Modern housing estates

[Simon]

It's no secret that modern housing estates are pretty rubbish places. The problem seems to me that people will buy anything and as such developers build simply to maximise returns and without much need for design flair, or adequately sized plots.

15 years or so ago a new estate was built next door - 'The Acres'. Typical modern stuff - no frontage to the houses so you almost open your front door onto the pavement, tiny gardens, each house a facsimile of the next and absolutely none of the original trees kept from when it were fields. All of this is compounded by the fact it was approved and built during the Labour administration so deliberately under prescribed with parking places.

That last rule I thought the coalition Government repealed in the early past of the last decade. Now in the last couple of years another estate has sprung up to the North West of the town. 'Westvale Park'. So I took a drive around it the other day and bugger me if it isn't exactly the same. Cars parked everywhere, no trees anywhere and if you were dropped into the estate blindfolded you couldn't tell which road you were in without looking at the road signs. How the hell are councils allowing house-builders to get away with this?

When my estate was built in '89-90 they kept so many of the trees from the original farmland, they built the houses in the style of the original farmhouse for continuity, there's actually space around each of the houses and you don't get the feeling that they just crammed in as many as they could. Sure it was 30 years ago, but developers still cared about making a profit back then too. 'My' estate subsequently won awards for its layout - when my brother-in-law came down to see his family he commented on how good it is (he's quite a well known property developer). Sure the houses we've owned in this estate haven't been insulated quite as well, and the original windows are old and knackered, but at least they're pleasing places to live in.

I think people need to start demanding better - leave those identikit boxes on the market until developers start improving their offerings.

[Rich B]

Ok.

[tim]

Cool story bro.

[GG.]

Typical modern stuff - no frontage to the houses so you almost open your front door onto the pavement, tiny gardens, each house a facsimile of the next and absolutely none of the original trees kept from when it were fields.

Sounds like my South London Victorian terrace

[Simon]

Ok.

Cheers.

[Simon]

Typical modern stuff - no frontage to the houses so you almost open your front door onto the pavement, tiny gardens, each house a facsimile of the next and absolutely none of the original trees kept from when it were fields.

Sounds like my South London Victorian terrace

LOL.

[Simon]

Cool story bro.

Thanks.

[McSwede]

There are plenty of new ones being built near me and they're awful. Tiny gardens and next to no privacy. Cramming as many on a site as possible seems to be the answer nowadays. Zero desire for any of them.

As with you Simon, I live on small development, but from the early 80''s. The layout is great as the houses are placed at jaunty angles so the is a lot of privacy and they are all on good sized plots. Much better I'd say.

[Jimexpl]

I think that Prince Charles is one of the most successful 'estate' developers in recent years.
Take a look at Nansleden on the edge of Newquay -
No front gardens, but that's not the traditional style of a Cornwall town/village.
Ample parking, with many having gararges at the back of the properties and central amenity space.

[jamcg]

You’d love Ingleby Barwick. I’ve heard it said it’s the biggest housing estate in Europe but I’ve never actually seen evidence of that. It is enormous though, and is still expanding. I get lost when I’m working there, it all looks the same and all has that soulless feeling that modern estates seem to have

[Mito Man]

I was looking around one in Aylesham (the same place that PCSO lady recently got murdered). Weirdly the new builds cost more than older houses in that region which are nicer and bigger. Some homes had a garage but it was 4 posts and a roof - the bastards skimped on the walls. Guess it keeps the ice off the car but that's about it. Then it started raining and it made the most noisy racket! Realised the homes don't have a conventional roof but metal sheeting which was made to look like tiles.

[dinny_g]

Milton Keynes tends to have plenty of green space retained in new estates and plenty of variety of homes but the same parking restrictions apply. A new estate of 6 bedroom homes has 1 space per home ffs.

[duncs500]

I don't know if you can call the place we recently moved to an estate as it is only 18 properties, but we love it.

Parking is ok, houses tend to have either two spaces or a garage and one space. Fine if you don't want to own three cars, which we would probably like to at some point.

House is well put together, garages are pretty long singles. The way it's designed most gardens are fairly private (ours is the least private ).

I found living in an older house like our previous had many more compromises in terms of modern living, and just a mishmash of shoddy bits of DIY, grubbiness, and a garden that was hard to keep under control. Can all be sorted, but a lot of work and money. It was great to be able to just move into a well laid out and spotless home and make it our own. I can see why people pay a premium for new houses.

[Jobbo]

Milton Keynes tends to have plenty of green space retained in new estates and plenty of variety of homes but the same parking restrictions apply. A new estate of 6 bedroom homes has 1 space per home ffs.

The actual New towns like MK, Redditch etc are pretty well spaced out and after 50 years the landscaping, trees, hedges and so on are very well established. So while I’d always prefer an older property, I can see a lot of appeal.

New estates built now are sometimes pretty good, but almost always badly located because the better locations have already been used up.

[duncs500]

That's true, there are some big developments near me that are quite a long way from the centres of the villages they've been attached to. Must be a pain if you want a pint of milk.

Ours was just a small development on a former factory that's very well located. The added benefit of that is that the community was not against the development unlike all these green field areas they're trying to build on where everyone is dead against it.

[V8Granite]

The problem with a lot of new houses is that given a little bit of momentum, you can run to all the rooms in the house without using the doors.

As much as I moan about drilling into stone filled concrete walls and how a spirit level was just a way of checking your whiskey, it’s nice being in a solid house. Ours is a 1952 ex council semi.

Dave!

[Rich B]

It's business, land that can be developed is at a premium so they need to squeeze as many homes onto it to make the money they want.

Plenty of people like new houses with no work needed and small gardens to maintain. If you don't, then don't buy one. I don't understand why you'd moan about other peoples houses though?

[ZedLeg]

The problem with a lot of new houses is that given a little bit of momentum, you can run to all the rooms in the house without using the doors.

This, combined with the room sizes new builds aren't built for big folk

It's why I like tenaments, solid walls and high ceilings.

[Jobbo]

It's business, land that can be developed is at a premium so they need to squeeze as many homes onto it to make the money they want.

Plenty of people like new houses with no work needed and small gardens to maintain. If you don't, then don't buy one. I don't understand why you'd moan about other peoples houses though?

I think he's moaning about housing estates because he's considering moving house.

Plenty of people buy new houses because they don't like the idea of a second-hand one. Then fail to realise that you still need to clean it

Quite a lot of people who buy new builds on estates also say 'Never again' due to the overlooking, tiny plots, limited parking etc.

[Rich B]

It's business, land that can be developed is at a premium so they need to squeeze as many homes onto it to make the money they want.

Plenty of people like new houses with no work needed and small gardens to maintain. If you don't, then don't buy one. I don't understand why you'd moan about other peoples houses though?

I think he's moaning about housing estates because he's considering moving house.

Good thing theres many centuries worth of houses that have already been built in this country then!