Can West Berkshire cope with another 10500 homes? Options

[TallDarkAndHands...]

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article...articleID=12216

Can the West Berkshire infrastructure cope with this number of additional homes?
10500 homes would equate to over 20,000 people. How are the roads, schools and services such as Doctors Surgeries going to cope?

I know new homes need to be built and the 'not in my back yard' mentality is prevalent in many areas but I do wonder if they have really thought through the impact of all the additional people?

[Bloggo]

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article...articleID=12216

Can the West Berkshire infrastructure cope with this number of additional homes?
10500 homes would equate to over 20,000 people. How are the roads, schools and services such as Doctors Surgeries going to cope?

I know new homes need to be built and the 'not in my back yard' mentality is prevalent in many areas but I do wonder if they have really thought through the impact of all the additional people?

If you mean by "they", West Berks Council. Then I think they have been looking first at the impact that 10k5 new houses will have in generating new Council tax revenue as it is clear that the present infrastructure struggles to cope with what we have now and solving that should be the priority.

[Biker1]

The short answer to the question posed by this post is "no".

But then this could lead on to the much much bigger issue which is that the whole world cannot cope with more people requiring more resources.

This crowded island is bursting at the seams with people and the continuing growth in the population (whether by immigration or birth) is unsustainable.

If we keep building at this rate when will it all end? Will a line ever be drawn saying enough is enough?
Or do we keep on until the whole country is built upon?

Most of the world's problems stem from over population which is increasing at an alarming rate.

I don't know what the answer is apart from maybe following China's example, but how would this be implemented in the "developing world"?

If nothing changes then these sort of developments will continue and the strain on our ever scarcer resources will increase to breaking point.

This development is a very small part of a much bigger and serious challenge faced by the whole human race .

[lordtup]

It's one of those silly pieces of trivia I know , but apparently the whole population of the planet would fit on the Isle of Wight . Yes it would be a bit steamy in the middle and those at the edges would get their feet wet at high tide , but fit they would .

This in no way exonerates irresponsible copulation though , because even though they may fit , it will still sink .

[On the edge]

Can you reserve me a couple of places near the fish shop on the front at Sandown please?

[Exhausted]

Our need for housing is based upon our culture. This culture has been encouraged over the last sixty years by our need to be independent of the family, brought about by the new mind set need to own a piece of England with a two up two down on it. There is now some sort of a stigma against married couples, as a family unit, living with Mum and Dad unlike, say India or China, where it is considered the norm. The government are fanning this independence by crashing on with the huge building programme which provides the opportunity for young couples to own property, fill it with consumer goods and have a late model car parked on the drive. This, provides yet more income for local government and to some extent drives the economy. It is a fairly short term gain however as, without the ability to provide a sound financial base for the manufacturing and service industries, we will not be able to sustain and repay the national debt. It will take us, as a country, longer to recover from downward trends in the international market place and if we're not careful, we may be a third world economy in a hundred years time.
Government schemes seem hellbent on encouraging this form of commercialism, the scrappage scheme being a prime example where we are offering incentives in the UK to send money to German and Italian countries to support their car manufacturing factories. Any scheme should have been aimed at UK made products to support and boost our own productivity. A chocolate scrappage scheme perhaps to support Cadbury's.

[blackdog]

The argument put forward by the OP was that West Berks infrastructure could not cope with 10,500 new homes. But it is not the houses that strain the infrastructure, it is the extra people living in them. Would not building these homes prevent the population from rising?

[GMR]

It seems that making Newbury town centre bigger they had already thought of that. It was planned in advance.

[Bloggo]

The argument put forward by the OP was that West Berks infrastructure could not cope with 10,500 new homes. But it is not the houses that strain the infrastructure, it is the extra people living in them. Would not building these homes prevent the population from rising?

Where are all of these 10k5 families coming from. Are they all homeless at the moment waiting for these homes to be built?

[Biker1]

Where are all of these 10k5 families coming from. Are they all homeless at the moment waiting for these homes to be built?

Some from immigration & some from childbirth.
That's how the population of a country increases!

In addition to this differing lifestyles to those of the past means that there is a need for the population to be more widespread in more dwellings.

There are a lot of single mums these days!

[Bloggo]

Some from immigration & some from childbirth.
That's how the population of a country increases!

In addition to this differing lifestyles to those of the past means that there is a need for the population to be more widespread in more dwellings.

There are a lot of single mums these days!

No, I don't go along with some of that.
Surely the incidence of deaths compensates for childbirth?
There are no new industries being created in the area to attract workers from elswhere to move here.
Single Mums can't afford to buy the sort of houses that are being built unless a huge amount of the are affordable housing or will be owned by the likes of Sovereign Housing.

[Biker1]

No, I don't go along with some of that.
Surely the incidence of deaths compensates for childbirth?
There are no new industries being created in the area to attract workers from elswhere to move here.
Single Mums can't afford to buy the sort of houses that are being built unless a huge amount of the are affordable housing or will be owned by the likes of Sovereign Housing.

The incidents of death do not compensate for the current level of birth or immigration in this country hence the predicted 70M population by 2020.

A lot of people who live in the houses in Britain do not work (i.e. have a job).

Single mums do not need to buy a house - it is provided for them.
Most new developments have to provide a certain percentage of "affordable housing".

Surely the need for more housing is a result of either increase in population or changing lifestyles.
How else do you explain it?

[Bloggo]

The incidents of death do not compensate for the current level of birth or immigration in this country hence the predicted 70M population by 2020.

A lot of people who live in the houses in Britain do not work (i.e. have a job).

Single mums do not need to buy a house - it is provided for them.
Most new developments have to provide a certain percentage of "affordable housing".

Surely the need for more housing is a result of either increase in population or changing lifestyles.
How else do you explain it?

So what you are saying is that we are concreting over our green field sites to accomodate immigrants, people who don't work living on benefits and single parents who live in accomodation provided by the state.
Not a very attractive picture is it?

[blackdog]

There has been an advert for R4 recently in which David Attenborough says that the population of the world has increased by 200% since he started making wildlife programmes. In one man's working life!
http://www.optimumpopulation.org/blog/?p=567

No wonder we have issues with housing.

[JeffG]

Another statistic that is often quoted is that there are more people alive today than have ever lived.

[Iommi]

Another statistic that is often quoted is that there are more people alive today than have ever lived.

Except I understand it is untrue.

[Iommi]

I notice tenants living in social housing is in decline.


From: www.statistics.gov.uk

[JeffG]

I notice tenants living in social housing is in decline.

Do you think that is possibly because council houses were sold off, and fewer than needed are being built today?

Or maybe there is a choice, and people prefer private landlords. (The graph suggests that the growth in owner-occupancy is pretty flat and may even be falling.)

[Biker1]

So what you are saying is that we are concreting over our green field sites to accomodate immigrants, people who don't work living on benefits and single parents who live in accomodation provided by the state.
Not a very attractive picture is it?

No.

[gel]

Where are all of these 10k5 families coming from. Are they all homeless at the moment waiting for these homes to be built?

We can look forward to the Frogs providing many too:
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/154141...head-to-Britain