If you live in a leafy village, has new affordable housing negatively changed your area

[Yesimanimby]

Almost 1,000 new homes are being built in fields surrounding our semi-rural, leafy village. The new homes will become part of the village, doubling the size it is now.

Atm we have hardly any affordable or social housing here, nor flats. The new development will be 30% affordable housing with blocks of flats in a prominent position at the village entrance.

I appreciate there's a housing shortage and new homes, especially affordable and social housing, are needed.

Up until now it's been quiet (sleepy) here and with a very low crime rate. Public transport links are terrible and will remain poor.

We won't be directly backing onto the new homes but everything is within easy walking distance.

DH and I are debating whether to move as it's very likely to change the nature of the place we've enjoyed for many years.

If you've had a big development like this on your doorstep - either newly-built or older, what has been the impact?
Pros and cons, although I'm probably more interested in the downsides as that will tip the balance on whether to sell up.

I don't want to speak too definitively, because I don't really know the situation in detail. But I was under the impression that the busing of people out into rural Durham was not about leafy aspirational villages that are essentially exurbs for wealthy people to park their families ("DH is about to be transferred to Manchester - does anyone know a darling little village near Manchester we could live in?"), but ex pit villages that are seriously run down. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's an appalling thing to do, but I think it's rather different subject to the kind of village that is the topic of this thread.

Durham has a whole lot of very rundown villages that no posh family is going to want to live in - very broken down and deprived and with awful housing stock. Back in the 60s, the local government tried to close some of them down, but the UK has never been very comfortable with this kind of thing, and generally prefers to keep deteriorating places going on life support for decades, so the villages are still there.

Yes. I was extremely sceptical initially. Reality was different though. It brought improved social opportunities for village kids and much better transport links. Also a farm shop with coffee shop and an equipped play park. I bloody love this I’ve got to say. Produce is divine. New folk have been lovely tbh. I’m a reluctant convert. You’ve just got to look on the bright side. Oh and local woods feel safer when dog walking now as lots of families out and about. Again all been perfectly pleasant. Pays to be friendly and welcoming in the long run in this respect I think. It’s all part of progress after all isn’t it. You can’t stop it forever.

No, the social housing/affordable housing/housing association whatever you want to call it, is only for people living in London. No one here is entitled to it, it was part of the agreement to build the housing in the first place. To say the locals are up in arms about it is an understatement.

I think this is really key. The problem is the size of the developments. Locals say no and no and no with all the "this is the wrong area" stuff, so they're appealed and permission is granted. Then the developments are huge, they don't bother with the infrastructure things they said they'd do, and just pay the fine instead. The fines and penalties need to be more punitive, and the developments need to be more sympathetic. Huge developments invariably cause problems.

Our council accepted a deal with a London Borough in that if the LB contributed to the building of the social housing they could move a large number of families into the development once finished.

I was literally about to type this comment but you've worded it better than I could. People on this site accuse anyone who opposes mass immigration of being "racist" only to Moan incessantly at the prospect of their fellow country men and women moving into their cute leafy village especially if their bank account figure isn't high enough 🤔 they love calling people racist but watch them moan when you call them snobs

Being poorer doesn't make you a worse person to live near

Spot on, @CrowleyKitten, though it's also true that being the sort of person folk don't want to live near can also be a factor in becoming poor

Again, absolutely nobody with sense suggests that social housing automatically means the residents will be undesirable, only that statistically it's more likely

@GreenTeaLikesMe well you could be correct, I'm lucky enough to live in a leafy (but cheap) village after moving here from London, and I suppose I was expecting all villages here to be like that. I've been here a few years now and it's taken some getting used to even though it was my choice, so it must difficult if it wasn't what they wanted, that's what I meant. But run down - well, I used to live in a very well healed place in the South and it was awful, lots of drug dealers and beggars (not homeless), constantly having to move because of letting agencies realising they could get more rent from others, the constant smell of weed even in remote beauty spots - it's run down where I am now, but it's happy and peaceful.

I am not “poor” (not that there is anything wrong with those who are low income) I am fortunate enough to earn a decent salary but I live in an expensive part of the country. For various reasons, I want to be near my support network so I choose to stay here. I’m in “affordable housing”, a shared ownership one bedroom flat that cost £350k. The minimum salary for a 1 bed flat was £40k! Some people are very judgemental.

