objections to affordable homes by snobby villagers - This makes me so angry!

[meemar]

Living in devon myself, this makes me so annoyed.

The worst of it is that most of them are 2nd home owners and don't even live there. And the proposal is only for six houses ffs.

I can't bear NIMBY attitudes.

But the infrastructure is there if houses are built in urban areas. In the countryside it very often isn't and nor are there any jobs.

I agree about the infrastucture but 6 houses aren't going to put much strain on it anyway. And I think it's fair to assume that there are people crying out for these house or they wouldn't be building them. It's a vicious circle - no house so people love out, so infrastructure dies away, so no-one can live there but the v rich.

My point callisto was that the consideration given to the residents of the green and pleasant is rarely extended to those who have to live in the grey and slightly less pleasant

Move not love...

Exactly Omrian they want all the locals squashed into a few areas with bigger schools etc so a lucky few can enjoy the view. The arrogance is appalling.

Callisto I'd live there like a shot. Most of us who live down here do it because we love it and are used to having to hunt out some facilities.

Ideally I want to stay where we are, where my parents are and where my dc have been brought up but prices are so astronomic we're finding it very hard to find a bigger place. The chances we'll have to move out to more rural places anyway but at the moment these are just as pricey. More affordable housing anywhere local would be great to be frank.

Also Callisto there are jobs in the big cities and towns we all commute just like Londoners do.

Planning laws and the objections that can be made are the same town or country, plus the countryside has an intrinsic value beyond its value as potential housing land. We are on a very small, crowded island, the land we have is a very finite resource and might be put to better use producing food and for recreation. Also, it is a big assumption that houses are built in areas where people want to live.

Objections can be made but they can very easily be ignored. As locals have found to their dismay here in the last few years.

And commuting is sooo environmentally sound.

I actually agree that country towns and villages are crying out for affordable housing. I just wanted to make the point that there could be other considerations and objections to these houses beyond the easy targets of second home owners.

And I quite agree that land is a valuable and finite resource. I hate the idae of covering the countryside in thousands of little boxes. But there has to be balance. Life for town dwellers has to be bearable too. And young people have to have some hope of living in the places they grew up.

I agree Callisto we're on a crowded island so really we should all only have 1 home each.

The reality is a few don't have just 1 home and the damage it causes means affordable housing needs to be built in these areas.

If these people took their holidays in the vast amount of lovely hotels and campsites there are down here instead of buying up the all the affordable housing the views we all enjoy wouldn't be threatened.

My dp has a 20 min commute(on the bus/carshare or he cycles) what exactly is wrong with that?

Why is it always the assumption that Londoners are justified on doing an hour and a half commute each way daily then however long it takes to get down here every weekend. However it's not ok for us locals to commute at all just because we live in rural areas of outstanding beauty?

Callisto - I don't know the area - but I presume it's not a village that consists entirely of houses - ie there must be a pub? a shop??

This for 6 houses - that is (presuming standard 2 adult families) at most 12 "working" adults.

Given that 70% of the current properties and 2nd homes, that only leaves 30% of the "population" to do any local jobs.............so either they commute in.....or they live there (which they can't afford to do(

I'm pretty sure East Portlemouth is the Salcombe beach with the Venus cafe you get to on a 1 min ferry, Salcombe has practically everything one could need where facilities are concerned.

I could be wrong so don't quote me,haven't braved that boat since we had the dc. Somebody who knows the area well may enlighten us.

In our last house we had 20 houses behind us that were 'ffordabl;e' (same esatte Ormirian described so well - saved me a job there LOL). 3 of those were rented out by the HAs as part of the deal with the builders; all tose were let to famillies previously evicted from HA houses. So its bleedin obvious that they wold cause problems, but it's not the affordable housing that caused it- just the idiocy of housing them all together. The road was 99% elderlya dn they'd climb over the wall and stare throuhg windows to sscare the poeple..... then DH mved in and chased them away- its amazing how a few occasions of an annoyed dh (abouut 5'10 and 9 stone pmsl) jumping fences to chase you up the street can stop you harrassing people lol. On another occasion though they trashed our car coz we called the police. In retrospect eprhaps we should have left their kids playing on the nuclear railway track instead

Anyway what I am saying is the councils / HA's etc do have a tendency to house problem famillies together; it's not affordable housing that causes the issues but shortsighted policies. not a new thing either- dad's generation was housed on an estate designed for 'problem' famillies many decades ago, still ahs a ripe anme for itself (Orm- starts with H). I cant see how we'd ever afford to move back home again, tbh. No matter how crap the area, Somerset still comes with a price tag.

Salcombe is fairly rubbish re facilities for local people, the 'commoners', ie council tenants live away from the pretty bit

It's jammed packed in the summer and deserted in the winter

most people use Kingsbridge for shopping

I used to live near Salcombe and whilst it's lovely scenery etc, there are few jobs there and the tourists used to drive me crazy, especially when I did holiday home cleaning

I do love The Winking Prawn though

"plus the countryside has an intrinsic value beyond its value as potential housing land."

This is my favourite, I am sorry who the hell gives one person any more right to the land we are born into than another, the land was stolen in the first place so as far as I am concerned I should be able to build a home for my family where the hell I like.
The countryside/land/island has one purpose only to house and provide for the people living on it.

Thank the Lord you're not in charge of planning then Sorrento. I've never heard such a blinkered and selfish view. And 'the land was stolen in the first place'? Yes of course, by those thieving land owners who have zero value. I guess you make sure you never buy British produce then?

FAQ - not sure what you mean in your post to Fimbo about "same problems if 100% bought and 30% rented privately" - that the rented 30% is always going to be problematic?

the worst, most selfish, rude and generally nightmarish neighbours I have ever had owned their flat. There is no correlation between not being a property owner and some kind of personal moral worth.

Selfish, no selfish is making sure the majority of British people never be able to afford to put down roots and be forced to spend their lives at the whim of the banks and building societies, debt is the slavery of the free.

Callisto, your statement smacks of, 'All men are created equal, but some are more equal than others.'

Squonk's earlier post was spot on for me - where are all the dustmen/posties/petrol station workers/et al meant to live?? Ah, of course, away from the expensive (nice) areas, and commute in. Very sensible.

I originally come from Cobham in Surrey where this problem is rife. Any mention of 'affordable' when a new housing development is being planned and many of the locals and councellors are up in arms. However, if the project is "luxury", "exclusive", etc., then it seems to go through no problem. So, you have a town choked with multi-million pound houses which very few people can actually afford. Which is just one of the reasons I moved out of the area several years ago.

I don't think they should pay full council tax actually. I think they should pay extra council tax to compensate the community for keeping that home empty for so much of the year, pushing prices up so that local people cannot afford to live there etc. It could be inverse proportion to the amount of time they actually spend 'living' there, for instance, 25% occupancy (3m a year) would incur 175% council tax.

Nor should 2nd home owners have any say or sway in the community they do not live in; if they went to another country for their hols they wouldn't have any say, so why should they here? They can jump up and down in their 1st homes.

It is hardly the fault of landowners that house prices are astronomical in the UK, or would you like anyone with over 100 acres to build 100 houses and give them away? And debt may be the slavery of the free, but I didn't see any of you home owners complaining when house prices were getting higher and higher and pricing everyone out of the market. I don't have debts, but then I rent a house in a place I like, cos I can't afford to buy a house around here. Guess that makes me less equal then Expat?

Oooh Rindercella, and it's full of people like my ignorant MIL and bigoted sFIL!