Monday 10 March 2014

If the flight path were over a grim 1960s housing estate or a new town, then that would be all right, of course.

From The Evening Standard:

Boris Johnson’s mother-in-law has joined furious residents protesting against the “unbearable” effects of plans for a new Gatwick flight path over their picturesque village.

Three weeks ago the tranquillity of the quintessentially English village of Warnham, West Sussex, was shattered without warning when aircraft taking off from Gatwick began thundering overhead – part of a six-month trial by Gatwick and air traffic control service NATS.


The £1,000 a year bung should soften the blow a bit, eh?

LVT will sort all this out. If the noise from the new flight path reduces the enjoyment value of your house, then its rental value will fall £ for £, and hence your LVT bill come down £ for £.

The really strange thing is that house prices under the Heathrow flight paths are higher than elsewhere, all things being equal. So it is possible that in a bizarre sort of way, the rental value and selling price of the houses in Warnham will go up.

8 comments:

Bayard said...

I doubt it. The "Heathrow effect" is probably due to the employment opportunities offered by the airport and Warnham is already enjoying the "Gatwick effect" such as it is.

Funny that noise from a busy road or airport is considered bad, when the same level of noise from the sea or a stream is considered an asset. It's not that they sound much different at a distance, either.

benj said...

Loosely related, it would be interesting to see what effect the Congestion Charge has had on HP's, inside and outside the zone?

Comparing Mayfair(inside) and Kensington(outside) since 1995.

Mayfair 3 fold increase, Kensington 2.6.

A 15% CC premium doesn't sound too outlandish.

Mark Wadsworth said...

B, the affinity that people have for a river or sea view (and the sound thereof) is deeply engrained but probably an atavism.

And why people prefer steam trains to diesel or electric, but prefer all trains to normal road traffic is another unknown - there are plenty of train spotters but how many car spotters?

Bj, Mayfair is also nearer "the centre" so the usual rules apply.

benj said...

Actually, Knightsbridge would be a far better comparison.

For Knightsbridge it's 2.4.

So a 25% difference.

benj said...

@MW Knightsbridge and Mayfair are very comparable price wise.

Depending on what your centre is, there isn't really going to be much difference distance wise.

Mayfair being about a mile to the North and slightly to the East(I think;))

Bayard said...

"And why people prefer steam trains to diesel or electric"

Miles Kington had a good answer to that, involving Thelonius Monk.

Physiocrat said...

"And why people prefer steam trains to diesel or electric,"

If this is the case why is the government even thinking about building high speed railways? A new steam railway would cost peanuts in comparison. Trains over 50 years old are still running regularly on the main line here in Sweden, and they are well patronised too.

Bayard said...

"If this is the case why is the government even thinking about building high speed railways?"

Because, just like in the '30s, they want to have a faster train than the Germans.