Written by Frederica
Having been obliged to take a trip out of my ‘local area’ for health reasons, I drove through what was once farmland, countryside and villages – to be horrified by the sight that met my eyes!
Acres and acres of prime arable land now covered with housing (not affordable housing either – more like mansions). Woodland cut down to fill the developers ‘need’ (or do I mean greed?) for more and more space to cover with concrete and bricks. Villages added-on at each end with ‘ribbon developments’ that look completely out of place and out of character with the essence of these once-charming communities.
I have read of the huge amounts of remedial works that are mounting up on these new-builds. Looking at the speed with which they have been constructed, I cannot own myself surprised by such news. Does this mean that these dwellings will become the slums of the future? I believe that all the more solidly-built properties that Boris Johnson is now so willing to condemn for not meeting his ‘green credentials’ for heating and insulation for the future will long outlast these wood and plasterboard substitutes. I’m willing to bet that most of the traditionally built properties (especially those from the 1930 – 1960 period) will still be in better condition in 50 years time than the pretentious looking ‘new builds’. Quality will stand the test of time.
The roads have not been significantly ‘improved’ to deal with the huge numbers of additional vehicles and lorries that now use the highways hereabouts. It is actually pretty well impossible to do so because the land through which they run is the land upon which new building has taken place. I do not doubt that similar situations now exist in many other parts of this Country.
Just outside the town in which I live the area has now become a completely new town. A garden centre/plant nursery I once used to patronise has sold its soul and made a quick buck by selling off a large chunk of land for development that it once used as nursery beds to grow plants for its retail outlet. They will not get any more of my business!
No wonder then that my garden has now become almost devoid of the once thriving small bird population that used to throng my bird feeders and bird tables every day. I have not heard a thrush or a blackbird sing in our vicinity for a very long time. The family of goldfinches has vanished. We see the occasional robin and a blue tit or two but little else. I haven’t seen a greenfinch for years.
Urban foxes (driven out of their once-wild countryside environment) now make free in the gardens where we used to sit out in the evenings, waiting for a sight of the hedgehogs snuffling about clearing the garden of unwanted slugs and snails. We even used to be visited by an owl that used to appear like a silent ghost and sit in our neighbour’s tree (presumably looking for mice to catch in the gardens). Sorry, but to my mind foxes are a very poor exchange for the diverse wildlife that used to give us such pleasure. I can remember early one morning sitting in my garden with my morning tea and seeing a hedgehog hastily building a nest under one of my shrubs. Within a short time my garden was alive with baby hedgehogs. What a pleasure! Not any more …
Developers are government sponsored wreckers of the fabric of Britain. Government has decreed that thousands and thousands of new homes are to be built to meet demand. For certain the ‘demand’ for the new homes I am witnessing being ‘thrown up’ is not coming from the poorer end of the incoming communities. (I am trying to be polite about the incoming hordes from war-torn countries whom we have afforded ‘asylum’ in what once used to be our green and pleasant land!)
Governments have encouraged Councils to act as property developers. Our local Council has recently described itself as a ‘Master Developer’. They are sponsoring (against much protest and outcry) a new 5000 house garden-village that will dwarf the pleasant and historic small village to which it is proposed that it be appended. They have bought up property within the town environs with public money and converted it into dwellings that are now rented out privately (not to those ‘in need’).
I would say that that is speculation with public funds and, given that our Council tax has risen year on year until it is now almost double what it was less than five years ago, is not justifiable in anybody’s language. If their property dealings are so successful they should surely be reducing our Council Taxes not increasing them! I do notice that Directors’ salaries have crept up considerably though! I also read that the amounts of money that they hold ‘on deposit’ stands in the many millions. I’m not suggesting that they should not hold back some surplus but should it really be that much?
They sold out their holding in Council Housing years ago to a housing association. It seems to me that Councils everywhere are following government lead in their propensity to squander public money. I certainly do not see services increasing nor are they being run more efficiently. If anything, the laissez-faire attitude of Councils to the requirements and needs of the populations that they are supposed to serve shows that this is the last thing on their minds.
