22nd February 2006, 07:55 PM
OK, developers make money out of house building. But they only do so because we are willing to pay through the nose for houses, and we are mainly willing to do that because there aren't enough of them.
We all need to live in houses - there aren't enough suitable old houses in the right places, so we need to build new ones - and all houses need a bit of land to be built on.
If you go brownfield - you're generally in a town, so often there will be a risk of complex deep strat etc., plus risk of contamination etc. There is a limited number of such sites, and not all are suitable for housing.
If you go greenfield - all sorts of other environmental issues as well as archaeology.
If you say don't build new houses - more homeless people, more poor people with no hope of ever buying a home.
Pros and cons both ways. Mostly, it is not the developer that decides what land is available (whether green or brown), its the local authority in setting their local plan - a democratic process in which we can all get involved if we choose.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
We all need to live in houses - there aren't enough suitable old houses in the right places, so we need to build new ones - and all houses need a bit of land to be built on.
If you go brownfield - you're generally in a town, so often there will be a risk of complex deep strat etc., plus risk of contamination etc. There is a limited number of such sites, and not all are suitable for housing.
If you go greenfield - all sorts of other environmental issues as well as archaeology.
If you say don't build new houses - more homeless people, more poor people with no hope of ever buying a home.
Pros and cons both ways. Mostly, it is not the developer that decides what land is available (whether green or brown), its the local authority in setting their local plan - a democratic process in which we can all get involved if we choose.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished