New Housing Estates -

I agree with you completely. We all need a certain amount of space. Some estates don’t even have separate gardens any more. You can choose friends but not neighbours.

There’s a finite supply of land on which to build and we need a lot more homes, not just to buy but also to rent. There are minimum room sizes that developers have to meet and when I was a lawyer practising in this field the housing associations usually produced their own requirements for the developer to work to which often included larger rooms than some of the private houses. Planners also limit the number of houses they will allow to the acre but estates have become increasingly more dense as land supply diminishes and demand for homes grows. If there are problems with the construction work there will be a ten year NHBC or similar insurance for the homeowner to fall back on if the developer fails. At the end of the day it’s up to individual buyers and renters whether they want to live in this sort of environment or perhaps live in an older, but probably less energy efficient and more maintenance heavy, home with a larger plot somewhere else.

The problem is this small island is vastly overpopulated so sadly I can only see houses getting smaller. What is the alternative? Building on every green space available means that children have nowhere to play or people to walk and exercise.

IMO there should be a minimum size as there was in the past with strict controls on building regulations. Look at all the empty office buildings and old Victorian buildings that could be repurposed to provide better sized homes. Theses buildings can be made far more energy efficient by internal energy saving features such as woollen insulation.

The problem is property developers who are only interested in maximum profits and will do anything to achieve this. Grenville Tower is a case in point. Government changes planning and building regs, private companies inspect their own buildings, safety regs are ignored and people die.

I agree with OP.

We have a fairly new estate still in development a few miles away from me.
The prices go up to just short of £1 million.
They have tiny gardens back and front and whilst the houses are impressive they are extremely close together.
If any one doubts me or is interested the development is by Redrow and is called Woodford Garden Village and will be enormous when finished.
Not what I would want if I were to be spending that sort of money.

I thought the minimum room sizes had been scrapped now we have left the EU?

Anybody remember Nina and Frederik’s song ‘Little Boxes’? youtu.be/ReV-z0PORso

Anyone remember the “Little Boxes” song, back in the early 60’s, sixty odd years ago now?

“Little boxes all the same, and they’re all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same”.

‘Twas ever thus.

geekesse

Anybody remember Nina and Frederik’s song ‘Little Boxes’? youtu.be/ReV-z0PORso

x posts geekesse

I’ve already said there minimum room sizes and limits on the number of houses per acre. Of course things have changed from years ago as there is so much demand and so little land unless we are to sacrifice even more valuable open spaces and farmland. A lot of old office buildings and other commercial buildings are being repurposed and turned into flats though that doesn’t supply the outdoor spaces, albeit small, that houses do. Also VAT on new builds can be reclaimed, but not on renovation work - something the govt could change to encourage more recycling of older buildings and less demolition.. Building regs have been updated and lessons were learned from Grenfell. The woollen insulation suggested by ayse would be highly flammable! As I said before people do have a choice of where and what to buy or rent but clearly a great many are perfectly happy to live on these estates. If they weren’t things might change.

I have just moved into a new development of 7 houses in a lovely village. The house is a semi and is well designed - the sound insulation between it and the next house is excellent - I do not hear anything when they are indoors. And the heat insulation is also excellent - I am sure I will save loads on heating.

The only 2 downsides are:
- the houses are not of a sort or price that could be afforded by those on limited budgets, although my immediate neighbours are a young couple buying for the first time.
- my house is the first and is very close to the field hedge beside me - they were clearly packing them in a bit!

But the houses themselves are well designed and comfortable.

I bought a terraced house by Redrow on a new state annsixty.

It wasn’t big but it was so well-designed that I had no trouble having eight people round for Christmas and seating them to dinner in the kitchen diner and afterwards In the lounge for games? But when I was alone it didn’t feel cavernous either.

The building work was very good and the few bits of snagging were seen to straight away.
The soundproofing was brilliant. I nay heard neighbours if they were putting up shelves!
My energy bills were under £50 a month.

I sound like an advert for Redrow but honestly I loved that house. Much more than the big one I now live in with OH.

