And one for Retron. Govt plans for mass urbanisations continue apace.
These places never look like the Utopias the developers conjure up in paint.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpdgjepdeo
Reminds me of drill baby drill over the water.
Originally Posted by: NMA
Ah, the Quinn estate - it's an interesting one, that, as unlike the myriad 500-700 house estates which pop up locally it includes some significant infrastructure. If it goes ahead, it would mean a lull in housebuilding on Sheppey - which has already lost so much as a result of those massive housing estates. The latest one, incidentally (650 houses), has gone to appeal, and will doubtless be passed - just as the 700 house one half a mile further on has.
Funnily enough the loudest objectors to that latest one were those living in the 2000 house "Thistle Hill" estate, sandwiched between the two. (It's actually built on Rape Hill, but I guess that name wouldn't sell as well). They didn't seem to appreciate being told that none of us who were already here wanted their houses built either, and they were the reason the roads are overwhelmed locally. Oh well!
This Quinn proposal is an order of magnitude bigger. On the plus side it would provide an escape route from the other side of Sittingbourne - currently the whole town gums up in the event of a crash on the A249 to the west - and although the council has had one of the relief roads in its plans for 20 years, nobody's dared to build it as they know it'd be a vote loser (from those nearby), even if it's popular elsewhere. It would also mean an end to these mega estates locally, giving perhaps a 10 to 15 year pause - very welcome that would be too. And being where it is, it affects fewer people - albeit they would be really,
really pee'd off.
On the downside is the loss of farmland (high grade too) - and though it's sterile, as is most farmland, it would of course lead to a loss of habitat. And it would mean even more people cramming onto the 2-lane M2, which is untouched from the halcyon days of the 1960s.
Over all - purely selfishly - I'd hope the plans go through. If we *have* to have thousands more houses dumped on us, which apparantly we do, then I'd rather them affect fewer people.
Ideally, though, we'd see entirely new towns rather than these add-ons to existing settlements. Get the roads and railways in first, *then* build. The way we currently do it is just pandering to developers, meaning they build the houses, provide the bare minimum improvements (and no, inserting a roundabout on a 60mph main road isn't an improvement in any way, shape or form) and then bugger off, leaving the rest of us with a worse quality of life.
If housebuilding is to be broadly welcomed, it needs to improve life for everyone in the area, not make it worse.
EDIT: And unfortunately, as long as the flight from London continues, and we import nearly a million new people each year, we'll just see more of the same. Much more. If you're lucky enough to live in an area that hasn't yet seen these sorts of mega-estates popping up, count yourself lucky, very lucky... and make the most of the quiet while you can!
Edited by user
12 December 2024 07:45:12
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