pear trees on the other hand are doing pretty well.

Just mentioning in case this is of use to you: I'm in Hertfordshire and the council are giving away trees. It's clearly going well as they've run out for my particular area. Anyway, worth having a check to see if your council are doing something similar.

Good idea for a thread - agree and glad to discuss. Beyond anger and sadness, wondering what action can be taken. Rather than waiting for laws and policies on this how can we change behaviours?

Maybe time for a public health campaign - Plants = cooler home
Plastic + Tarmac = hotter home
With nice pictures of grassy verges, tree-lined pavements and front gardens full of shrubs.

Or, (nod to Ikea) “Chuck out the plass” with footage of people gleefully ripping out their plastic lawns, replacing it with grass, then sitting on it looking chilled and smug.
Tiktok and instagram influencers can join in. Competitive tree planting.

100% Just build build build and cram as many houses an as many bathrooms as you can into the smallest space possible.
Highest price too

competetive tree planting yes yes yes! i am up for that

want to start with mumsnet?

At least new houses now have gardens, often. It's all the old early industrial years stock that's the problem - loads of it in all the major cities, street after street of terraces with concrete yards. And they sell for premium prices too - "period properties" - so they'll be there for ages yet.