Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Add Reply
Relaxation of planning law
Topic Started: Sep 6 2012, 09:40 AM (236 Views)
rumbaba
Member Avatar

It seems this is going to solve the housing crisis. I suppose we can expect to see shanty towns springing up all over the UK.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
madfor4

rumbaba
Sep 6 2012, 09:40 AM
It seems this is going to solve the housing crisis. I suppose we can expect to see shanty towns springing up all over the UK.
It'll just make it harder for those who REALLY need a home to get one! Cameron's disparaging remarks about 'council homes' shows his outlook.
I'm hoping for another, better implemented, 'Gunpowder plot' or an <comet> strike.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
rumbaba
Member Avatar

I was brought up in a council house, which was fine, and my parent lived in the same house until the end, except that my mum had a couple of years in a care home at the very end. My father would never have dreamt of buying it and taking it out of the available housing pool, although he could have got a massive discount to do so. I suppose, eventually, all housing will end up in the private sector and we are seeing the first signs of a move back to slum landlords and families living in two rooms, cooking on a single ring, etc. I always thought when Blair was banging on about education that housing was the biggest problem facing people today. There are people working hard in 'good' jobs who cannot afford to house themselves and their families and it will get worse with capping. People will not be able to afford to live near where they work and will also not be able to afford the escalating travel costs to move too far away from where they work. I wonder what London will do when there are no binmen or street sweepers or nurses, or teachers or firemen or police. At least, when you had council housing, councils could prioritise to attract essential workers to an area but what now? Not that Blair did anything about it during his term in office.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
madfor4

I agree, rum.

There are (and were)those who can never realistically afford a 'house of their own' that's what council homes were supposed to cater for.
Those whose circumstances changed could move 'up the ladder' allowing the affordable council properties to pass on. Thatcher (god rot her) changed all that. Houses were sold off, to tenants, at massive discounts and councils were forbidden to use the money to build new homes; social engineering on a massive scale.
The current bunch have made it even easier for tenants to buy and so 'slum landlords' appear to be this government's preferred option.

What with NHS, disability/benefit, etc. I'm so, so glad I no longer live in what once was a 'caring' country.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
caissier
Member Avatar
Administrator
There are now in North East London very many shacks at the end of (small) gardens, usually with two rooms, each rented out to three people, often immigrants of some kind, who sleep on mattresses on the floor. This could play exactly into this situation with unscrupulous people jumping to add rough extensions on the back of houses. Shanty towns is right; just another unthought-through knee-jerk policy. This announcement also makes a complete non-sense of the new so-called localism. I bet B&Q shares have gone up.

There is said to be a lot of space within towns and cities which could be used ..... but that would take some effort to do properly. In Holland and Germany they have been doing clever things with 'infill building' (like this http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51aaUARHLdL._SL500_AA300_.jpg )and that could be a model for us.

I have an ambition to build a house in my time. Currently I'd like it to look like this -
Posted Image
It's on the perimeter of Hollyrood Palace - nice road surface as well.
http://www.edinburgh-scotland.net/images/HolyroodBathHouse01.jpg

( ..... so it's an ill wind that etc ..... )
Edited by caissier, Sep 6 2012, 08:50 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
madfor4

I'm sure the courts will get involved. There are sure to be 'punch-ups' galore when Mr. A puts up an eyesore blocking Mr. B's light.

Luckily, 'Mutt and Jeff' live where such chaos won't affect them.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Norm Deplume
Member Avatar

Relaxation of planning laws is one of the biggest mistakes this, or any other government, could ever make.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
tafkaj

I'm with Norm on this one. I suspect there's a hidden agenda here. With money in such short supply, particularly from lenders, I suspect the government is angling for the influx of money from offshore, with the buy-to-let option being dangled carrot-like before the snouts of barely literate but very rich foreigners, who will then be allowed to ship in their cash to buy and renovate/extend properties with little or no checks arried out on the provenance of their money. It already happens in the buy-to-let markets in areas that serve our university campuses. In addition, these landlords will be exempt from council tax, so it's all being geared towards the foriegn rich and the indigenous Brit is once again being denied the democratic process his forefathers have struggled so hard to obtain. (Sorry if I sound like a rabid EDL member - I can only assure you I'm not, but I have very grave concerns about the apparent reining in of democracy for the indigenous Brit.)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Current Affairs - Politics / Economics · Next Topic »
Add Reply