WHY CARE?
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: People want to live in the country. Why shouldn’t I?
A. We DO need homes in the countryside, but affordable ones, on the right sites, not developer-led projects on land better used for farming and food production.
There are many villages and market towns in the Southwest that want and need new homes – small developments should be prioritised over sprawling urban extensions and people should be able to influence where they are sited.
There are many villages in the Southwest that want and need new homes. We object to the principle that building on Greenfield before Brownfield to create large urban extensions is the way ahead. We object to Government removing or ignoring the planning guidance that protects the countryside at the moment. Developers can make more money from large detached homes, and given the opportunity, it is these that will be built, not the affordable homes that we need.
Q: I live in the city – why should I care?A: Regardless of where you live, you need the countryside for -
Clean air
Drainage
Cooling
Flood protection
Food production
Sports facilities
Public rights of way
In these days of climate change, it is more important than ever that we think long and hard before we concrete over the remaining green spaces.
Q:You’re just a load of Henrietta and Hugo’s who don’t want ordinary people living near your mansion, lowering the tone, isn’t this really about value of YOUR house?A: No, the groups who have supported us are made up of ordinary people from every imaginable demographic.
More than 900,000 households in rural areas live below the Government’s poverty line.
It is to keep the countryside affordable that we are pressing for the RIGHT type of development to happen.
The Government have confused housing need for the need to build more houses, when they could be incentivising developers to make better use of the housing stock already standing.
Q: What about affordable housing?A: Affordable also needs to be sustainable, clean, safe, well built and environmentally low impact.
Developers need encouragement to build homes that people want to live in, in areas with appropriate infrastructure, but without damaging the limited space we have left in the name of affordability.
Q: What about the recession?A: The figures produced for the RSS are all exceptionally optimistic in the downturn.
Building our way out of the recession is not viable, developers are the only people who profit.
We don’t see who will buy the houses when nobody can get a mortgage.
It would be cheaper and a smarter use of resources to re-use what is already available rather than build more.
Q: Alright then smarty-pants – what’s the answer?A: There are nearly a million empty homes, if the Government sticks to it’s target of 60% of the new build on Brownfield sites, that equals 1.8 million of the 3 million stated (estimates show that 420,000 homes could be made from existing empty commercial properties). If they also brought back into use the empty homes and exploited all available urban regeneration and build at a proper density, that meets most of the target, which in any event may need revising in light of recent changes in the world economy.
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