@WestwardHo1 It’s all very well blaming developers but they do not work in isolation. They make a contribution but don’t plan school places. They don’t build the schools. It’s not their job. They might pay for roads but there needs to be infrastructure provided by the state as well. The ideal solution is working together but as so many areas don’t want housing we just get the blame game. The truth is that a lot more building will be done and a lot more towns and villages will expand.

They are building tower blocks at a rate of knots near us. There was one built in the 60s/70s, now there are at least ten amd counting.

There are no more GP surgeries or dentists here either, but instead of one housing estate there are thousands of new homes in high rise flats every year.

The new residents seem to be fairly easily integrated, albeit younger and more ethnically diverse. We live in a very safe area, but that hasn't been compromised by all the new builds.

Much of this housing is just compensating for the fact that people are going on to live much, much longer in their larger family homes, odten alone. This means there is no housing stock available to allow younger people to live there.

I agree. You often hear people objecting to anything other than detached houses or semis on the grounds that “we need family homes” but the reality is that parents with kids under 18 are a minority of households. we need lots of flats for singles, young couples and empty nesters too, otherwise we will end up with more detached houses and semis being subdivided into HMOs. Or young people stuck with parents in suburban areas for decades, which is crap for them, and creates situations where you end up with 3 to 5 cars per household, causing really awful parking and traffic issues in these neighborhoods.

Leafy villages and tower blocks? Not spurning at all I think. In cities it’s different because of lack of land. Totally different scenario,

It wouldn't be so bad if they were genuinely affordable for local youngsters but most of the time they're not. My 24yo isnt going to be buying something at £300k on local wages. We are in a rural village. My current view is over fields and I'd be gutted if they built new houses on them.

The infrastructure never seems to match the new demand either. No extra schools, GPs or bus services so strain is put on the original services making it harder for the original population to access things.

If housing is built on that scale it should first be offered to locals, perhaps at a more realistic price point for the area and demographic. For every 200 houses a new GP surgery should be built and for every 500 a new primary school. Plus corner shops etc.

As empty nesters in a family-sized home, there's absolutely no way the next home we choose will be a flat.

Unless we can find somewhere else with a decent sized garden and plenty of downstairs space, we'll probably stay put and face the disruption of all the new building around us

We have friends who are empty nesters. They sold a huge house with two acres & a fantastic garden. They moved to a beautiful 3 bedroom penthouse flat with a good sized balcony & they absolutely love it. They both enjoyed gardening & initially missed having a garden to tend to. Their answer was to place lots of plant pots in the balcony & a mini greenhouse which now looks amazing. Flats can be a wonderful choice for the later stages of life. I don't see why they get such a bad press.

At the moment, it's just an idea. We don't have a lot of family, none lives closer than 200 miles away, and so we don't see them all that often although we talk and FaceTime regularly. Our DC is starting independent life and is also 200 miles away in another direction. The result is that it doesn't feel that risky, more like an adventure for a couple of years.

I’m an empty nester with 14 acres, a big garden and quite a few bedrooms. Definitely no flat until old age makes it viral. Even then a bungalow would be better.

My thoughts exactly until I visited my friends flat. All new & pristine with a lovely balcony & a wonderful view with the sea in the distance. The tree lined grounds are immaculate & well kept with all sorts of flowering plants. I made up my mind when saw it I would certainly give it consideration. Thankfully DH agrees now.

@Jeneregretterien9 Yes. I can see the attraction. However little like that where we live. I’m not necessarily ruling out a flat when we need one but we’ve always quite liked our own space. I do know of flats in parkland that are converted mansions but not that close! We do like our big of the uk despite the horror of HS2 slicing through it.

I'm surprised that high rises are still being built. Does anyone actually want to live in them?

Plenty of high-rise apartment buildings are being built in places like Manchester and London, so yes, people do want to live in them. I'm a bit surprised they are being built in a village (unless there is a bit of hyperbole going on and the "high-rises" are actually four-storey apartment buildings or something).

The stark and simple truth is that there are too many human beings on the planet. We are destroying the very Nature that all life (including humans) depends upon. Concreting the land is just one obvious symptom. Politicians say we need more people, not true, only Capitalism and consumerism need never ending growth.

The UK population is forecast to start dropping from the late 2030s onwards, and the world's population in the second half of the 21st century. Neither will grow indefinitely.

@Beeinalily Take a look at London! It’s shortage of land.