I cannot help but wonder, (just supposing the very worst that could happen) should we need to produce more food to meet our needs in the coming decades, just where might it be grown or where will the animals graze that may be required to fill our bellies. Yes, I am aware that eating meat is now akin to the heinous sin of ‘racism’ in some camps, but food is food and I cannot see me ever feeling able to eat fox.
So, from where I sit, government is wholly to blame for the trashing of Britain in every way possible. It is most assuredly the cuckoo-in-the-nest of this Country and it is time that they were tipped out of the nest that they so obviously feel is theirs by right.
Photo by Brendan A Ryan 
What is surprising is that there is so much surprise about the proliferation of housing development. Housing must be provided for the huge increase in population of which much is due to mass immigration sanctioned by the political establishment.
Jake, I am sure you have said what you have with a certain amount of ironic ‘tongue in cheek’. I dont think it is ‘surprise’ so much as horror and dismay at the fact that good agricultural land has been appropriated. The fact that the buildings being erected are obviously not housing for the masses but mansions for the well off! Are these ‘incomers’ so wealthy? If so why are we paying to house them in four star hotels and providing them with food clothing and free healthcare?
The plain fact is that we have been ‘sold’ this story that massive housing is needed. Where are the people living that are already here? Are they camping in the woods or living in ‘Rachmann slums’ with beds being used by multiple ‘guests’?
My reading of all this is that the Tory-donor developers are ‘raping’ this Country with explicit permission from those whom we have been unwise enough to ‘trust’ with the stewardship of Britain. They are repaying that ‘trust’ with treachery! Fortunes are being made at the expense of the long-term harm that is being inflicted on this land! Sooner or later this will rebound seriously upon the well-being of us all! Why else would the Great Reset have been devised? These ‘chickens’ are going to come home to roost sooner or later! Most people are turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the storm clouds and rumblings of thunder that are becoming increasingly more apparent! The shock waves when this storm hits will be immense!
No irony Frederica. It is as though there exists a regretable case of coginitive dissonance toward the housbuilding requirements needed to accomodate migration led population growth in our cities and towns and the subsequent white flight to rural areas of Britain. For everyTory angry at housing developments there is a grateful white flighter. Don’t think rural Tory MPs lose much sleep over mass immigration. They get elected anyway.
https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/key-topics/housing
Jake, having read the attachment I can see mass starvation on the horizon. This level of immigration has long been known to be unsustainable. Where will our food supplies come from if our agriculture dies? I know we import a lot now. That will only get worse. Where will the jobs come from to support all these people? They cannot all be supported on benefits indefinitely. I see Britain becoming a poor third world country in the not too distant future. Why can people not see beyond the ends of their noses? I read about de-population but I suspect that that means those of us who ask awkward questions!!!!
The last time I had access to our local planners they were talking of 250,000 new dwellings in Norfolk and Suffolk combined up to 2030. At average occupancy rates that means adding the current population of Suffolk to the two counties.All those immigrants have got to go somewhere.
Liz Truss, current Press and Con darling is, according to one of her aides, very committed to this development. Well, Tory donors are getting what they’ve paid for all over the country, conversion of agricultural land to development land with easy planning approval.
Treble gins all round and sod you lot.
JF
Talking about wildlife, I love watching and feeding the local birds and have been lucky to see lots of different species in specially adapted feeders out of reach of predators. I buy the bird food wholesale and get it delivered for convenience and it is a great pleasure to see and hear them every day. For that I am grateful for small pleasures.
