Should we buy near a potential new build development?

[Bluebrunett250]

I have found a cottage that I love in a rural village, below budget and has what I need. The one downside, there is a potential housing development of 7,000 homes proposed in the area. It has not gone to planning yet, as it is pending approval from the housing secretary. In fairness, it is not directly near the cottage; a field over a hill would separate it. But they want to develop the roads in the surrounding area of the village. Whilst I think its great that the development proposed new schools and a GP, I know these get built last. I already live somewhere more suburban where a huge new build estate was built a mile away. They built the roads first and then the houses in stages so I already know what I might be in for. I didn't really hear much noise from this estate but was affected by the road works (but who isn't in the UK at the moment!) Other than this looming development, I love the house and the area. I don't want to live there forever but it fits everything I want for now. I know there will be other house, but there will never be this house again. I would love some advice, especially if anyone is going through this now or has been in the past. Is it worth it for the years of possible hassle, will I be able to sell after a few years? Thanks.

If you love the area - be aware the area sounds like it will change. If you only plan to stay a few years i'd buy somewhere else it sounds like the building works might cause a loss in price of cottage, and if they slow down you could be trying to sell near a building site.
My friend beautiful rural house is having a small excecutive housing development across the road..the noise is insane. It has been supposedly being built for the past 3 year - the mud on the roads - the lorries etc is awful.
I'd look elsewhere, especially if you plan to sell soon - or make sure you offer carefully to factor this in.

Thank you for the insight! They are planning to build around 300m away from us, so we are trying to decide just how noisy this will be. It's currently up for £290k, so we would definitely factor this all in for a lower offer.

The noise will be really bad. My friend struggles to take a phone call. You have to wonder why are the owners selling?

I wouldn't. 7000 is an entire new town around your village. It will completely transform the place for the worse for at least 10-15 years if not permanently. The character and community will shift.
As for living near a new build site with 300m between you, you will have near constant building dust for years. This can really impact health if you're not on top of it.

We've moved from a town with a 5000 unit newbuild development and it's constant traffic issues, delays on infrastructure, noise and problems. They have a "pub" site but no one to take it on and fund the build, the relief road took 2 extra years to complete and open. They have a separate community to the rest of the town as their just far enough away to not fully integrate. There's a huge social housing development within that has meant it's attracted the few undesirables that have caused crime to rise in the area (yes, not all social housing is bad, owner-occupiers can be just as bad as neighbours, but this is a scale average thing). And their 7 years in with at least another 3 to go.

We also lived on a <200 house development and that was bad too as we were in the early phases. Before that we've lived in villages where the new builds mean that the village merges with the town and village life ceases.

You also have to factor in "where's next?" Take a look at the neighbourhood plan, are these 7000 homes allocated in that, what other land is marked for development? You could be the old house in a new town.

The houses need to go somewhere, but do you want to live in the same place?

There's a reason they're selling up.

The biggest issue you’ll have is parking! New build estates don’t have enough so they spread out into surrounding areas. I sold my old cottage just before a big development. I used to park right outside no problem but now the road is constantly filled