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Original poster

Would you live in a Gated Community?

56 replies

Tinker · 04/04/2004 16:45

Spotted this whilst flicking through the ST today. People choosing to live in 'Gated Communtities' - "Executive homes" by the look of them, with big gates on the outside to stop all the yobbos. So, would you choose to live in a ghetto?

OP posts:
ScummyMummy · 04/04/2004 16:46

No way. Dullsville. And if I was a master burglar I would target them for an extra challenge.

GeorginaA · 04/04/2004 16:51

Wouldn't it all just serve to make you feel even more paranoid about the "big bad world out there"?

Original poster
Tinker · 04/04/2004 16:54

I would think so but, apparently, they are popular in the US and getting popular over here. Presume the inhabitants share Thatcher's view of 'society'

OP posts:
spacemonkey · 04/04/2004 16:55

I saw a documentary about gated communities in America a couple of years ago. It's a sad comment on society - as tinker pointed out!

ScummyMummy · 04/04/2004 17:06

The whole idea makes me feel a bit ill, actually. Rich, frightened eejits in fake perspex bubbles. More than ever revolution seems the only option, almost a kindness really. Liberate the eejits- smash their bubbles and introduce thenm to the yobbos. If only power didn't corrupt...

ks · 04/04/2004 18:24

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GeorginaA · 04/04/2004 18:37

I think they're supposed to be more than that ks - supposed to have community facilities (a shop, leisure facilities, security staff) as well. Could be wrong though, but that's certainly how the article I read described them.

bunny2 · 04/04/2004 18:40

Well, I would consider it. My cousins live in gated communities in South Africa. They are near Jo'burg and it is pretty lawless. One way of protecting their family is to live in a complex guarded by security 24/7. If violent crime continues to increase in UK, and if I can afford it, I would definately opt for the safest option for my family. I am sure many people who have spoken out against it, would consider it too if it became necessary. My familiy comes before idealistic principles every time.

JJ · 04/04/2004 19:24

To me they seem the worst of the suburbian McMansion lifestyle.

I'd never live in one -- feel I can say this honestly as we've chosen dodgier neighbourhoods over safer ones. (There were other factors at play, obv..)

ks · 04/04/2004 19:27

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kiwisbird · 04/04/2004 19:34

Nope

JJ · 04/04/2004 19:36

Oops, no, I didn't think you did. After I posted that, I realized that some small apartment complexes had gates (ie to get into the building, you had to go through a gate) and our building (first apt together) had a locked door on front.

I meant anything you had to drive through a locked gate or go through a guard to get into. That sounds like you're running them down, but ykwim.

Hulababy · 04/04/2004 19:38

I would - sorry. There are some lovely builds round here in similar types of things. Old hospitals converted, with security gates on the outside. No shops, etc. But there are play areas, green bits and a gym. We looked at some places recently like that and they seemed really nice. Having been burglaed once already, the security does appeal.

We live in apartments now and all our doors are security locked anyway. We have buzzers to entry and key fobs. We have security gates to the car park. We have security gurards at the car park entrance and who patrol the complex in the evenings and at weekends. And we have concierge who can watch our CCTV 24 hours a day if they want. I liek the security aspect.

HiddenSpirit · 04/04/2004 20:48

Hula there's a place like that here in a converted Naval hospital next to DD's nursery with security guard at the gates. Must say it did look nice in there. No shops etc either.

Lara2 · 04/04/2004 20:51

No!!! What sort of message is that sending to my children? That we're better than everybody who lives 'out there'? It makes me shudder!!!

Hulababy · 04/04/2004 21:10

I think some people are being a bit unkind to people who do live in these places. Please remember that there may well be people on MN who do live in such places - calling them insulting names isn't pleasant just because you don't choose to live where they live.

I also think it isn't a case of we are better than you. It's just that many of these places are on private roads, or are old complexes - like hospitals. So many are already walled off anyway. The gates just add security to homes which sadly do get burgled. I have been broken into. It's horrid. I never felt safe again in that house. Anything that adds to my feeling of security is a bonus as far as I am concerned.

eddm · 04/04/2004 21:21

Some of the ex-hospitals that have been converted are ex-psychiatric hospitals... think I'd feel funny living somewhere where people used to be given ECT. And no, I wouldn't live in a gated community. Far too 'us and them', feeling that you are scared of the big bad world out there. I'm not dissing you Hula, just couldn't do it myself.

Hulababy · 04/04/2004 21:27

There seems to be a few which were ex psychiatric hospitals, or consumption ones, etc around here. My firend lives in one (not actually gated this one but on a private road and no one else can really go near). His neighbour is convinced there home is haunted. A find that a bit scary.

No problem eddm - it isn't people disagrreing that was the issue - just the insults about those who do choose to live there!

Lisa78 · 04/04/2004 21:27

I'm with Hula on this 100%. If we had that sort of money, I would live in one like a flash!

CountessDracula · 04/04/2004 21:51

Definitely very much us and them stuff. I wouldn't touch one with a bargepole - they are usually in poorer areas where property developers have bought up places cheaply, done them up and then decided to gate them to keep out the "real residents". Will end up creating social tension that will be taken out on the people living in these fort knox style developments once the real people manage to broach the gates.....

Hulababy · 04/04/2004 21:52

CD - in Sheffield they are not in poorer areas at all; wuite the opposite. I guess it depends on to what extent you mean, and where you are in the country.

CountessDracula · 04/04/2004 22:08

London HB - I just disagree with them on principle unless you are an old lady

Hulababy · 04/04/2004 22:11

That's just fine CD! That's why there is so many different choices of places to live in this country. It'd be boring if we all wanted to live in the same places, wouldn't it?

CountessDracula · 04/04/2004 22:12

Quite right HB!

Personally I would live anywhere that had a waitrose if it came down to it (how shallow is that? )

GeorginaA · 04/04/2004 22:13

I agree with CD that there is a real issue with them being sited in poorer areas - property developers rake it in, and do the residents actually end up feeling any safer?

You still have to travel to work/leave the gates occasionally - personally I think the whole security aspect would make me feel very vunerable leaving the complex, particularly at night. I think I would end up feeling like a prisoner in my own home.

So no, not even if I had the money.

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