The thing with housing is that there are plenty of problems and not enough solutions. Most new-build houses seem to be tiny, poorly designed, badly-built and incredibly expensive for what they are (although there are exceptions). The current planning system is skewed heavily in favour of the interests of the developers, with extortionate amounts of profit being made (which normally I wouldn't have a problem with).
Jeff Fairburn, former chief executive of Persimmon, was due to be awarded a £110 million bonus, reduced to around £75 million after "public outrage". And that's just one company.
This thread on the SABRE Roads forum is an interesting read about what developers can get away with.
Near where I live, Tewkesbury Borough Council, which does a very good job of giving the impression that its sole reason for existence is to concrete over the entire borough, actually refused* planning permission for an 850-house development to the south-east of M5 Junction 9 at Ashchurch. The developer appealed to the Secretary of State, and
now has permission. There are two main issues with this development:
- The A46 cannot cope with yet more car traffic, and neither can Jn 9, which will just lead to longer queues leading onto the motorway from the junction
- The development is right is the way of the much needed Ashchurch bypass (it couldn't be more in the way if it tried) and will severely limit options for this (yet Highways England didn't object to the proposal...)
So in summary, it will worsen the quality of life for people in Ashchurch, and also hinder the thing which would improve life there. If the developer was paying for (or making a substantial contribution towards) road improvement schemes (and cycling/walking provision) to accommodate all the people living in the development, and this happened to a much more significant level across the country, I'm sure there would be less objection to development.
Also local to me, at the south end of Evesham (a town with terrible traffic problems and large amounts of housing development going on, especially in the Hampton area), further development in going on (the red box on the map; the blue box has already been built upon) right in the way of any extension of the bypass round to Hampton to relieve traffic through the town centre. This is a stupid decision. (I will at this point mention that a bypass extension isn't officially proposed, indeed was pretty much rejected by the council as it might reduce the case (as a result of reduced congestion) for the other road project that will hopefully be going ahead soon, an upgrade of the A46 between the M5 and (eventually) the M40. Nevertheless, a strip of land should have been left free, should the town's transport plan change.)
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(Apologies for the slight diversion into terrible planning decisions, but it is related.)