New development

[UnfriendMe]

Hey all,

Just curious what your thoughts are on this. We are buying a modern new build in st ives Cambridgeshire. We haven't exchanged yet, but the plan is to do so early Jan. Anyway, there is a plan for a new development kind of near our house, I mean, it's not right there but it's not super far away. The plan requires there to be a gap between our development and theirs in order to maintain the border between counties and there also has to be lots of green space, tree planting etc as part of the application. Roughly 15 hectares it says. Anyway, I've attached a photo, the house we are buying is circled in red and the existing developments are greyed out. We will still have a good view of open space from our balcony and there are protected lands that can't be built on there as well. We also have a large listed wall that wraps around that side of our house too so from the inside nothing would be visible to us, only from the balcony. What would you do? Would this dissuade you or is it the best amount of green space you can ever hope to have around you living in the UK? I mean, they seem to just want to build on every patch of grass they can find which is just stupid, but it's the UK, so most policies are.

I think now you know what the situation is you can make a full decision. In many ways an older home where the area is already developed in a suitable way is better as you know where you stand. If a significant part your home's value is based on a view of undeveloped land it doesn't know or even worse - a potentially virtually unworkable corner access when the dilapidated home next door gets turned into 5 houses then that is a mistake as the chances are it will be developed in the quite dense model required now by not only the developers but their funders

Own not know....

Fair enough - and apologies that my post was a bit more confrontational than warranted. It just strikes me that building houses more spaced apart necessarily implies that the same number of houses will take up more space!

I wonder if your feeling that the UK attitude is "let's bulldoze and pave over everything for the sake of housing" is partly driven by the fact that you live in one of the country's biggest hotspots for development? You'd likely feel different if you lived in Fort William or Rhayader, or possibly in an established city or suburb away from new development.

In terms of the question you originally asked, if I was considering buying a long term home in the UK, the proposed development shown there wouldn't put me off. In the area you're looking at any new build is likely to find another built next to it. In this case you at least know you will be left with some space - and the large listed wall sounds like it should help with privacy and security.

I think you can realistically assume that land around Cambridge will be built on - it's expanded massively in the last 20 years, and that's only going to continue. If you want to live somewhere with wide open views, Cambridge is not the place.

Not knowing that exact area, I can't say whether you'll be left with 'enough' green space and nice views. It looks to me like it'll be fine, but you won't have the open views you have now and you'll have to put up with building works and - obviously - more people and traffic long-term.

But St Ives is a nice, reasonably affordable place to live compared with many places around Cambridge, so it depends on your priorities.

Yes, this is all making me wonder if it's worth it. The wide open views aren't the only selling point of course and we have dealt with enough developers to know they lie a lot so didn't take anything to heart and assumed the views wouldn't stay like that. The house is also detached, modern, architect built, has solar panels and heat pump, efficient and built to the standard we asked for (floors, fixtures, kitchen, etc), and it's roughly 2700 square feet, so very large. It also has 4 meter high ceilings. So, it has a lot going for it. That being said, buying a house in the UK just feels less and less exciting, for many of the reasons I've stated above. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/131740967

This is a diff development, not part of the same and yeah, I don't want to overlook a housing development just like you wouldn't want to. New build is our only option here as the older houses are horrible and inefficient. The only nice houses I've ever seen are the detached Victorian or Georgian houses that have been modernized, most of the houses however are eye sores so new build or building our own were the only options that made sense to us. Granted most new builds are also hideous, identikit houses too, but not what we are buying, or rather thinking about buying.

Yes, unfortunately the older homes are incredibly inefficient to run and just not nice, imo. I find the traditional building style outside and inside in the UK to be non practical and just downright ugly personally. I've seen some converted Georgian and Victorian homes which have kept the old features but modernized the layout and those are nice but that is about it and very hard to find, esp in the million pound budget we have. However the majority of the housing isn't fit for purpose in 2023.

Yes housing stock is problematic I agree throughout europe. It seems so funny that a 1920s house would be considered older in America. I don't think what is being considered here is an especially English issue but pertinent across the continent. The reason the modernised older home isn't available is because of the unbelievable amount of work it takes to achieve - not just money although that is a factor of course but so much time and stress and inconvienance. We have done it for ourselves but 0 chance we would to sell. It took well over a year after planning, multiple moves and packing up and hundreds of thousands of pounds. A semi detached new build nearby would cost what we spent on rennovation which almost cost me my sanity. Our plot is much better situated though and probably 4 times the size of the new build referred to, maybe more. Can you put aside the design of the house you are building and really consider that the plot is the one you want/ best option?

Ok, I'm afraid you've lost me now I've seen what you're buying... in fact I'm now wondering if this is joke? Obviously tastes vary, but to me that house is hideous. It has almost no land, the rooms are small given the cost, and I would worry a LOT about flooding in that area. Also you're buying somewhere on the edge of a town, with space between you and the town... of course that land is going to be built on.

There are some beautiful houses up for sale around St Ives at around the million pound mark. They have far more land and attractive houses around them, rather than other grey blocks.

@UnfriendMe I have to agree with you on the quality of housing - as you say older houses are inefficient and new ones are indentikit boxes, there's not much in between!!