Well you really touched a nerve Frederica, and in answer to whether there are any areas untouched by this mass destruction, the answer I think is no. I live in a very rural part of Wales and a few years ago an application to build “social housing” was put to the Council on green belt land nearby. We already have a mix of social and private housing in our area on the edge of farming land and this particular plot was totally unsuitable because of flooding and a clause in our property deeds that said that no building can be erected that overlooks ours as the land was designated green belt only and our property, together with a small number of others, were the last properties to be built on that gradient. A number of us went to the developers meeting (they didn’t expect anyone because they did not advertise it) and my husband and a neighbour, both engineers, told them there would be major problems but they knew better. I think they were just out of nappies. Petitions were lodged and I and a neighbour went to the planning meeting to ensure our views were heard and it was a complete joke. Even our local Councilor whom we had spoken to several times, had the audacity to tell the planning meeting “there were no objections” but they refused to let us speak. Within 12 months about 50 houses were built (you can’t tell me this wasn’t signed sealed and delivered well before the consultation period. Since then the houses have been flooded several times as the drainage was totally inadequate. My husband told the developers they would need to put in a drainage system at least quadruple the size they were planning and have since had to redo it a couple of times at least. To make matters worse most of the people living there were moved from another social housing site as the homes were in such a poor state of repair and condition, so they could renovate the old places. It is common knowledge here that the Council have been paid a large sum of money to accept troublemakers from some of the inner cities in England and they are being rehoused in the refurbished homes. There is little or no employment here except in the service industry which of course has taken a hammering like everywhere else, and our infrastructure to accommodate them cannot cope as it has been overwhelmed for years. As we are a long way from the cities, professional people do not want to move here so we are desperately short of staff in the local hospital which is a 30 mile round trip. I personally have been on a waiting list for over 3 years. The council tax goes up year on year with the Chief Executive and various minions on eye-watering salaries. On top of all this the Greens and Plaid Cymru want to bring in more asylum seekers. What a fiasco. I think that every single person who wishes to do this should be made to pay in full for all their expenses whilst they live with them.
Lisa. What you have written is totally and utterly distressing. It is exactly what is being said over and over again in every part of the UK. Consultations are a farce because it is quite clear that all these decisions have been bought and paid for way in advance of the fraudulent and platitudinous charades of the supposed ‘consultations’! Even if the groundswell of public opinion manages to delay or derail any proposals for these desecrations, it is not many months before ‘appeals’ (usually to the government ministries who are already on board with all and every similar proposal) somehow manage to overturn all objections and the plans are given the go-ahead!
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorises it and a moral code that glorifies it.” Frederic Bastiat
Tyranny is obdurate. Tyranny is what we are enduring. Somehow we must find a way to overcome. However, I doubt whether the compliant masses will wake up from their stupefied acceptance of ‘Big State’ until the whole of our way of life has been destroyed. It is already under way via The Great Reset. It is being denied……but today I have read that Barclaycard is reducing people’s credit limits – mostly on people who pay off their balances every month. My reading of that is that Barclaycard do not want to be left ‘holding the baby’ with large amounts of debt when the ‘Reset’ is finally triggered! The noose around our necks is tightening and a return to complete serfdom beckons!
When all plausible reasons have been discounted that which remains, however implausible, must be the reason. That reason is corruption. I once bought a house built by a company owned by the chairman of the local planning committee…
Jack, I would say that proves QED!
Mass immigration = mass housebuilding
I’m sure you are right Jake. But….if immigrants are going to be living in the mansions that are being built in our neck of the woods then I wonder how long it will be before the revolution kicks off! I couldn’t even begin to imaging how I might be able to afford the price of one of these ‘mansions’! I wouldn’t want one I hasten to add because the speed with which they have been thrown up and the likelihood of them being poorly constructed with faults that will probably surface just as the NHBRC guarantee runs out, will turn them into the slums of tomorrow!
The NHBC is primarily funded by builders. I thought it was to protect the homeowner. I was rudely disabused.
Result is nhbc will trot out – well known and approved builder, electrician and so forth. Nothing to see here.
Trying to get snagging and such done is like frating against thunder. Solicitor threats do sober nhbc (a tiny amount) but still their ‘artisan’ mates really dont want to do anything. What they do do is during the last week of the two year guarentee. That way their half artist remedial work of their remedial (!) is outside the certificate and then they wont rectify their crummy efforts.
As many of us has found to their cost, that nhbc cerificate is more or less worthless.
