Not enough housing in uk

[JasonPalmer]

Interesting article in mondays telegraph about a new housing report that says sticking to building on brown field sites is not enough, time to give up the green belt ?

[Serial_Apologist]

Interesting article in mondays telegraph about a new housing report that says sticking to building on brown field sites is not enough, time to give up the green belt ?

FWIW brown field sites are often sites comprised of greater biodiversity than protected woodland sites designated SSI's owing to their very poor quality soils. The latter are sometimes heavily contaminated, but at the same time playing host to wide ranges of plant and insect species able to withstand such conditions while serving an ecologically essential function in mopping up CO2 pollution. Joined up thinking needs to be incumbent on the various planning departments concerned. Nevertheless brown field and green belt zones arguably could be re-allocated for limited housing and small industrial developments, subject to community consultation.

[RichardB]

Brown field, green field, that isn't really the issue. There's a shortage of accommodation that people with ordinary amounts of money can actually afford to live in, something that could be addressed by government policy if there were any will to address it.

[smittims]

Agreed, and a further aspect of this which concerns me is a future water shortage. All these thousands of new houses with taps and showers, but few if any new reservoirs have been constructed recently.

[JasonPalmer]

Apparently people want houses with gardens while a lot of new build is flats.

[RichardB]

Agreed, and a further aspect of this which concerns me is a future water shortage. All these thousands of new houses with taps and showers, but few if any new reservoirs have been constructed recently.

And the present water delivery infrastructure is leaking to an alarming degree - another triumph of privatisation.

[gradus]

Build more canals, get more goods traffic off roads and provide more water holding capacity with new reservoirs at intervals in the canal system which could also deal with some of the flooding that bedevils parts of the country. Land relieved of flood pressure can more safely be used for housing.

[JasonPalmer]

Young people need help, building more housing should lower prices.

[RichardB]

Build more canals, get more goods traffic off roads and provide more water holding capacity with new reservoirs at intervals in the canal system which could also deal with some of the flooding that bedevils parts of the country. Land relieved of flood pressure can more safely be used for housing.

Indeed, but what you say isn't compatible with maximising dividends to shareholders in the water companies. The combination of chronic flooding and water shortages is a symptom of failure on the part of successive governments to force water companies to keep standards up.

[eighthobstruction]

....PM prog' yest' offered that less housing being built at the moment....Though my area Airedale N Yorks /West Yorks is really building lots of housing of all types 2-3k houses within 10 mile circle Skipton....overspill from people fleeing Leeds and Bradford

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Causes:-

1. Too many people worldwide (including UK);
2. Affordable homes being bought up by landlords hoping to exploit the situation)
3. People wanting to better themselves, wanting houses with more land;
4. Conflict of land use - houses/farmland/forestry/solar farms/recreation;
5. Second homes;
6. Flood plains reducing possible building locations.

Possible ways forward:-

1. Encourage smaller families and anticipate the economic consequences;
2. Make it illegal to own more than one home, requiring inherited properties to be sold;
3. Better planning for agricultural land use - crop growing is much more efficient than animal husbandry.
4. Solar panels on roofs, not in fields.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Young people need help, building more housing should lower prices.

Where do you suggest houses should be built? Reducing still further the available agricultural land? Flood plains? Over old dioxin-infested landfill sites?

As for young people needing help, you are right, but burdening them with student debt has made a huge dent in their finances.

[JasonPalmer]

Indeed, student debt, car loans,mortgages....man is born free but everywhere is in debt ?