This must affect someone here.

[Sanguine]

Oh gosh I just realised this is Barley Mow!!!! I know someone who's just moved to our yard from there. Apparently they've been protesting or offering helping catering to their business..
So many are going

 

[Sealine]

My current livery yard, the owners have planning permission on several fields. Apparently now is not the correct time for the build to ahead, I guess for financial reasons. So it gets to stay a yard for now. I will enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

Developers are struggling with a shortage of labour and materials which is making it slow and expensive to build. Once they get to roof height of the build they are sold quickly. There is still huge demand for property particularly larger properties.

 

[honetpot]

I live not far from Cambridge, because I do not go in to 'town' much and tend to shop local, the amount of estates that are being built in villages is noticeable, which I think is fair, people have to live somewhere, and they try and infill to the main road, or the railway, and have built on disused air fields.
We collected a sofa this week from Cambridge, from smart new flats, no garden. Out of curiosity I googled the for sale price £525,000, for a two bedroom under 90sm and if you want to rent its over £3k a month. One of our unsmart small towns, has a large Co op, which sells very trendy food, and, you can live a very nice life in a four bedroomed detached for under £500k, for the sake of thirty-minute train journey.
All the fields and farms I used to ride on as a child are now housing estates, a pub and a hotel, but then we lived in a house on an estate my family helped build in the 1940's/50's. Those homes are still in use.
Its ironic that the took done the back to back, houses that fronted the road, with a small yard, outside loo, but the ginnel or service lane,which was somewhere where every child could play safely. They have reinvented the terrace, but children are now having to play in the car park at the rear, if they will allow it.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123650159#/floorplan?activePlan=1&channel=RES_NEW

 

[sarcasm_queen]

Old yard used to be in a quiet village. It’s now surrounded by housing estates, with PP for 3,000 more houses down the road. Very sad.

 

[TheOldTrout]

The yard i am on is due to be sold for development, its such a shame. I bought a house 18mths ago at the top of the road and have my horses in one of the fields behind the house.
We bought the house for the views more than anything, having the horses there was a bonus.
We will be absolutely gutted if it sells as it means we will go from being at the end of a cul de sac with lovely views, to part of an estate :-(

Which yard is that, if you don't mind me asking? You're in the same area as me.

 

[sunnyone]

We learned years ago that the only view you can guarantee to keep is the one you've bought i.e. to the edge of your own property. Neighbours erect high fences, grow trees etc. Developers build homes and industry needs things like solar farms and sewage works. Enjoy what you have, whilst you have it.

 

[Crugeran Celt]

A farm local to us has just sold to a building company and laughably in their open evening to discuss proposals with locals they were asked what they would be bringing to the village and his answer was 'green spaces'. If it wasn't so tragic I would have laughed. They had a questionnaire and asked what the locals would like to see the existing farmhouse to contain, everyone I know who completed the form just put 'A FARM'. The land is currently used for grazing for beef cattle and growing vegetables. We keep hearing that this country cannot produce enough food for the population so local authorities answer to that is to build more housing on land that was previously producing food! Makes me wonder the intelligence of the people we have put in charge!!!!

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I would move a long time before then, as your house would be worth a lot less I would have thought?

We have been renting this house but are in the process of buying it at the moment, it has land which I keep my horses on and if ever the houses being built went ahead we would develop it it's what my oh does for a living.

Well his not a land developer as such but he is in property and we have done a few projects from scratch.

 

[ester]

Being a bit inbetween 2 places I always get the impression that people think it's just them who are struggling with the amount of development but it's everywhere.

They've screwed up with our 'new town be the size of milton keynes' (10k homes) by not factoring in inflation when they took contributions from the developers during phase 1 and 2 to provide community facilities so now there isn't enough money- so the council have bought one of the show homes to somehow use instead ?‍
They seem to have buggered up the water table well too. There's water where there wasn't any before and all the previous village ponds have dried up.
There is a school but that's it, no doctors, no shop at all etc. but lots of 3 story no garden houses - oh and some prefab little boxes they were selling for £££ but the company building them went bust so . .

