Homes planned on the Fiveways allotments?

Thu 6 Oct 2016, 14:27 (last edited on Thu 6 Oct 2016, 14:54)

Thank you for your support Hannen, I was not though necessarily agreeing that the allotment site in particular should be developed having said that if it was developed with low profile, south facing, sedum roofed houses then it might not look that out of place and could actually instil a sense of pride in the community.

The land could be granted planning permission under the "exception rule" which should ensure that it is retained for affordable housing in perpetuity; this rule allows for the land that otherwise would be not granted permission for development to be used only for affordable housing i.e. Green belt land. Landowners could use this opportunity to make the land available to the community by way of long leases - 100/200 years thus providing an income for themselves and their "issue" for future generations. It is unfortunate that some developers are now being allowed to build on exception sites as a pay off for building a percentage of "affordable" houses.
New sites could be developed at a pace to suit the needs of the town with an annual review to ascertain those needs at the same time allowing for incomers to join the community. This would give Charlbury the ability to determine its future instead of being at the mercy of developer companies. The new housing stock could be allocated to fill in the gap in the current housing provision; homes are needed for low paid workers, essential workers, single people of all ages, couples/same sex partnerships, young families and older people and those with disabilities/health issues etc; we are not talking about needy people/families here, we are talking about people the community needs who are able to contribute fully to our society/community given the right opportunity. By low cost housing I mean at a "reasonable" cost for example £2-300 per month, this would have a knock on effect for low paid families being able to pay their way and not be forced to rely on state benefits to pay council tax etc; a win win for all plus feel good factor.

Question? If this is such a good idea why is it not rolled out nationwide.
Simplistic answer? Because the bottom would fall out of the vastly overpriced rental/housing market; mortgage companies would close offices, developers would go bust and B&Q would be empty! When successive governments have sold off their social housing stock it has only really been for boosting the economic status of the country but as we are now seeing certainly in the south of England the only effect has been a worsening of the housing situation. It would be fascinating to see if the old stigma of being in social housing would be transferred to those not living in low cost sustainable Eco-community housing.

As to traffic, Hannen, I really don't know what the answer is to making a safe and workable system for the town (this might need the input of an expert). As far as a new low cost site is concerned I would suggest a community car park using Home Zone ideas for the main areas so that cars would take second place to pedestrians and living areas; bicycles would be positively encouraged.