Good comment Bicotte. Absolute proof positive of what we all suspected! Most of this wouldn’t happen if the old system of site building inspectors was still in operation and where the building regs were adhered to. My father was a Clerk of Works for many years. He knew a thing or three about building work and had no good opinion of sub-contract labour (and that was thirty years or more ago). I wouldn’t have a new build under any circumstances. Much better (and cheaper in the longer term) to buy an older house that was solidly built and make it your own by careful alteration and extension!
I think the little birds have starved. A few years ago we would have to clean our car windscreen after a Spring or Summer drive to clear off the splatter of insects. I can’t remember the last time I needed to do this. Could it be that all the pesticides that the farmers are using has killed off the insects? There are fewer birds perhaps because their food chain has been ravaged and their nesting sites bulldozed. The livery yard muck heap has fewer earthworms wriggling through. I assume that the horses’ hay, straw and corn has also had pesticides sprayed on them hence the lack of earthworms. We’ve not had much rain for weeks here in South Devon. We horse owners would normally be angsting over the grass getting too lush and keeping a close eye on our animals’ weight. This year the paddocks are like the beaten earth corrals in the Westerns and we are feeding hay to our hungry horses. The farmers are desperate for rain for their crops particularly as the harvest was poor last year. As one pointed out to me when we we’re chatting about all of the building work round our villages and towns, we’re not building any more land!
Ceri I think you are right in every detail. A few years ago before my husband became ill, we used to keep bees. Even then there was concern about the amount of pesticides that were being used on crops that were spilling over into the wilder ecology where the bees foraged. In the last couple of years I have not seen a honey bee at all in our garden. There used to be many where other beekeepers lived nearby. We used to get dragonflies and other insects. Now we see the odd bumble bee and butterfly but not in any numbers. I believe that such heaps have to be carefully watched now so that the liquid content does not leech into water courses. So they are often moved before they have time to rot down and mature properly. I looked at my garden yesterday and realised how dry it is. Yet it seemed to do nothing but rain over the winter months! Of course, the rain probably washed out a lot of the nutrients that would have kept the soil moist but cracks are already appearing! That comment about, ‘we are not building any more land’ is absolutely true and most certainly to the point. I am also reminded of the Gerald O’Hara speech to Scarlett in Gone With The Wind….. “Land….it’s the only thing that lasts”! Politicians have allowed this desecration and they should face retribution for their crimes.
Yes, the same round here (West Midlands.) Small village inflicted with seventy houses. Nasty little boxes.
I looked in an estate agent the other day, every property bar one was sold. A couple of years back it would have been the opposite.
The reasons:-
White flight.
Retirement. (Come here & buy a house for a quarter of the price of your existing. Nice little nest egg left over.)
Single person households. ie It’s the wimmin.
Investment/rental. The economic crash is looming. Buy property or gold. At least you can’t lose everything.
Retirees returning from the EUSSR. (Spain & France.)
It’ll be interesting to see what happens when the furlough is finished and unemployment looms.
I’ve recently searched the bits of Surrey where I grew up. It was not good back then. Now it is ten times worse.
Farmland, countryside and villages. There was a bit of that, within (longish) walking distance. That went, way back, when they so called improved, upgraded, an A road.
So much of what Frederica has said, is true. The ‘development’ is not ‘affordable’, or to meet genuine need. It simply suits the already rich to become richer.
And yes, one way and another the wonderful powers that be, are ensuring we can not hope to feed ourselves, or produce useful goods, or keep ourselves warm, etc. etc.
It is well said that “The love of money is a root of all evil.” To that extent most of us are guilty of contributing to the problems which beset us, not just ‘government’ or Councillors. But we don’t want to change, do we?
A Grumpy Old Fellow agrees with you.
A couple of years ago I asked an estate agent why were they building so many new houses in Cockermouth? How can they be paid for when there is a shortage of decent jobs in the area?
Good questions,he said. I have asked potential buyers the same. The answers… “Oh, but this is where we WANT to live. We don’t mind having a 30 -40 mile commute either end of the day..
