Backhanders

derek kelly · 22/1/21

Reckon someone on our local council is getting them, massive building programme about a mile away from us, thousands of houses planned some already built, the next phase includes more houses, a School & a retail centre, a large part of this is going to be on a very large flood plain that is currently under about four feet of water, I remember being told that a field we were interested in would never get planning permission as it was on a flood plain, this field is two miles away from the land being developed

Cougar377 · 22/1/21

Same round our way. 5000 new homes in the next few years, despite massive objections from various communities.

andyBeaker · 22/1/21

As I have said before, despite common belief not an inch of land is immune from development. Green belt around small villages is particularly vulnerable. Councils are under a ton of pressure to meet housing targets.

We bought and sold a piece of land next to a waterway not long back that suffered from significant standing water after prolonged rain; it's not necessarily a big issue, particularly if it is a large site with planning permission for a housing development.

slim63 · 22/1/21

Same here loads being built on flood the flood plain, remember Tamworth is where two major rivers converge (Tame & Anchor) so the flood plane is extensive, I would say 70% is currently under a foot or more of water but a major downpour in the next few days will see that at 4 to 5 feet across the whole lot

So they are building on parts of this & putting up earthen banks to contain the water hence restricting the amount of space the water has to flood into, downstream people are going to suffer severe flooding because of this, some last winter were already reporting higher water levels across their land & it getting much closer to their houses BEFORE the new developments were started
No new flood protection for those poor souls

The new houses are being thrown up mainly by two companies one of who has a relation on the council & the other who's wife is in the planning department ....... Draw your own conclusions

Martin L Batley · 22/1/21

Did anyone see on the news today about those houses, about 4, built near the edge of a cliff? Due to all the rain part of the cliff has given way and the garden fence looks to overhang the drop. How in he'll did they get planning permission?

Pow-Lo · 22/1/21

What I don’t understand is who’s going to fill these houses? Where the eff are all these potential buyers coming from?

Before we bought this place, we were looking at a place near Nash until Mrs P did some research. The old steelworks at Llanwern is gone and they’re building 4,000 new houses on the site, which is a mile up the road from the house.

derek kelly · 23/1/21

A percentage will be affordable housing however nobody buying a £350,000 plus house wants benefit scroungers living near them so builders are ignoring the affordable housing policies & paying the fines, yes I know £350,000 will only buy a garden shed in certain parts, shows how gullible people are.

slim63 · 23/1/21

Pow-Lo said:
What I don’t understand is who’s going to fill these houses? Where the eff are all these potential buyers coming from?

Not all buyers but a large percentage of renters as Derek mentions.

Where are they coming from ? ......... our young couples that are just starting out in their own homes & having to rent or try to buy at exorbitant prices because all the truly cheap housing has been filled with migrants

One town centre building site less than half a mile from here on an old factory site is being built by a social housing company & is entirely funded by them, its mostly shoebox flats about half of which will be for rent but they are sticking 4 tiny detached houses on the site as well at 225,000 a piece

so much for the blurb about providing affordable social housing its all about cashing in

Martin L Batley · 23/1/21

slim63 said:
Not all buyers but a large percentage of renters as Derek mentions.

Where are they coming from ? ......... our young couples that are just starting out in their own homes & having to rent or try to buy at exorbitant prices because all the truly cheap housing has been filled with migrants

One town centre building site less than half a mile from here on an old factory site is being built by a social housing company & is entirely funded by them, its mostly shoebox flats about half of which will be for rent but they are sticking 4 tiny detached houses on the site as well at 225,000 a piece so much for the blurb about providing affordable social housing its all about cashing in

The 4 tiny places at 225,000 are probably how they're funding most of the social housing.

slim63 · 23/1/21

Martin L Batley said:
The 4 tiny places at 225,000 are probably how they're funding most of the social housing.