Then we have waterbeach new town (6500 houses) being built partly on an old barracks site. The developer wanted to move the station from waterbeach where it is now (and recently had ££ spend to extend the platform, operators say they cant run both as very short distance between WB and cambridge north station already) and agreed to fund it (obv put ££ on their house priced)
Now they've decided that they can't afford £20 million of its 37 million cost (despite the main stakeholders having accounts that suggests they most definitely can afford it) so the council are going to pay the spare £20 million.

The plan is for their to be no cars in the centre of said new town, they will all be parked on the outskirts and people will walk to their homes. . . apparently . . .


Meanwhile in parents village in somerset they have a fairly large devlopment happening currently (though they have previously had very little and it might bring some services to the village (pub but have no shop/post office etc). In the middle of said development is a barn conversion which used to be the middle of a field and now definitely won't be. The owners of that have been moved out for the duration of the development but I do feel pretty sorry for them.

But equally everyone needs to live somewhere, our population keeps increasing so I don't see what the alternative is really.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I live not far from Cambridge, because I do not go in to 'town' much and tend to shop local, the amount of estates that are being built in villages is noticeable, which I think is fair, people have to live somewhere, and they try and infill to the main road, or the railway, and have built on disused air fields.
We collected a sofa this week from Cambridge, from smart new flats, no garden. Out of curiosity I googled the for sale price £525,000, for a two bedroom under 90sm and if you want to rent its over £3k a month. One of our unsmart small towns, has a large Co op, which sells very trendy food, and, you can live a very nice life in a four bedroomed detached for under £500k, for the sake of thirty-minute train journey.
All the fields and farms I used to ride on as a child are now housing estates, a pub and a hotel, but then we lived in a house on an estate my family helped build in the 1940's/50's. Those homes are still in use.
Its ironic that the took done the back to back, houses that fronted the road, with a small yard, outside loo, but the ginnel or service lane,which was somewhere where every child could play safely. They have reinvented the terrace, but children are now having to play in the car park at the rear, if they will allow it.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123650159#/floorplan?activePlan=1&channel=RES_NEW

I’m sorry but whoever designed the exterior of that house should be banned from any future attempts at architecture

 

[ester]

I’m sorry but whoever designed the exterior of that house should be banned from any future attempts at architecture

yes thats the 10000 house development down the road from me, there are multiple developers but all variations on a theme. Let me find a box house pic

Note advertised as 'prestigious'

Every time I bike past them I break into a rendition of 'little boxes on the hillside made of ticky tacky' even though there is def no hillside!

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

There’s a new estate near near called ‘Fieldfare Meadow’. As you say, final insult. Locals will use the current residents in their campaigns, another local one - Save our Swallows, then end up forever looking at houses and no *insert missing wildlife here*

There a street of new builds, not too far from me called 'Pony Fields'. It was too! It's on the edge of a council estate, within walking distance of the town centre and was an oasis of green amongst terraced housing, where DIY ponies were grazed.

 

[MagicMelon]

Yikes sounds like a big issue down south then. Doesnt happen much up here in NE Scotland, I guess we simply have more space to play with. I know one yard which is selling to developers but I believe they're making a very decent amount out of it. Another was lost to a new dual carriageway but thats about it. I have (and still am) considering getting outline planning permission for 2 houses on my 1.5 acres (which my horses use obviously) purely to increase the price of my property when I come to sell. I wouldnt build on it personally. But itd be up to the buyers if they wanted to keep the stables and land for horses or they could potentially build to make some profit or sell off as individual plots. I barely have enough land to call mine an equestrian property hence my thoughts on doing it.

 

[Wishfilly]

It's such a shame- it annoys me as well, because there is a lot of under used housing in this country- if we used our housing stock properly (i.e. not giving priority to second homes and holiday lets) that would help a lot.

The town my parents live in has had loads of new houses build on various bits of farmland/grazing over the years. There was a big development planned, with new schools, doctors etc, but in the end the developers decided they didn't want to build the secondary school, so instead of a good, planned development, there are little bits here and there- all the schools in the town are full and beyond full, the doctors is over subscribed... it's a bit of a nightmare!

 

[sunleychops]

we need more houses, what do you all suggest as an alternative? the result of an expanding population

 

[Shilasdair]

we need more houses, what do you all suggest as an alternative? the result of an expanding population

Agree with this.
Perhaps the need to house people takes priority over the view for a few spoilt NIMBIES?