I have recently moved in to the last house to be built on this Development if you please not estate. The houses sold like hotcakes and are doing all over the north west. They do have their issues I agree but its lovely to have 4 good sized bedrooms, bang up to date insulation and a reliable boiler, likewise electrical circuits, double glazing throughout and wonderful plumbing giving us two showers and three toilets all for far less than an older 'character' property. The garden isn't large and we would have liked a bit more but you cant have it all for under £300K.

TBH Gyneth theres only around 5/6% of land built on in this country.
The main problem is spaces for school pupils/the NHS is at breaking point as are GP`s surgeries, ie: waiting lists galore.
There are houses being built big time just lately.

timetogo2016

TBH Gyneth theres only around 5/6% of land built on in this country.
The main problem is spaces for school pupils/the NHS is at breaking point as are GP`s surgeries, ie: waiting lists galore.
There are houses being built big time just lately.

Unless we have reliable population figures how can the Gov. Know how many houses/schools/Surgeries ect., are needed?

Just to add, the move is towards less land needed for farming, so what will it be used for?

Yes little boxes is an appropriate view of what's happening.

We’ve always had this. Certainly where I lived. In the eighties, when we married, some of the ‘ boxes’ we looked at were quite unbelievable.
I’ve got three of my four children in new builds, and they’re lovely. Spacious with good gardens for a first time purchase. It probably depends where you are.

My daughter lived on a new estate for a while. It was a complete rabbit warren, lots of cul-de-sacs. It took me two or three visits to be able to find the house without getting lost.
The house was a good size 4 bed with on suite but the houses were close together with one parking space each any visitors ended up parking quiet a distance away.

Namsnanny,there are loads of farms/land on the market.
We travel pretty much all over the country and the amount of housing estates going up is incredable.
With luck more schools/surgerys and hospitals willbe built too.
And i don`t think anyone know just how many people are in this country, so it`s a big job for the government to sort out.

The Government should know from the regular censuses how many people are in the country, what numbers of children will soon need school places, and how many GP's surgeries, dentists, opticians, grocery shops, roads, parking places etc are needed.

As Elegran says, the latest census provides up to date population details and of course local authorities always have a good idea of local population figures from council tax, electoral registration and school data. Planners do take into account the need for more school places, GP facilities, recreation grounds and other ‘infrastructure’ when considering whether to grant planning permission for residential development. Developers are often required to provide land for and to build such facilities or make a payment into a local authority pot towards them as a condition of being granted planning permission.
.

The census only gives one view.
No one keeps accurate figures.
The best estimate is one million people are added to the population every 3 years (not through births).
Could be more.
Without figures, housing, the NHS etc. Are always going to be playing catch up.

timetogo2016

Namsnanny,there are loads of farms/land on the market.
We travel pretty much all over the country and the amount of housing estates going up is incredable.
With luck more schools/surgerys and hospitals willbe built too.
And i don`t think anyone know just how many people are in this country, so it`s a big job for the government to sort out.

How do you feel about this?

If we can produce the same amount of food from less land, will using spare land for housing impact badly on the environment?

It just seems to me if we dont have reliable figures to plan the country's future by, how can we make any headway with anything?

Personally I'm very disappointed that there are not more little 2 bed houses being built for an ageing population that wants to downsize, first-time buyers and not only for singles but for divorced, non-resident parents too. Not enough profit in them presumably

The problem is that the supply of land is finite and it is now very expensive in areas where most houses are needed.

In these areas the cost of the land can account for two thirds of the pric of the land, and even more. If builders are to build houses that people can afford (and there is no point building houses they cannot afford) then they have got to make houses as small as possible so that each house plot is as small as can be.

It is all very well saying new surgeries are needed, but in my area, Oxfordshire, a big growth area, surgeries are shutting down because there are no doctors around to staff them.

Saying that we need this that and the other is all very coforting, but you need to work out where the resources in terms of skilled employees are going to come from.

It is the same with schools. Parents rise in opposition when a county council wants to close schools with falling enrolments, but the teachers from these schools are needed to staff the new schools.

neither is it a case of just training more doctors, teachers etc. Medecine, especially at GP level is becoming more feminised, as a result more of the doctors we do have are working part time and flexible hours, so to replace 10 doctors you need to train 20.

Nothing is simple and certainly not providing housing.