Maybe so but I would have thought the for sale flats would have covered the cost of the build on their own & the houses are pure profit, either way its about massive profit rather than providing honest social housing as the government intended

And they will still own roughly 50% of the homes there which at the rent prices will soon recoup a lot of the build cost & which they could later sell on for even more profit, probably to another social housing company who will jack up the rent to cover the cost & make finding "affordable housing" even more difficult for the working man

Bluelagoona · 23/1/21

IMHO until we get back to local councils, building local houses for local people to rent, we will never get off this merry go round of only private companies building houses for profit.
When Thatcher made councils sell their housing stock it was promised that75 % the money from those "right to buy" sales would be ploughed back into new builds. That was eroded in a few years. Leaving renting residents with a massive rent increase subsidising their neighbors who bought. Thatcher's betrayal of the local councils has led to a permanent housing shortage in this country and the ridiculously high price of renting/buying property.
As for building on flood plains..... madness ! if they do get planning permission, the builder should cover insurance costs against residents houses flooding for 25 years at least.

Squag1 · 23/1/21

All the same happening here.
Stopped building social housing, now wondering why so many homeless.

Families all living in same house.

Bill for mental health going to be enormous.

Pow-Lo · 23/1/21

derek kelly said:
A percentage will be affordable housing however nobody buying a £350,000 plus house wants benefit scroungers living near them so builders are ignoring the affordable housing policies & paying the fines, yes I know £350,000 will only buy a garden shed in certain parts, shows how gullible people are.

You mean the builders don’t put ‘affordable’ properties on their developments and pay the fines instead?

Squag1 · 23/1/21

Brought that in here but builder could buy his way out of it. Looked great in election promises. Detail was different

Many years ago thay gave a grant to local authority tenants to buy a house.
Lots took it up. Consequences were that mainly those left behind were not the most socially conscious so estates deteriorated

Pow-Lo · 23/1/21

slim63 said:
Not all buyers but a large percentage of renters as Derek mentions.

Where are they coming from ? ......... our young couples that are just starting out in their own homes & having to rent or try to buy at exorbitant prices because all the truly cheap housing has been filled with migrants

One town centre building site less than half a mile from here on an old factory site is being built by a social housing company & is entirely funded by them, its mostly shoebox flats about half of which will be for rent but they are sticking 4 tiny detached houses on the site as well at 225,000 a piece so much for the blurb about providing affordable social housing its all about cashing in

Young couples starting out explains some of the demand but what about the properties being vacated by older people sizing down and, well, dying? There’s at least four houses on my road that are occupied by single pensioners.

As a point of interest, not all migrants are in cheap accommodation. A Romanian family bought our place in Kent. They were already living around the corner so they rented their own house out and bought ours.

Squag1 · 23/1/21

There was a site near Galway with a very large sign announcing a new development. Only problem was, the water was almost up to the bottom of the sign.

Squag1 · 23/1/21

The latest is "co-living"
Large block of rooms with communal kitchens, in rough terms.
Designed for people working all hours for international companies

derek kelly · 23/1/21

Pow-Lo said:
You mean the builders don’t put ‘affordable’ properties on their developments and pay the fines instead?

Exactly, they are building houses that will fetch over £350,000 ten percent is supposed to be affordable housing, that means flats or cheap semis that would fetch £150,000, these would make it difficult to get the asking price for their elite buildings so two fingers to the council, I think the maximum fine is around £100,000, I believe the +ouncil are fully on board with this, they promise affordable housing knowing it isn’t going to happen then appease everybody by saying “it’s the builder’s fault & we’ve fined them”

JayTee · 23/1/21

Fait accompli. An old strategy that’ll only stop when fines match the profits made and make the practice unviable.
Don’t hold your breath though it’s corruption by any other words and made worse by being legal.

slim63 · 23/1/21

Pow-Lo said:
Young couples starting out explains some of the demand but what about the properties being vacated by older people sizing down and, well, dying? There’s at least four houses on my road that are occupied by single pensioners.

As a point of interest, not all migrants are in cheap accommodation. A Romanian family bought our place in Kent. They were already living around the corner so they rented their own house out and bought ours.

I see what you are saying 100% I suppose its different in different area's any house that pops up on this estate is sold within a couple of days, a wrecked house like ours was before I rebuilt the place is going to knock you for 150k bare minimum & there is not many young couples just starting out that can afford that + the refurb costs due to the reduced wages in the area bought about by the influx of cheap migrant workers

One house directly over the road sold a few months ago & has been fully refitted from the roof down with extensions to the back & side & I know the builder had at least 40K off them

add that to the purchase price (175) & none of the 6 en suite rooms in there are going to be cheap yet it was full within 3 days, such is the shortage of housing in the area

Backhanders

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