www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-32956563
"We're talking about 2% being taken from greenbelt." in the Woking area so thats OK then?
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You only have to fly into Heathrow to realise how much green area there is in and around London. The South East has a long way to go before it is completly conceted over. Do I sense nimbyism?
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There are plenty of brownfield sites all over the country, which with proper encouragement and incentives, should be used first,
In our town, for instance, there is a Tesco owned (abandoned now) brownfield site which would be ideal, particularly for low cost housing, private or social.
Will it go that way?
Probably not under present circumstances.
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There are plans and works-in progress for a massive amount of development in the Wokingham area, which will virtually double the town's size (since I moved in 20+ years ago) and we are losing much of the green space which separates us from Bracknell!! (Whether that was designate green belt is by the by)
The way it was presented at a council meeting was that if the council turn down an application for a suitable site with no really good reason, the developers can apply to central govt who will almost definitely over-rule - due to the area being designated one for growth.
While it's a shame that we're losing some of our open spaces, it should result in a rejuvenation of other parts of the town, and an improvement in the infrastructure (especially roads) so on balance it's a Good Thing in my book.
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>> There are plans and works-in progress for a massive amount of development in the Wokingham
>> area,
Including Woodley (under Wokingham Borough Council). They're building 300+ houses on an old Reading Uni site here:
goo.gl/maps/mSOJa
And there's a couple of other 100-odd home developments. Not sure how the town will cope - on the map, if you follow the B3350 on the left southwards, it crosses the A329 at the Three Tuns crossroads. The queue back from there in the mornings already stretches back to level with the new development. They're not going to be able to escape :)
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Took my missus an hour yesterday to do the approx 6.5 miles from London Road Wokingham to Winnersh Triangle. Roadworks had overrun at Coppid Beech roundabout which is about 3/4 mile from home. Luckily her boss lives near us and also suffers so realises it's not her swinging the lead.
btw a plan has been approved for a few hundred houses alongside the A329M which wasn't even in the original development plans at all. The clinching trade-off was that the developers promised to fast track building part of the relief road. It's feels like a fait accompli by the time the public get to hear about it.
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"It's feels like a fait accompli by the time the public get to hear about it."
There's no point in acting surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display at your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now…
HHTTG
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I'm not really surprised, nor do I mind that much. However as I said there is one bit near us where they are slotting in (I think) 300 homes onto a piece of land which wasn't marked for development in order to get a road fast tracked.
I did go to one meeting last year to find out more about this "rumour". The meeting was hosted jointly by the council and the developers consortium. The first half hour or so was taken up with obviously regular troublemakers, including one bloke who went on and on about whether the council had any H&S people, and this was obviously a erpetitive obsession of his.
But the council didn't even have the full info about the proposal, even though it appeared to have been approved, or was close to being. I think it saved them the cost of building a road so that's how it got through.
As I said above, the consortium said if the council had refused they have the right to go to central govt who will usually approve anyway. In this particular case I don't think there was a long term plan, or much opportunity to discuss. I might be wrong (but I think not).
Just found this article which describes it. www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/proposal-300-more-new-homes-8020592
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>> As I said above, the consortium said if the council had refused they have the
>> right to go to central govt who will usually approve anyway.
Yes thats the way it works. Near where I used to live a developer applied for planning permission, it was refused as it was a flood risk area. Developer appeals to gov, gov overturns refusal, developer builds.
Estate has been flooded to depths of 18 inches three times since then, owners can't get insurance and hence prices dropped through floor, owners tired to sue anyone who would listen all to no avail.
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>> As I said above, the consortium said if the council had refused they have the
>> right to go to central govt who will usually approve anyway.
I don't think you can appeal straight to the central gov, plans can be 'called in' but it's upto them. Of course there are probably people lobbing, but it's a fairly low % that are called in. A simple council refusal isn't enough on it's own to have it reviewed by cent gov.
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>> A simple council refusal isn't enough on it's
>> own to have it reviewed by cent gov.
I think the reference to 'review by cent gov' refers to the developer taking the case to the planning inspectorate. While going to the PI not a tribunal appeal in the strict sense that would be a reasonable analogy.
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They didn't really describe the detailed mechanics but they deffo said that because the area is designated for growth the council can be easily over-ruled. I suppose that makes the council more likely to approve stuff to save the faffing around.
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>> They didn't really describe the detailed mechanics but they deffo said that because the area
>> is designated for growth the council can be easily over-ruled. I suppose that makes the
>> council more likely to approve stuff to save the faffing around.
Furthermore the Council can end up paying the costs of appeals or court proceedings if it loses.
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>> They didn't really describe the detailed mechanics but they deffo said that because the area
>> is designated for growth the council can be easily over-ruled. I suppose that makes the
>> council more likely to approve stuff to save the faffing around.
>>
It can be called in if it does indeed go against the gov's plan for housing. Not many are though, about 5 so far this year I think.
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>> I think the reference to 'review by cent gov' refers to the developer taking the
>> case to the planning inspectorate. While going to the PI not a tribunal appeal in
>> the strict sense that would be a reasonable analogy.
>>
I just took it to mean what was typed.
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>> Including Woodley (under Wokingham Borough Council). They're building 300+ houses on >> an old Reading Uni
All paying council tax to wealthy Wokingham and using services in poorer Reading.
Gerrymandered LA borders around here are an utter annoyance. Compared with the scant bus services to Wokingham, you can tell by the amount and frequency of the (Reading provided) bus routes from Woodley that most people's lives in Woodley are oriented towards Reading rather than Wokingham. It's ruddy scandalous.
