The New Builds are Coming

[RedRobin87]

Has anyone watched this? It's on BBC iPlayer at the moment.

I just watched it and am pretty shocked. They very much come across as they are all fairly well off, have their posh homes in a posh village and very NIMBY (not in my backyard).

I get that the development has pretty massive but it seems even if it was a smaller development, they would react in the same way.

We purchased a new build in a village that objected to the development (small village, older population who have retired here, etc) and I remember looking at the objection letters and they were pretty vicious!

I will be very interested to see how much the couple get for their home when they sell it to the developers . Like they said 'it will be an offer you can't refuse'.

It's a weird situation that they never got told about the development but they will clearly get a massive pay out to leave so it's not all doom and gloom for them.

You could literally see the pound signs appear in that couples eyes and hear the kerching sound in a split second from being told they would be made an offer they could not refuse! somehow now I don’t think they will be waving their placards on the village green like they were before! I had no sympathy whatsoever for most in that village, none of their views or any part of the village were being destroyed, the development was on the outside of the village so no traffic would even go through it, however I did feel very sorry for the livery lady who rented the land and house from the landowner, her livelihood was being ripped away and sounds like you was being bullied by the landowner, the rest of them were just a bunch of nimbys and came across very badly I thought.

I thought that - the married couple looked at each other and you could see the pound signs - the penny literally dropped !
Sad for the livery lady yes.

We need more homes for sure, but I wonder why they don't use more brownfield sites, not green belt. Once that's gone, there's no going back. We've already lost green spaces in many towns, playing fields and even corner lots are being built on.
Lately, when I look around me at the denuded high streets, I wonder why they don't change the use from commercial to domestic and use the empty shops...
I will be interested to see the rest of the series.. perhaps not everyone will be nimbys.

I think the reason is brownfield sites are more expensive to develop, demolition costs, land contamination etc and don’t provide the volume needed compared to an untarnished green field, it’s the developers easy option and the most profitable, but I agree it’s a frustrating to see brownfield sites which could be developed for much needed housing.

Agree re brownfield site but developers don't want the extra expense. The other thing they are allowed to get away with is land banking, buying a site, getting planning permission then sitting on it until the prices go up and selling it on for a huge profit. I think there has been some rumbling about changing the law to stop this but doubt anything will happen.

In my experience the problem is most of the new homes built are not starter homes, flats or bungalows, all of which are needed but 4&5 bed homes often with small gardens but which sell for big money. Some of these were built near us and sold for silly money on the strength of the lovely views, guess what another developer has just applied for permission to build right behind them. They are bound to get it as everything is approved around here even when the local council reject it.

Agree re the programme, am sure the couple will land doing very nicely out of it. Everyone has their price.