Newish housing development - house beside man made ponds or substation

[ministapler]

A bit of general advice needed as dire shortage of property in our area and we've been sold since mid january but few houses are coming up in the area we want.

Two fantastic houses, pratically same prices but different areas of the new estate.

House #1 has an electricity substation about 90ft away from side of garden and about 50 ft away from driveway.cant see it from inside house or when in garden but will drive past it everytime pull in and out of drive. I dont know why but worried about high voltage underground lines (not worried about electro magnetic fields at this distance).

House #2 has a balancing/ draining pond with no fencing about 50 ft away from front door and is in a very slightly nicer area.

im not particularly crazy about the the pond and substation but we've been searching for weeks and nothing has come up and we want to stay in the new build area due to schooling and its "easy reach of train station" location. also, have a crazy 2 year old and a chilled out 6 year old to consider.

i feel slightly less worried about the pond house as rear garden is brick walled and gated and would never need to use front door.

There's something about a substation that is "off" for me too.

i also fixate and over think situations too and dh has no real concerns about either and is waiting for me.

What are the pro and cons of both? anyone have any experiences to share? appreciate im being very general but dont want to out myself.

Even the babbliest and least informed of the tinfoil hat brigade agree that underground high voltage lines emit less emf than overhead ones assuming you are not in the conduit. And of course there is no evidence that emf at these levels is harmful.

Check out sense about science.

Is the substation audible from the house?

Hi, thank you. No noise at the house and not sure what you mean by conduit.

I wouldn't worry about either.

Thinking longer term, which one would be easier to sell if/when you want to move on? I think the sub station would deter some buyers.

Neither woudl worry me. The pond might actually be nice?

i know someone who bought a house by a substation - never even noticed it at the time! When they came to sell, it was a nightmare and the house value wasn't close to the estate average.

I'd go with the pond (and make sure the kids are water-sensible and can swim). That should also attract wildlife which could be fun.

Generally on a new build estate there are lots of houses exactly the same, the only thing that will differentiate them - in the first 10 years or so- will be the location. Id suggest a substation would make that property one of the least desireable and make resale difficult unless its a much lower price.

The pond wouldnt concern me, depending on how nice it looks it may even add value to that property.

I'd go for the one near the pond, particularly if it's in the nicer area.

thanks for taking time to reply.

hopefully this isn't "drip feeding" as they say!

the the ponds are quite big probably about 20ft x 10ft and there are three of them in the estate, with houses even closer to the pond than the one we are interested in and are even more higher priced than this one.

the substation is about 90 ft away from side of house and 50ft from driveway, its tastefully enclosed in a brick single garage but very visible/obvious and necessary warning signs on them.

about re-sale, this is the first time they've been sold, both are being sold by the original owners!

the substation house has had in the estate agent words "some silly offers" and one good offer but they went on to purchase somewhere after it got rejected.

I would go for the one near the pond, I think most people would make the same choice which make may the house with the substation harder to sell.

I can't see why a substation would put anyone off but if it really does can you use this to save some money? I wouldn't worry about out either. Incidentally is the pond much lower than the house? At this distance you may have to declare it to the insurers as a flood risk. I live near a river and touch wood we have been OK so far but it's always in my mind.

Pond the risk would be flooding so I'd check insurance as above suggestion. I wouldn't worry about child safety - it's no more dangerous than having a road near your house in terms of needing to watch the children.

I don't think anyone rational would be put off by a substation, but a sizeable proportion of the population aren't exactly rational, are they? As a PP said, the pond sounds lovely - it should attract wildlife and be a feature rather than a detriment.

Sounds like the pond is part of the SUDS for the development, so will have been designed to cope with peak storm water events and thus shouldn't be a flood risk.

I (think) I'm pretty rational but I wouldn't buy a house near a sub station.

Please remember that 10 years ago the Government were telling us to buy diesel cars. Now we know how polluting they are.

I'd love to live near a pond.

The fact the substation house has had silly offers rather proves the point that its less desirable.

Even without getting into debates about health issues it may cause, its ugly and in a less nice part of the estate. It would need to be alot cheaper than the pond house (and actually I still wouldnt buy it).

I wouldn't go for the substation house because of poor resale value in later years.

Not sure about the pond house. I don't like those either, but as most new estates are built with them now, I guess they will become normal so not an issue in time.

Could you rent whilst you wait for a property that suits you better to come up?

We looked at a development like this a couple of weeks ago (Shifnal). The pond put me off due to midges, risk of flooding and little Johnny knocking on the door to say that little Jimmy is drowning and can I go save him?

Im at work so replying quickly, ive been on the environment agency and checked pond house address and postcode against my current address which is a mile away any water and both level 1 risk. There are about 40 houses beside ponds and alot of those are 80-100k more valuable than this one, so pond is not putting people off.
Thanks for all replies. Thinking im nearly decided on pond house.

The pond is 50ft away and over that distance is gradiates (?) A drop of about 1-1.5 m to pond surface. Yes think it is a surface drainage pond.

Pond. Substation house will be harder to sell and possibly lower value in years to come.

Substations emit a low droney humming noise that is impossible to hear during the day ... at 2am it is a very different story. Some people can sleep through anything but for others it can make life hell . I know this because I lived next door to one.

Had thought about renting but detached houses tend to increase by 25k p.annum and we dont get that sort of payrise and didnt want to temporarily drop off the property ladder

A quick Q, do these man made surface water collecting ponds erode at land around it?

No, as they will have been designed to manage flow routes etc. and will be subject to a maintenance programme.

I am pretty certain that the planning permission would have stated the. Balancing ponds should be fenced and have clearly marked lifesaving equipment. I work in construction and have never known one not be fenced. I have also never encountered any flooding or erosion problems.