land prices

[Anonymous]

I have just read this thread here my-shop-t55553.html


This is what annoys me living in the UK..........................only around 2% of our land is built on, so there 98% available to buy. If our planning laws were relaxed land prices would go down, therefore our quality of living would rise ie we could live in bigger houses with bigger gardens etc etc for not much more money.

The cost of building a 4 bed house is roughly roughly speaking about 70k, the land to put it on would you cost you about treble that!!

 

[Harbo]

That's a very simplistic line to take - are you suggesting they allow a free for all on the 98%?
What happens to our countryside and farm land? We need to produce more food not less.
Planning Rules are there for a purpose and not always bad?

Also I think your house building rates are a bit on the low side - now £1k to £2k per square metre per floor?

You cannot compare us to other countries like Canada which a basically uninhabited by comparison.

Rod

 

[Anonymous]

No i am not saying a free for all, but if another 2% was to be built on its hardly going to be a big dent in the landscape is it.

Nope my building rates aren't on the low side, you would be surprised how cheap a good solid timber framed house can go up for.

I am not advocating the new build housing estates. I am talking about being able to do self builds on cheaper land, like they do in other countries.

Planning applications will still need to be passed but rather than saying a big fat NO they should be more open to negotiation.

I want to build my own house you see and trying to find suitable land is very very difficult on a budget.

 

[Digit]

If our planning laws were relaxed land prices would go down,

I was watching 'Question Time' once and a then labour minister, when challenged about immigration, stated that anyone over flying new that 'only 10%' of the country was built over, thus arguing that immigration should be stopped was racisism.
It would seem that she was not the only person unaware that our current farm land would support, at present consumption levels, a population of 17 million, and that currently we import a staggering 40% of our food.

Roy.

 

[doorframe]

you would be surprised how cheap a good solid timber framed house can go up for.

Yes, especially if your careless with the matches. :shock:

Roy

 

[Anonymous]

If our planning laws were relaxed land prices would go down,

I was watching 'Question Time' once and a then labour minister, when challenged about immigration, stated that anyone over flying new that 'only 10%' of the country was built over, thus arguing that immigration should be stopped was racisism.
It would seem that she was not the only person unaware that our current farm land would support, at present consumption levels, a population of 17 million, and that currently we import a staggering 40% of our food.

Roy.

ah but only 24% of land is used for arable farming, i am not saying lets build on every bit of green land available, i am just saying the planning process needs to be a more lax for the discerning self builder. Self builds should be encouraged.

perhaps i should have put my point across a bit better in my opening thread................As i was thinking of 2 things at once.

We import 40% of our food because a) its cheaper and b) there things we can't grow in this country due to the climate.

Timber framed houses aren't tinder wood, but yes they would be susceptible to go up good and proper if they do catch fire.

Ps whats wrong with looking at things in a simplistic way, seems sensible to me.

 

[Digit]

We import one million litres of liquid milk per DAY, due to EU regs and the low profit margin putting dairy farmers out of buisness, 2 per day currently. We import fish etc, some of which is caught in UK waters by foreign fishing fleets due to the destruction of our fishing industry.
During WW2, when we even ploughed muddy waters and had a population of some 40 millions, we still couldn't feed ourselves!
Hitler knew this, hence the Battle of the Atlantic.
DEFRA can't tell you how much land is currently farmed even.
Here in Wales we have sheep, lots of 'em, not because of any peculier sexual proclivities but because in many areas the land will support no other form of farming activity, some 73% of land in the UK is farmed by one means or another, some 10% is urban, that leaves something like 17% as mountain, heath, marsh etc.
Veggies will tell you we could feed ourselves if we stopped farming animals, that is complete rubbish!

Roy.

 

[doorframe]

Timber framed houses aren't tinder wood, but yes they would be susceptible to go up good and proper if they do catch fire.

Twas only a wee jest. Certainly don't want to see anybody's house (or shed!!) go up in anything (except maybe value).



Roy

 

[Digit]

Roy to Roy. Houses don't go up in value, only price! I lived in an ex coaching Inn at one time, largest house in the village, built in 1792 for £132. I sold it 21 yrs ago for £75000! I doubt I could even afford to rent it now a days!

Roy.

