Developers- New Housing

[ambodach]

What appears to be a clear boundary like a ditch may be misleading. It is not uncommon for people to steal a bit extra when putting up a fence or digging a ditch. The only answer is to get a surveyor, your title deeds and a tape measure to settle the matter. I have had personal experience of this type of problem tho’ I was only an employee of one of the parties involved.
I used to live in a peaceful area with open fields behind my garden. Now after several years of living on the edge of a building site I am surrounded by houses and my easy access to the top end of my garden has vanished into somebody’s garden.

[al_yrpal]

Living right in the centre of a town with a large walled garden we dont have these problems. The walls ensure privacy, we arent overlooked and our vehicles are parked within the walls. Within 100 yards we have the Church, Community Centre, Library, Charcoal Grill, Chinese takeaway, Pizza place, Ironmongers, Barbers, Convenience Store, Post Office and a pub.
But, in this town pop 8500, they are building more than 5000 houses. Like most places the town centre has been dying, what it will become I have no idea, but because we are surrounded by listed buildings of which our house is one - they cant change things in our immediate neighbourhood

Al

[661-Pete]

Ah! Pete lives in 'the promised land'

News for you Pete, its going on everywhere....! Where did all these extra folk come from...

1. We are not dying so quickly.

2. There is substantial immigration and immigrants are generally young and have more children.

The population is increasing. 70 million plus by 2030... They need places to live and Burgess Hill has its attractions! The benefits for you more exotic takeaways...

For once I agree with you. What is annoying is the differential in the rates of development between ours, and neighbouring towns.

It wouldn't be so bad if only people could be persuaded to use their cars less - but the public transport within the town is minimal (one bus an hour each direction for us) and most people would be put off cycling.

One of my fears about these developments - a niche interest, admittedly - is that it might harm a known breeding site for a fairly rare butterfly - the Brown Hairstreak. We know the breeding sites and have counted their eggs on the blackthorn bushes - the only plant they will lay eggs on. If the blackthorn goes, so will the butterflies...

[661-Pete]

Incidentally we already have several fairly exotic takeaways. This is Middle-Class England, after all! We even have one or two chippies! But even we have a right to feel aggrieved, don't we? What I'd really like is a good Asian grocer to set up business in the town. We don't have one that I know of. At present we make the occasional trip to the Taj in Brighton - an excellent shop - but that means a train journey.

[al_yrpal]

Developers cant give a fig for anyone, they need meeting head on IMO. Where I used to live we had a very active well informed and steadfast Parish Council. They defeated Developers again and again trying to foist totally unsuitable developments on our community. And, they twisted the developers tails to extract large amounts of cash, in one case a large village sports field and pavilion. Yes, it was just a Parish Council lead by my next door neighbour a retired teacher who was a stickler for rules laws and procedures.

In this town there is no such person and it shows. We are facing three big developments, one of 5000 houses right next to the M5, its crazy and there is little effective opposition. Dont know where the occupiers will come from or where they will work. The only possible place is Exeter, 11 miles away by car down the M5. Just whats (not) needed to meet the climate change target!

Visited my friends brand new house yesterday. One big ground floor room for sitting dining and cooking, A right echo chamber! A little cloakroom and utility. 3 beds, one with an ensuite, a bathroom. A double garage on a large estate. A tiny garden overlooked by 4 other houses...£550 grand! Very modern and convenient but no character reminding one of Pete Seager's ' Little Boxes!'. I actually felt sorry for them. The price was high because its a mile from Topsham which is seen as an upmarket location. Here it would have been about £400 grand.

Back in Oxfordshire a firm called Gladman Land was seeking planning consent here there and everywhere on agricultural land and when they got it, along with landowner, sold the land on to a developer taking a hefty cut in fees. Its a business! Screw the community, screw the existing residents and screw the purchasers by selling horrid little boxes packed in as tight as they are allowed to. The whole system is corrupt and not in the public interest.

To defeat these people one has to be very organised, they are experts with loads of experience.

Al

[francovendee]

The need for housing is causing lots of people to be resentful when a developer puts in a whole load of houses near their property.
I can't see any other way unless we build upwards and that's been tried and largely failed.
My home, before moving to France, was in the market town of Romsey. We loved it there but the amount of development that has been allowed has completely changed the surrounding area.
It comes down to the UK being a small island with too big a population.

[Halla]

I am not really sure what has happened to our country, it is now consumed with greed and selfishness, perhaps I am getting too old and grumpy!!

