Flooding

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

is there a brain? i suppose there must be .... but not much of a mind more of a slime mould organised for deceptive self interest and eating

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I was just trying to be polite. :whistle:

[Flosshilde]

But there's the rub. Flats are abhorrent to many people.

& why? Because they are told that they should aspire to a house. England (& I mean England) is in a minority among countries world-wide in insisting on houses as the standard housing. Look at the major cities & towns in Europe (including Scotland) & the majority of people live in flats.

Given these statistics from the ONS, restricting the size of families to 2 children is irrelevant, at least in Europe -

There were 7.7 million families with dependent children in the UK in 2012, 1 in 7 of which had three or more dependent children

Married couples had a higher average number of dependent children in their family than other family types, at 1.8 children per family compared with 1.7 on average

The UK has a higher percentage of households with three or more children than three-quarters of European Union countries


Building flats & therefore reducing the area of land built on would be much more effective.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I don't disagree with those figures. Living in flats requires people to be considerate, but many are not.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

worth remembering that just seven years ago we were flooded as well
and we are very likely to hear the recriminations recycled ...

[Dave2002]

& why? Because they are told that they should aspire to a house. England (& I mean England) is in a minority among countries world-wide in insisting on houses as the standard housing. Look at the major cities & towns in Europe (including Scotland) & the majority of people live in flats.

Given these statistics from the ONS, restricting the size of families to 2 children is irrelevant, at least in Europe -

There were 7.7 million families with dependent children in the UK in 2012, 1 in 7 of which had three or more dependent children

Married couples had a higher average number of dependent children in their family than other family types, at 1.8 children per family compared with 1.7 on average

The UK has a higher percentage of households with three or more children than three-quarters of European Union countries


Building flats & therefore reducing the area of land built on would be much more effective.

I have lived in flats and also in houses.

Flats can be good, but they need to have a large floor area and be well soundproofed. One flat I lived in was in Sweden, and it was pretty good, though I didn't normally play Mahler's 8th at full volume - except perhaps when some of the neighbours played rock/pop music.

Another problem we had in that particular flat was adjusting the temperature. The feedback control on the heating was so good (!!) that it was next to impossible to reduce the temperature below 22 degrees C - even when it was minus 20 C outside and we opened the windows. Equally it would not have been possible to raise the temperature.

Practising music on most instruments can present problems in flats.

Flats can have other good features - depending on how the buildings are designed. Some features can be shared - such as a room for washing and drying, and the Swedish flat also had a sauna which could be booked. It may also be possible to avoid having to go out into the cold/wet to get to one's car, as car parking can be integrated into the building. Community facilities can be integrated into blocks of flats.

Problems with flats include: Legal issues and disputes. Overall building maintenance - another Swedish flat I lived in was a real pain when the management committee decided that everyone's bathroom was going to be updated. The updating was good, but took a while, was very disruptive, and in fact I moved out for 3-4 weeks while the flat I was renting was refurbished. The day I arrived home and found the old bath etc. in the living room was horrific.

Insurance issues in flats can be a pain. If there's a water leak upstairs for example, getting compensation and repairs done - another nightmare area. Who is going to take responsibility? Often this is simply ducked by most people concerned.

Some of the issues re flats also apply to terrace houses, town houses and sem-detached houses, though they are usually not so severe.

I often wonder if part of the problem of some houses (many?) in the UK is that they are too small and not fit for purpose. This means that people will either move frequently, or "update" their houses by building inappropriate extensions. It might be better to have a smaller number of suitable houses rather than a very large number of pretty useless ones. However, many houses in the UK are only 2 storey, for perhaps not very good reasons, and then we have to consider whether they fit into the character of the villages or towns in which they are built. I can't see any particularly good reason why houses could not go upwards in order to achieve the space which some people want and/or need. Many "standard" British houses look pretty horrible anyway, and we could usefully look at architecture in other countries for ideas. Many villages and small towns impose constraints on style which really we should chuck out as it is certainly possible to build dwellings which look good, and are functional, but may not fit into a "traditional" style for the UK. As I already wrote, many standard UK buildings are actually pretty horrible - and I'll repeat that one more time.

[teamsaint]

D2K+2, I won't quote your post, but it is terrific. and touches on so many important issues.
Like you, I cannot for the life of me figure out why houses in so many areas,particularly suburban and rural, have to be two storey affairs.
Building land is, for whatever reason, terrifyingly expensive, and 3 storey housing seems to me to be a simple step to alleviate the issues of tiny ghouses costing a fortune.

On flats, they surely need to be a bigger part of the solutions. Thee are creative ways to deal with the problems. they aren't for everybody, but there might be many situations where people might prefer a spacious apartment with good communal gardens and facilities, to a tiny house and a level of maintenance unsuited to their financial circumstances.

And so on and so on. But of course, the politicians don't work 8 to 6 to afford the mortgage on a rabbit hutch that will cost them 30 years to pay for, and 20% of their wages to commute from.
Our cabinet live on estates.....of their own .

[Flosshilde]

Evidence from the Guardian that government cuts to the EA directly affected schemes in Somerset & Devon -

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/16/flood-area-defences-funding-cuts

[Thropplenoggin]

Floody Morons

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26230278

This could be one of the most imbecilic things I've ever seen. How to make a bad situation worse 101. The Environment Agency bod reverts to 'corporate speak' (that's pollocks in Piscean/Abstract Expressionist circles). 'We need to make absolutely sure that this is right, that this is safe so that we don't undermine the assets that are already in place...' Assets? Assets?! It's a bloody river bank, you imbecile! This isn't an episode of Homeland. What a twonk!

[gurnemanz]

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/...1597-large.jpg

[David-G]

What is so imbecilic? The engineering or the corporate speak?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Perhaps it's better discussed here before it become too inflammatory.

[Thropplenoggin]

Perhaps it's better discussed here before it become too inflammatory.

Subsume it within the other thread by all means, EA.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Let's just see how it goes. :smiley:

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...andIreland.jpg

With all the flooding in England and Wales, the Scottish referendum is now unnecessary.