building houses on green belt land

November Member

My own opinion is if they  made a law that new houses had "decent" gardens,where children could play safely and also learn a love of gardening then houses built on green belt land would be a much better option than having fields of green (sometimes) with little wildlife.or flora.to be seen.and parents scared to let their children  roam in them alone any more. 

Gardenmaiden

Why don't they survey all those buildings that have been boarded up and aren't in use, knock them down and rebuild? I know this was done in Pype Hayes, Sutton Coldfield where there was a huge estate that had been boarded up for years and they gradually knocked it down and built new housing. That way green belt would be left alone.

Hostafan1

As Mark Twain said ( I think ) " invest in land, they're not making any more of it"

I'm going with garden maiden. Look along any high street and see the empty flats above the shops. Invest in getting people back into them and bring life back to empty town centres.

I'd also like to see more 3 storey houses built with the garage / utility room on the ground floor, rather than the garage stuck at the side, taking up garden space.

Dovefromabove

Another one here agreeing with Gardenmaiden and Hostafan.  And why did cellars/basements go out of fashion - such a good use of space.

artjak

I believe there are between 600,000 and 800,000 empty properties in this country. A person I know locally has had 4 or 5 empty for years. The Council talked to her about 1 property some years ago, saying she should rent it or sell it and then never followed this up. The Councils have the powers as I understand to force people to rent or sell, but don't seem to use these.

artjak

Just checked on emptyhomes.com

845.000 empty properties in UK, rising possibly to 1,000,000 if uninhabitable properties and flats above shops are included.

It is so much cheaper more ecological and faster to renovate rather than new-build, it seems a no-brainer to simply refurbish these properties after compulsory purchase orders.

Dovefromabove

Norwich City Council compulsory purchased an end of terrace house near where we used to live.  It had been empty for as long as I'd known it, had ivy over the roof and under the eaves and there looked to be ongoing subsidence which would obviously impact on the rest of the terrace further up the hill.  It was repaired and renovated, added to the stock of local authority housing and became a family home. 

It should happen more often.

artjak

Absolutely Dove

Stagbeetle

We know an empty property and the person was offered about £10,000 to convert it into 2 flats but they are 3 bed 1950's home in a family area and I think it would be too small to convert but would be a lovely family home. The council do not purchase empty properties here because apparently they do not have the money to do it.

Totally agree that there are plenty of empty homes that need to be used. I'm shocked at the size of the new build houses, even large 4 bed properties have tiny gardens.

Invicta2

You would need to include a ban on paving the garden over in the deeds for the new property. On my road I have seen 3 more front gardens paved over this year. About 20% of front gardens on this row of semis are now paved or concreted which can lead to flooding problems further down stream. They also look very boring.

Obelixx

With new regs for insulation and water saving renovating is no longer always a cheaper option but I do agree that old stock should be renewed or replaced rather than taking up any more green belt.   New builds tend to be dull, packed in like sardines and have tiny rooms as well as tiny gardens.

There are also regulations about paving over front gardens.  They're supposed to use porous materials that allow water to drain through rather than run off.