It seems that many of us across the country have experience of the poor development of LEGO houses, cannot call them homes!!

We have urbanisation almost from Eastbourne to Southampton along the south coast and as far back as The South Downs National Park, they now seem to want to put houses east to west to the north of The National Park, probably Eastbourne to Winchester. We should not forget the ever extending London going south, joining Surrey towns with Sussex towns, plus concreting The Garden of England (Kent). The whole of the South East will soon be houses and concrete. Now what is that green stuff? Oh Grass!!!

I could say a lot more about the corruption, bullying and manipulation that has taken place with the development behind me, but I value my kneecaps. To quote a friend of one of local the characters involved, "Unfortunately XXXXX is the local wide boy"

Anyway back to the plot, I am in conversation with various people and will contact my solicitor tomorrow and a surveyor should the problem get tricky. I am hoping that the developer's surveyor will talk to me to come to an amicable agreement.

It is likely that I will have to send the tree fellers packing in the morning as they want to take my hedge down first.

All I want to do is live in peace, ride my bike and go for nice walks.

Thanks for all the replies, it helps to ease the stress !!

[Oldjohnw]

One thing that happened was that David Cameron made planning permission easier to get on greenfield/greenbelt sites. I believe he had built in an assumption that planning permission should be allowed. I also understand that developers can remove the agreed affordable housing requirements once permission has been given.

It is stacked against "the people".

[carpetcleaner]

The need for housing is causing lots of people to be resentful when a developer puts in a whole load of houses near their property.
I can't see any other way unless we build upwards and that's been tried and largely failed.
My home, before moving to France, was in the market town of Romsey. We loved it there but the amount of development that has been allowed has completely changed the surrounding area.
It comes down to the UK being a small island with too big a population.

I disagree with that last sentence. I think it is more to do with planning properly so that the island has enough homes which people want to live in without ruining the environment.

The existing policy seems to be to expand larger villages and smaller towns as people want to live in such places. That approach avoids building in completely rural areas and in vacant inner city areas which are an unpopular choice of residential area for many people, especially for middle class families with parents who earn a reasonable wage.

All this has been going on for years. I remember a recent local news item on TV about a ten year old girl who had started a campaign to oppose a new housing development in fields near her home, including the field where she keeps her horse. I also remember when the housing development she lives in was built about 40 years ago, and people in the town protested about that at the time.

[peetee]

If Southampton is anything to go by available land in cities is being given over to university housing. These dwellings are effectively second homes and push the needs of the rest of the community outwards to the periphery of the city and beyond. Southampton is looking like a suburb of Southampton University.

[francovendee]

I'm assuming you're talking about new towns? Maybe along the lines of Basingstoke, Milton Keynes?
There is more available space to do this in the north but employment and housing go together.
Maybe my view is a Southerner's but definitely too many people in the South of the UK.

[Mick F]

My main gripe round here, is that they're building more and more housing schemes but not building any more infrastructure.
No "more" health centres, no "more" shops, no "more" schools, no "more" jobs.

............. and what about all the extra traffic?
Our daughter lives in a new scheme, and each home has a parking space, and some have a parking space plus garage.
Go down the road out of working hours, and it's like living in a carpark. Most families have two or three cars these days.

[squeaker]

My main gripe round here, is that they're building more and more housing schemes but not building any more infrastructure.
No "more" health centres, no "more" shops, no "more" schools, no "more" jobs.

............. and what about all the extra traffic?
Our daughter lives in a new scheme, and each home has a parking space, and some have a parking space plus garage.
Go down the road out of working hours, and it's like living in a carpark. Most families have two or three cars these days.

If you do get health centres built, there's the small problem of finding qualified staff

IME the housing numbers are driven by dodgy stats, and the belief that building more housing than the stats indicate is needed will lower prices (NPPF - a developer's charter.)

As pointed out above, Cameron's government has more to answer for than just Brexit

[Hobbs1951]

A developer sits on our local planning committee in Lincolnshire and my village in Sussex all the old, nice larger houses are being sold and demolished allowing numerous properties to be built in what was their gardens.

A lovely, architecturally valuable Arts and Crafts style house demolished to make way for an office style care home.

John.

[pete75]

A developer sits on our local planning committee in Lincolnshire and my village in Sussex all the old, nice larger houses are being sold and demolished allowing numerous properties to be built in what was their gardens.

A lovely, architecturally valuable Arts and Crafts style house demolished to make way for an office style care home.

John.

Why on earth wasn't it listed?