 

[Anonymous]

We import one million litres of liquid milk per DAY, due to EU regs and the low profit margin putting dairy farmers out of buisness, 2 per day currently. We import fish etc, some of which is caught in UK waters by foreign fishing fleets due to the destruction of our fishing industry.
During WW2, when we even ploughed muddy waters and had a population of some 40 millions, we still couldn't feed ourselves!
Hitler knew this, hence the Battle of the Atlantic.
DEFRA can't tell you how much land is currently farmed even.
Here in Wales we have sheep, lots of 'em, not because of any peculier sexual proclivities but because in many areas the land will support no other form of farming activity, some 73% of land in the UK is farmed by one means or another, some 10% is urban, that leaves something like 17% as mountain, heath, marsh etc.
Veggies will tell you we could feed ourselves if we stopped farming animals, that is complete rubbish!

Roy.

Well we only can only blame the EC for that, not our local planning officers.

I agree a good stable farming industry would get our country steady, but we as a people only have ourselves to blame shopping at the big four and not in our local high streets at an independent!!

 

[Digit]

The largest percentage of liquid milk Mark is not bottled, it's used for food manufacture/processing, anyway, stick around, even with immigrants having a higher birth rate than natives according to the BBC we are still in decline, and according to a commentator in the Guardian population growth isn't a problem either! No comment!

Roy.

 

[Rich.ca]

I have just read this thread here my-shop-t55553.html


This is what annoys me living in the UK..........................only around 2% of our land is built on, so there 98% available to buy. If our planning laws were relaxed land prices would go down, therefore our quality of living would rise ie we could live in bigger houses with bigger gardens etc etc for not much more money.

According to Wikipedia, there is almost double population in the Uk than there is in the whole of Canada. The Uk has 94,000 sq miles (ish) and Canada has aprox 3,800,000 sq miles of land. Thats why is so expensive in the UK, there is more demand for what little space they have.

 

[devonwoody]

Mark, the Dale Farm boys tried but were evicted, the system just wants to protect their own land values they already own.

 

[Anonymous]

I have just read this thread here my-shop-t55553.html


This is what annoys me living in the UK..........................only around 2% of our land is built on, so there 98% available to buy. If our planning laws were relaxed land prices would go down, therefore our quality of living would rise ie we could live in bigger houses with bigger gardens etc etc for not much more money.

According to Wikipedia, there is almost double population in the Uk than there is in the whole of Canada. The Uk has 94,000 sq miles (ish) and Canada has aprox 3,800,000 sq miles of land. Thats why is so expensive in the UK, there is more demand for what little space they have.

I have never for 1 second thought any different! But my point is there is 98% of land that isn't lived on if 2% more was freed up we would double the living space going forward.

 

[Digit]

Accept that it isn't 2% Mark, when you take into account such things as roads, shopping centres blah blah blah it's about 10%. Even London only has 'houses' on a small percentage of its municiple area.
Take a look at this....

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... PQ&cad=rja

2%?

Roy.

 

[wobblycogs]

Mark, while I can't for one second believe that only 2% of the land is built on I do fully support your point of view. We wanted to build our own place while we were still young enough (and family free) but after looking into it we decided it just wasn't worth trying in this country. Unless you make it your sole life goal to build a house you'll never do it. We spoke to people that had managed to build a place and waiting a decade for a suitable piece of land to come up wasn't uncommon. Even then the land cost as much as a decent, already built, house.

What I find very sad about the situation we've got ourselves in is that all the houses that people look at and think are amazing are all old and were built long before anyone thought up the idea of planning permission. By all but completely stopping the self builders what we've ended up with is tens of thousands of very bland fairly low quality houses that we'll probably be pulling down in 50.

As for freeing up land I don't really understand how the big house builders can get buy a field and get permission to put 1000 houses on it but if I was to buy a little corner of a field and ask, at enormous cost, to put one house on it they would laugh at me. Surely there should be a balance between the big builders who will meet most of the demand and the smaller, one off, builders who will bring some quality and ingenuity.

 

[Digit]

What I find very sad about the situation we've got ourselves in is that all the houses that people look at and think are amazing are all old and were built long before anyone thought up the idea of planning permission.

Yep, I am often reminded of that advert for Fiat cars, Designed by robots etc.

Roy.

 

[dh7892]

I think you have to be very careful about making blanket statements about relaxing planning laws. I think there are two sides to the story. Many of us (me included) would love to have the freedom to build their own house and find it very frustrating how difficult and expensive it would be.

However, If you own a house with a nice view of fields and someone comes along and builds a load of houses on it, you might well have a different opinion on the subject. I think a much better solution (really the only one in the long term) is that we need to control the global and local populations much better.

I think that the biggest problem with planning laws at they stand is that they heavily favour large developers that have the political and financial clout to get their developments through. This means that the types of new build houses that spring up are mostly quick-build, high density, lego houses.

If the laws favoured single build-to-live houses, the standard of build would be higher and would encourage houses that enhance their environment rather than spoil it.