 

[SO1]

My understanding is there are areas in Northern England where streets have houses boarded up because nobody wants to live there.

Understandably everyone wants to live in a nice area communtable to a town so developers are going for those areas.

There is possibility not a massive shortage of housing but there is shortage of housing in places where people want to live. We should be building on brownfield sites and looking at investment in areas which are not desirable due to lack of work opportunities or because the communities are deprived and undesirable places to live. Developers will go for places where people want to live. Businesses need to be less London centric otherwise we will loose the South East to housing.

The local tesco superstore is going to be demolished and made into 6000 houses some if which are meant to be affordable homes but I expect will not be affordable for someone an average income.

In time I expect any yards within commuting distance of London or a large city will be lost to housing.

we need more houses, what do you all suggest as an alternative? the result of an expanding population

 

[Miss_Millie]

we need more houses, what do you all suggest as an alternative? the result of an expanding population

There are 238,306 empty homes in England. Many of these bought by investors and left to appreciate in value. Many are second homes left empty for a large portion of the year. If people weren't so greedy, beautiful countryside would not need to be destroyed to build all of these new houses.

 

[anguscat]

yes thats the 10000 house development down the road from me, there are multiple developers but all variations on a theme. Let me find a box house pic

Note advertised as 'prestigious'

Every time I bike past them I break into a rendition of 'little boxes on the hillside made of ticky tacky' even though there is def no hillside!

Is this Waterbeach?

 

[honetpot]

I’m sorry but whoever designed the exterior of that house should be banned from any future attempts at architecture

Oh, there is worse. If you drive south on the M11, there is only what can be described as soviet still building on the skyline. As nearly the whole of Cambridge centre is listed, or in a conservation area, they have let the architects run mad, and you are left with very expensive monoliths.

 

[ycbm]

There are 238,306 empty homes in England. .

We increase our population by a lot more than that every year, it's a flea bite in the number of new houses needed to catch up, never mind cope with the increase in demand.

There is possibility not a massive shortage of housing but there is shortage of housing in places where people want to live. We should be building on brownfield sites and looking at investment in areas which are not desirable due to lack of work opportunities or because the communities are deprived and undesirable places to live. Developers will go for places where people want to live. Businesses need to be less London centric otherwise we will loose the South East to housing.

The east of Cheshire is desperately short of housing. All the brownfield sites have gone, almost all the old mill buildings have been converted. Now acre upon acre of previously farmed land is being built on. I find it interesting how often among people whose views I know, an objection to building on green fields goes hand in hand with a belief that we should allow anyone who wants to live in the UK to live here. They don't seem to see the conflict in those two positions.
.

 

[ester]

Is this Waterbeach?

no that's 'inholm' at northstowe, next to the lake and the termed 'semi permanent flood' which wasn't planned and means there is no water in longstanton any more. Which was apparently pointed out as an issue in 2015. . .

 

[honetpot]

We increase our population by a lot more than that every year, it's a flea bite in the number of new houses needed to catch up, never mind cope with the increase in demand.





The east of Cheshire is desperately short of housing. All the brownfield sites have gone, almost all the old mill buildings have been converted. Now acre upon acre of previously farmed land is being built on. I find it interesting how often among people whose views I know, an objection to building on green fields goes hand in hand with a belief that we should allow anyone who wants to live in the UK to live here. They don't seem to see the conflict in those two positions.
.

If you look at a lot of immigrants, they live in multigerational households, using all the available space in their home. We have a large house, set up so people can live in it with a degree of separation, but my daughters because of work, and they want to be independent do not want to live with us. I feel so bad about our spreading out in to under used rooms, I have a lodger and I would have another if my husband would give up his bedroom, he also has another double bedroom as a study. My sister did not leave home until she was thirty.
The reason why we have a larger house is that in the build cost, our foundations cost £30k, there is more return on building a larger home, on a plot than a smaller one, and the resale value is greater.