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Greenbelt being built on? - bring it on. I mean, who needs grass, fields, woodland, hedgerows etc when it can all become faceless concrete and identikit houses occupied by smiling nuclear families beaming at us from shining billboards and developers brochures with streets being named after the trees they grubbed up in order to build on or houses named after some rare orchid or semi extinct frog no-one's ever heard of or will again. They'll be selling us their shiny dream of living in an area that's close to businesses and shops, schools and sports centres. A place where you can walk and laugh and play and feel the sun on your face and hear the birds in the trees...oh, wait. There are no trees and if you want to see another blackbird again you now have to drive 30 miles along a busy dual carriagway and a motorway or two.
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Isn't that the way life is going for many people?
Larger businesses are more likely to be located in or near towns for better transport & facilities, more availability of commercial property, access for employees via public transport.
For employees / individuals the choices come down to, living in/near a town for wider choice of employment, availability of public transport etc less time travelling to work (?), or live in nice area, small town or village, work in local company with possibly less promotion development opportunities or accept long commute/travel times so that you/your family can live somewhere with a bit of fresh air/grass etc.
Only other alternative, which is increasingly available for some is the home based working approach.
What other kind of future is there in this context?
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I don't see why you're getting all upset about it, people need somewhere to live and I can't imagine you're willing to house them in your garden shed.
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When new houses are build why should it be all faceless concrete?
Build water amenities plant plenty of shrubs and trees.It is up the councils /government to make sure that it isn't to become a concrete jungle.Don't leave it to the builders.
I have never liked flats.My sister lives in one but looking out of her window is a nice lake with plenty of wild live.Lot's of properties are designed by people and build who wouldn't live in one.
You've got to build houses somewhere and the green belt is part of that.
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>>Build water amenities plant plenty of shrubs and trees.It is up the councils /government to make sure that it isn't to become a concrete jungle.Don't leave it to the builders.
I couldn't agree more.
>>Lot's of properties are designed by people and build who wouldn't live in one.
Like the sprawling council estates, one of which I used to live on in a previous life.
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Population grows. Ergo more housing needed (and roads, schools, hospitals, etc.).
There are only so many brown-field sites and developers always favour green-field as the end product will invariably be more profitable.
That's why we have to control immigration.
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Think a lot of people all over the UK will be finding out that such plans have been in preparation or even gone ahead for some time now.
Certainly the case in the seaside resort where I live and the plans have been revealed within the last six months; other house building programmes are already under way.
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>> Think a lot of people all over the UK will be finding out that such
>> plans have been in preparation or even gone ahead for some time now.
Certainly true round here. Something like 150 new houses up or going up in last couple of years and probably more to come. Most are on a patch of land that had been allowed to fester for 20+ years. Two smaller builds were on land that was previously cropped or grazed.
Expansion of both Northampton and Daventry will take new development within a couple of field widths of previously rural villages (eg Harpole and Kislingbury). A lot of land along the Weedon road between town and M1/J16 is owned by the West Northants Development Corp and is earmarked for either housing or yet more warehousing.
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Just one of the developments in my town is for virtually 700 new properties and is to take up to nearly two years, during which time a major road has had to be closed and an awkward diversion arranged for private and public transport.
In total, about 3,200 new homes are planned in the town, with more than 11,000 in total in the Sefton MBC area. No problems with that, but some of the intended local new builds have had to be reduced in number due to objections by residents and, in one case, by the Ministry of Defence..:-) Others in turn had the numbers increased substantially.
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>> In total, about 3,200 new homes are planned in the town, with more than 11,000
>> in total in the Sefton MBC area.
Any new schools, medical facilities, hospitals, sheltered housing, council inreased service capacity, road and public transport capacity increases planned?
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 2 Jun 15 at 21:46
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>> >> In total, about 3,200 new homes are planned in the town, with more than
>> 11,000
>> >> in total in the Sefton MBC area.
>>
>> Any new schools, medical facilities, hospitals, sheltered housing, council inreased service capacity, road and public
>> transport capacity increases planned?
Nope. Not even a ruddy newsagent or local shop.
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>> Nope. Not even a ruddy newsagent or local shop.
>>
A bit different up here, we have three new schools built and one more planned, a library, sports centre, a big Tesco (of course) an ALDI and a few smaller shops, a church with community use facilities, and sports fields, all new build. The medical facilities are badly lagging the house build rate though.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 2 Jun 15 at 22:27
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>> Nope. Not even a ruddy newsagent or local shop.
>>
I don't know how it works down there but here the council gets the builders to provide road improvements, green areas, kids play equipment, etc.and contribute to the cost of schools and any other infrastructure required.
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>>
>> I don't know how it works down there but here the council gets the builders
>> to provide road improvements, green areas, kids play equipment, etc.and contribute to the cost of
>> schools and any other infrastructure required.
>>
It's the same here. Of course what actually happens is the builders say "oh, sorry, miscalculated, we can't do that now, and we're off to strangle some newts with fivers" and then they all argue and you actually get half or none of the facilities, but four times more luxury six bedroom executive houses on three square feet each.
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I hate to stick up for builders but I understood house sizes, and more particularly plot footprint, was determined by "higher body" - it isn't just the builders maximising their profit.
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>>Any new schools, medical facilities, hospitals, sheltered housing, council inreased service capacity, road and public transport capacity increases planned?>>
Not at present (we are talking about Sefton MBC) and, in fact, one or two schools have been closed or about to be...:-(
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One of the largest local builders in Barnstaple and reasonably well respected is throwing up absolute crap. An ex colleague and a very fine tradesman left self emp to take a foremans job with them to gain a regular wage. He says that their work is totally sub standard. Brand new slums I say. Very little in the way of gardens and rooms too small. Curb immigration from me too.
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Building on greenbelt land has soared over five years
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32998019
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Greenbelt to be used for housing - Old Navy
