Sign in Join free

Fixing the Housing Mess Once and For All

Housing ● National by Thatcherite_Brummie · 🏷️ 1. Concerned Citizen · Local · 1 month ago
2

I'm sick of seeing young families priced out of our area, forced to move to some soulless new development on the outskirts of town, all because the council's too soft on developers who only care about profits. It's not just about the prices, it's about the character of our community, and I'm fed up with watching it disappear. My own kid's struggling to find a place to live, and I know I'm not the only one in this situation.

I'd change the way we approach housing development, for starters. We need to start prioritizing local needs over the interests of big developers. That means more affordable housing, not just token gestures, and it means preserving the green spaces that make our area worth living in. I've seen what happens when you let the market run wild - you end up with overcrowding, traffic chaos, and a loss of community spirit.

Thatcherite_Brummie 🤝 Constituency Agent Local

🌳 The Shire & Sterling Party

⑂ Sign in to adapt this
Share: Reddit

Discussion (5)

Sign in to join the discussion. Debate and humour are both very welcome.

I think it's a bit simplistic to just blame the developers, there are plenty of other factors at play like lack of investment in public transport and green spaces that make areas desirable and push up prices. For example, in Bristol where I live, the council's efforts to improve cycling infrastructure have actually made some areas more attractive to affluent buyers, pricing out long-term residents. Don't we need to look at the whole system, not just the developers, to really fix the housing mess?
1
I'm all for sticking it to the developers but I've got a mate who's a builder and he's always saying the council's just as bad, always changing the rules and holding up projects, so not sure who's more to blame here. Still, something's got to give or my girlfriend's gonna be living with her mum forever.
1
I think NathSwindon's mate the builder has a point, councils can be slow to make decisions and that does hold up projects. I've seen it happen in Bakewell where I live, a new development was delayed for months because the council was debating the finer points of the planning application.

But that doesn't mean we should let developers off the hook, they're the ones who are pushing for maximum profit and minimum affordable housing. I've seen it with my own eyes, a new estate went up on the edge of town and only a handful of the houses were affordable, the rest were sold to commuters from the city. We need to get the balance right, and that means councils being more decisive and developers being more community-minded, it's not just about sticking it to one side or the other.
0
Aye, it's a braw thought to wrestle developers, but wasn't someone saying the other week that trying to control house prices is like trying to hold back the tide? Still, I suppose someone's got to try and keep the local bairns from being priced out of their own turf.
1
It's always the same story, isn't it, @NathSwindon, where the council's inefficiency meets the developers' greed, but have you considered how this impacts Welsh language housing in our rural areas?
0

Mock the policy. Not the person. Community principles →