That's what makes it so hard because we found the one in a hundred that is inbetween :(

I guess tastes just vary. I find the traditional houses you mentioned hideous, but please, if there is a link do send. I know most people here prefer old and rickety to modern, but you are certainly one of the minority out of the people we have shown the house to here. Also, the garden is 1000 square meters, please tell me how that is small considering what most houses have in the UK? Also, it's not on a flood plain, some of the area around it is, closer to the city which is built for it. According to the govt and our solicitor, the chances of flooding in the next 30 years are 0.00 something percent... So not sure what you are on about.

Is this what you are referring to? https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/137665325. If so we just have very diff taste as this house is horrible imo. Sure it has land but would have to be gutted internally to be brought up to any kind of decent standard. That would exceed our budget. This is also certainly in an area more prone to flooding. I also don't even want to think about how much it would cost to run such an energy inefficient monstrosity.

We originally looked at building but couldn't find a decent plot in our budget, which was around 300k. We did finally find a plot in graven hill but then pulled out as we were giving up a lot, tiny garden, having to live in bicester, living on a massive development, etc. I'm assuming you spent much more than 300k on a plot?

Do you think we could find something better for the same cost with close links to London, plot wise? As mentioned we don't like the old or traditional houses, for numerous reasons, so would have to be a new build. So does that mean we will always be stuck next to a building site or another new build development? I guess I'm asking if this is the best we could hope for on our budget?

By plot I more meant the parcel of land itself and its location/ amenities including green space. We bought a couple of parcels of land over time and merged them, it wasn't greenfield and constrained by local historic housing and the area in design. We haven't completely demolished but entirely modernised. Also the properties were bought over time and we are really committed to the area and I like historic houses although appreciate that is a matter of taste. They do need a lot of work though its easier to build than to rennovate. I do think that new builds are likely to get more newbuilds on top and the density currently being built is a bit oppressive for me. Cambridgeshire is known for being in demand so it might be that you could find space on a good trainline but I think you would struggle to build in such a modernist style in many towns and villages where the amenities are....

Gotcha. Yeah, I'm thinking more and more that the UK is just not the place we want to buy, always a compromise to make.

Wow. I think you just lost most of us. Yes, tastes vary. Yes, an older property would cost more to run and that's a perfectly valid reason to prefer a modern property. But using words like "horrible" and "monstrosity", and saying what you half acknowledge others will like "would need to be gutted" to make it "any kind of decent" is going out of your way to pick a fight.

Personally, I didn't mind the style of the house you're considering. I prefer it to the cookie cutter pastiche-vernacular houses developers too often put up.

The accommodation on the ground floor seems a bit limited, though. You get one room plus a "study/family room". The "hideous" house has two proper reception rooms as well as the open plan kitchen/diner/family room. The hideous house has a large plot and a good sized garage and outbuilding, whereas the developers of the modern one have stolen a big chunk of living space to pack a garage onto a plot that, though apparently a reasonable size compared to some newbuilds, has too narrow a frontage.

The layout of the hideous house looks decent for modern living - it has a downstairs cloakroom, utility, en suite facilities aplenty. It might need a bit of decorating, but not much more. Well, unless you want to improve the insulation etc. dramatically, in which case yes: you could spend a lot of money to achieve anything worthwhile....

Buy the house that suits you, and good luck! Or don't buy anything, keep renting in the UK and enriching a landlord. Or move back to the States. Whatever.

The UK isn't the only place where you have to compromise when choosing between properties, though. I've never made any significant purchasing decision - car, house, whatever - without having to trade off one factor with another. Hell, I'm trying to book a holiday now, and I'm torn between the hotel with the best service and restaurants, the one with a fantastic pool and waterpark, and the one where the room size and layout is best by a mile. Life is full of compromises.

Again, tastes vary, not sure why it's such a problem. Considering the look of most of the houses I see on Rightmove, I'm not surprised most here would have different tastes than me and I'm perfectly fine with that. I guess I'm just not into the floral wallpaper, red carpet, ugly curtains, brown kitchen, brown carpet style. People here find it charming I find it ugly, it's simply a matter of preference. Also, have you ever watched grand designs, where people design what they want from the floor up? I'm sure you have. Tell me the last time you saw an English cottage on that show? Oh that's right, you haven't, because when people can truly choose what they want modern will always trump 'house my nan would like'.

That green wedge will not be built on - it will be legally protected within the planning permission and put to POS (public open space) which is likely to be linked into your housing development on some way. Depending on the LPA's policy the area will either be adopted by the council and be maintained by them, or the Parish Council or, more likely, it will be adopted and maintained by a management company in which each of the new properties will have a share and have to pay an annual charge to.

I happen to like both of the linked properties - like does not have to mutually exclusive!

Quite. The mind boggles.

If you are buying near fields on the edge of a settlement there's always a good possibility they will be built on. Particularly if you are buying a new build yourself

@UnfriendMe it's not "such a problem" to say that certain houses aren't to your taste. But when you say somewhere would "require gutting" to make it "any kind of decent" you seem to be implying the place is indecent/unacceptable as a house in its current state (as opposed to just not decorated as you'd prefer). It seems almost insulting to people who would have chosen it.

By the way, I would typically prefer a more modern style to that myself. I certainly don't like chintzy curtains, even in an older building. So you don't need to argue back at me or justify your opinion. Perhaps it's just your writing style, but you constantly come across as if you're trying to start an argument with turns of phrase like "Oh that's right, you haven't" and "house my nan would like". It's particularly weird in a response to my post in which I criticised newbuild houses in a pastiche of a traditional style (which to my mind would include anything "cottage style") and stated I rather liked the style of the property you're looking at.