And, of course some of them will end up on the Town/Parish Council so that they can impose their Urban standards on a Rural community.
Dickatbarn I have wondered myself who is actually buying these houses. I have concern that they are being bought up by speculators or London Authorities (as we live in the South East) who wish to use them to re-home some of their overspill outside the capital! I cannot believe that the numbers of properties being built round here could possibly be occupied by local buyers, or that there is enough work within travelling distance to support such expensive looking purchases. Given that other areas in the South East are getting the over-development treatment as well, it surely, logically follows that these houses are being occupied by ‘incomers’ (whether indigenous or imported I wouldn’t care to speculate!!!!). The thing that seems absolutely certain is that somewhere along the chain some people are being (corruptly?) well ‘rewarded’ for ‘facilitating’ this massive and damaging over-development!!!
Necessary actions to save our country:
– Bin the green nonsense and tighten up the planning process
– Stop immigration from the Third World including any Muslim country save for genuine non-Muslim asylum seekers
– Deport all illegals; no excuse and no appeal
– A complete moratorium on building of mosques , or conversion of existing buildings
– Summary deportation of all aliens on conviction for a serious offence
– De-fund the UN etc and cease any compliance with its policies
– Restore a strong and effective Treason and Sedition Law with the time-honoured penalty.
I could go on…
Jack I couldn’t agree more! What has been done to this Country by successive governments over the last few decades is nothing short of criminal!
“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims, but accomplices”
Orwell
O.K. Jack Thomas, good thinking. Particularly the bit about distancing ourselves from the U.N. and all it’s tentacles, like minded bodies.
To think I once believed U.N. was ‘a good thing’. I once believed the ‘League of Nations’ was ‘not powerful enough’, or it would have prevented WW2.
Frederica – and there was me feeling a bit homesick today, thanks for curing me of it.
Speaking of cuckoos haven’t heard one in years. I used to think we lived in a rural area. Silly me its a building site. Yep my council is now partnered up with national housebuilders who happen to be tory party donors. Ten thousand houses in next 5 years (the latest local plan for sustainable development). Thats a lot of people abandoning our diverse cities. My MP has a banner outside his office ‘Stop concreting Derbyshire’. He also has a stonking majority for promising to ‘Get Brexit Done’. Far as I am aware he never campaigned for Brexit or raises the slightest objection to housing targets. Local councils face ‘penalties’ if their local plans are not approved by central government. Developers can also appeal to ministers if local planning deny permission. All my local cuckoo has to do to keep getting re-elected is remind people how bad the other lot would be in some fantasy comparison. You can’t make this up.
Matt up North. Developers are clearly ‘buying’ their development permissions. I suspect that our current Housing Minister (who has already been mired in sleazy development implications) has much to answer for! He is clearly not ‘unbiassed’ in his Ministry role!!
I hope your resident Cuckoo gets his comeuppance in due course of time! Enoch Powell asserted that all political careers end in failure! Here’s hoping!
Matt up North. I too live in Derbyshire. Sounds like a different MP as mine just managed to get Ruth George out, not a stonking majority. Presumably though we are both under Derbyshire County Council. Hence my desire to oust main parties on there by voting Independent.
From what you’ve said, sounds like nowhere is safe.
England, even Britain is not a large country by any means but I’m desperately clinging to the hope there may be small pockets of it resisting the horrors Frederica has described.
Pauline if you ever find one of those pockets you might tip me the wink so I can move there!!!!
Parish Council planners are overridden by the District Councils when It comes to new houses.
Frederica. That was written in reply to flyer having felt a bit homesick. Now Matt up North has demonstrated that I was probably wrong.
Flyer, there may be some areas of Britain that have escaped the worst excesses of government but I can tell you that if I could win the lottery I would be seriously considering my options!!!! I no longer recognise the Country I grew up in. I don’t know where you are but it sounds as though you have been there some time. If you are at all comfortable I would stick it out and wait for better times – if better times will ever be there for the having!!!