Would you buy in an estate all the locals had objected to?

[StopTouchingYourFairyGarden]

There's a village near us that is our dream location - small, quaint, seaside with a large park and a train link we need for commuting. We love it there and visit regularly. We've been looking to buy there for years but nothing has come up. It's very expensive and there are lots of small flats, small bungalows and then large £1m+ houses. Not much in the middle.

A firm of builders has secured planning permission for family homes in an estate. It was objected to HUNDREDS of times by locals who are all very upset about it 'ruining' the village.

Would you buy there? It may be the only way we can ever live in that location as so few family homes come on the market but I'd hate to live in a small village feeling like everyone resented our home even existing?!

I'll never be able to persuade DH to buy a new build so it's probably all pie in the sky, but a girl can dream...

@Mymycherrypie yes every new build is built on radioactive land, because the "last" of the land not built on in the UK, all 95% of it, is radioactive

Reminds me growing up that "none" of the locals were going to buy on an estate because it was sinking and built on an ancient burial ground, that was 30 years ago and the houses are still standing...(also with many original locals living in them)

Nope. I don't like new builds and I don't like how villages are overrun with them with no supporting infrastructure. If I lived in that village I would be a NIMBY-er.

People object to the houses, not to the people who live in them. So yes of course you shouldn’t be put off by people’s planning objections though you should read them, see what the issues are.

I know “NIMBY” is an insult, but really if you don’t look after your own back yard, who will? The OP is looking at a £750k house, so not affordable homes for normal people.
Personally, my view is people need homes. So we need to build them. But people should object to inappropriate developments.

user85963842 If you want to be less of a goady bastard about it there is a bbc documentary on the land because it was the first of its type in the uk. Or just take the loss and learn nothing in your life, your choice

All I’m saying is that if locals have objected to it, why is the first and most important question.

And of course not all land is radioactive... dumb comment.

Not all land is suitable for housing. Often reclaimed land floods or has inadequate drainage.

I would but I would want one in a quieter bit. New builds get such a bad rap but I know of two friends with new builds and they are quiet and well insulated.

@KevinTheBird

user85963842 I don’t know if it always generates experts. I guess house building is a massive business, so many different trades employed either full time or on an adhoc basis. Personally I was part of a sales team for Linden Homes and we’d get shunted from one development to another for 2-3 months at a time as they neared completion. This was over a decade ago so things may have changed now but absolutely every single tradesman on these developments told us they were built to an awful standard and were all completely open about it. I remember showing one couple round a home, I was struggling with the lock on the door and the entire handle fell off in my hand 🤦‍♀️. They didn’t buy it for some reason.

I’m sure it varies from developer to developer and hopefully standards are higher these days. It put me off ever wanting to buy a new build though!

@KevinTheBird a friend has a new Linden house and has had endless problems with it, & not minor stuff either - serious damp, mould, big internal cracks, and a flooded garage (where they were still storing stuff from their move). Linden have not been helpful & she wouldn’t buy from them again.

giantkitten certainly when I was working there Linden and Persimmon were well known as being the absolute worst. I was part of the personalised sales team so you’d have one contact to lead you through the entire sale and then be the contact for any snagging issues afterwards. As soon as we finished on one development all calls and emails from the buyers of homes from that development were rerouted to a generic customer service one that, as far as I know, had a couple of people working there for the entire company. It was appalling.

I really hope your friend gets it sorted. The only things that worked quickly was any kind of coverage from press - so if there’s a local paper or even write to Martin Lewis or similar, that might get them moving.

750k for a new build wouldn’t dream of buying a new build