In the 1980's I invited a Lebanese doctor home for tea with my husband, he could understand how we could be living on our own. We wanted people to move where the work was, and until people started sharing because of cost, they wanted their own space. My daughter lives in a flat below someone's home, and she hates the noise. My other daughter tried an NHS flat share, cheaper, but she didn't stay more than the month.
Most immigrants are providing labour and skills in jobs we can not fill, we almost imported more nurses than we trained last year. Even BJ says we have too many people over fifty who do not want to work,
After WW2, councils built large new estates, there has never been that level of investment to build affordable housing since.
The ex MOD land outside Cambridge could have been used for not for profit housing, but of course the MOD has to raise money to go in to another pot.

 

[ester]

It is likely that the field at parents (not owned by them) will go for building at some point, it's perfect infill.

People's reactions to the possibility are interesting. Those that have lived their decades are mostly just appreciative of the fact that the it didn't happen 20 years ago when the previous owner died when they expected it to. There are also a good number who are keen that their kids have the opportunity to live in the village (as there would obv be some affordable housing provision) and that more people might bring good things too.

The newbies who recently purchased their house with a 'field view' and presumably a very poor conveyancing solicitor are uphauled and like to send anonymous letters to everyone else with totally incorrect/imagined details on them ?.

I don't live here because I want to live here, there are many places I would rather be and would be a lot cheaper to live. Unfortunately there are no jobs in my sector in said places. Each village you get to north of cambridge gets progressively cheaper even if they are only a mile apart ?

 

[L&M]

Where we live in Mid wales it seems that every field around us has gone for development - we live on the site of an old farm and even the yard here is now being sold for housing.

So in the space of only a few years, we have gone from living relatively rurally, to living on/adjacent to several building sites, and tbh if we could find anywhere else in our budget with a couple of acres and stabling, we would be out of here pdq!

What annoys me is that every plot that has been sold tends to be for the larger executive type homes - each site has the condition of at least one affordable house, which strangely never appear.

If more affordable housing was eating up the countryside I would not have such an issue with it......

 

[J&S]

I have heard that some local authorities' representatives are able to be encouraged by "sweeteners".

Local authorities get money from the government for each house built plus all that extra council tax. They will pass anything they can get away with.

 

[chocolategirl]

Our town is under contract to build 600 houses a year in the local area - they are buying up any spare or farm land like no tomorrow, and building closer and closer to the South Downs.. it's horrible. Livery anywhere near here is like hens teeth unless you want super expensive part livery or to drive 20 miles each way.
It made worse by the fact that I can't bear new builds (sorry to anyone who has one, just my preference). They are all so cookie cutter, uncharacterful and they create the most dull looking estates. Not to mention they aren't affordable and the build quality is dismal, so what benefit they are bringing is beyond me.

More worrying for me is that this country simply doesn’t have the infrastructure to cope with the population size. Building more houses is all well and good, but if you’re not building more schools, hospitals etc to service them what’s the point? More of the green belt will be built on over the coming years as our numbers increase further and more yards will sadly close to cash in, and who can blame them really??

 

[JoannaC]

High street shops are going to be a thing of the past so why not turn shops into housing, keeping the restaurant's, coffee shops etc who will have plenty of foot fall from all the new residents. Often within walking distance from a station. Offices will be needed less as we now know a lot of work can be done from home so again turn those into housing with just rentable spaces for meetings, maybe combined with coffee shops. Ownership of more than one property should be purely for rental purposes and not kept empty for the odd weekend etc. Also why are any houses being built without solar panels, air source heat pumps or equivalent etc etc

 

[ester]

It surprises me re. the solar etc. There's a small development here (say 15 houses) that all have solar on, not one of the bigger developments have any with anything like that.

 

[L&M]

More worrying for me is that this country simply doesn’t have the infrastructure to cope with the population size. Building more houses is all well and good, but if you’re not building more schools, hospitals etc to service them what’s the point? More of the green belt will be built on over the coming years as our numbers increase further and more yards will sadly close to cash in, and who can blame them really??

Planning got accepted for another development on an 18 acre field next to the farm, for over 900 houses - fortunately it never went ahead as part of the conditions were that a Dr's surgery, playground and other amenities had to also be put in place, making the the development non viable........who knows what will happen in the future though?

I have never been so grateful for our few acres - it is not the best grazing, but we own every blade of grass (and dock/thistle!) so no-one can leave our horses homeless. Must be so stressful for those that rely on livery.....