Saturday 5 October 2013

NIMBYs Of The Week

Via QG at HPC, from the Oxford Mail:

NEARLY 400 homes have been approved by ministers in a move described by Banbury MP Sir Tony Baldry as the “most disappointing” affecting the constituency in his 30 years in the post....

“I could have a better understanding of the decision if Cherwell was in any way being resistant to new housing and encouraging new housing development, but exactly the opposite is the case.”


Because if this madness continues for another couple of years, there will be no Hallowed Green Belt left, will there?

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8 comments:

Graeme said...

to my mind, the strange thing is that there might be demand for 400 homes in what is a fairly isolated place, with few local amenities. It seems like the definition of a sink estate. If you sneeze while driving through Bloxham, you miss it. It bjust seems like a strange place to plonk 400 houses. Rather like Scipio building Italica across the river from Seville. One city flourished; the other fell into disuse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italica

Mark Wadsworth said...

G, yes, it's all about the Faux Bucolic Rural Idyll.

Bayard said...

"Because if this madness continues for another couple of years, there will be no Hallowed Green Belt left, will there?"

It won't, God willing, because before then the housing bubble will burst and suddenly the developers will lose their desire to be so helpful to those hard working families who want to get onto the housing ladder.

Anonymous said...

Have a guess where Mr Baldry lives.

Mark Wadsworth said...

B, the sentisitivity of supply to falls in prices is a very new invention. From 1983 to 2004, the number of new builds in UK was always between 170,000 and 200,000, there is no particular correlation between that and house prices.

The sensitivity only kicked in between 2005 and 2008, when new construction crept up to 225,000 a year.

The previous noticeable low was 1982 (150,000) but this was not just because of recession/house price falls, this was part of the general downward trajectory as a result of the rise of Home-Owner-Ism as a primary political consideration in the 1990s.

AC, good work, who'd have thought, eh?

Bayard said...

Well, working as I do in the constuction industry, I definitely noticed that the last crashette in 2008 brought many sites to a halt, and left many houses and flats unsold, some of which remain unsold to this day, at least round here they do, so I am surprised that the effect didn't translate to less houses being built overall, although the sales figures might tell a different story.

However, a development in Oxfordshire is always bound to sell, catching some of the glow, as it does, from London's overheated market, unless we have an Irish-style crash....

Mark Wadsworth said...

B, as I said in my previous comment, price sensitivity became only noticeable from 2005 onwards. This was by way of an aside and not because I was disagreeing with you.

New housing halved in 2008 or 2009, and has stayed there ever since.

Bayard said...

Sorry, I should read your comments more carefully.