Comments on: Lichfield District…a deluge of houses on the way?

By: Options Price Reporting Authority

Options Price Reporting Authority — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:45:34 +0000

Glad to see someone is staying on top of things.

By: adrian leigh

adrian leigh — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 15:20:18 +0000

To build more homes in an area whose infrastructure is bursting at the seams is maddness and dictitorial.
More homes mean more roads/pavements hence drains straight into the rivers hence more flooding.
Inovative new towns need building from scratch ( possibly using the acres of MOD land)easy options are destroying both quality of life and our beloved plannet. Enough is enough!!

By: Matthew Ellis

Matthew Ellis — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 11:04:37 +0000

Regarding Rod Bull’s comments, I don’t believe it to be nimbyism but pragmatism.

I entirely agree with you that there need to be more affordable houses. Many next generations in the numerous villages I represent are unable to stay in the same place as their parents or families because the cost of housing is prohibitive.

The problem is not so much the overall number of houses being proposed for Staffordshire but the fact that with around 30,000 dwellings currently in Lichfield District, another 20,000 plus on top of that would change the entire nature of the district beyond recognition.

We are certainly not saying no houses, we do need more affordable homes for people starting out. What we are saying is that 21,000 is too many when other areas within Staffordshire want more but are not being allocated them. It is a balance; more of the correct type of housing in the right place, but not so many that it changes what Lichfield is.

By: Rod Bull

Rod Bull — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 13:48:05 +0000

I tried to regsiter a comment on the website/petition that I did not agree with it. No option given for that. Why?

Your stance is Nimbyism only and although I wil continue to support the Conservatives in a general election I find myself now unable to do so locally.

New houses are needed. You seem to have no thought for thosse unable to get on the housing ladder.

By: Paul Wolferstan

Paul Wolferstan — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 10:01:32 +0000

So much about the Government’s house building policy does not seem to make sense – either nationally or locally.

The government has recognised that environmental concerns are now vital – so should we be destroying yet more highly productive Midlands farmland when it could be producing low-mileage foodstuffs, biofuels and employment for rural communities?

Furthermore, according to the “Spatial Options – Summary Leaflet” published by the WRMA “the Government believes that by substantially increasing the level of house building, general affordability will improve”. This is a very odd justification for excessive house building, and in a market full of property investors always able to pay top-dollar, would seem to be highly unrealistic. Even if it worked by over-saturating the market, it could devalue all existing properties, destabilise the housing market and remove the equity on which most UK consumer credit is underpinned, causing major economic problems.

Like most people affected by this decision, I don’t have the day-to-day exposure to the complex planning process (and all its jargon) that is required to fully understand the situation at either the macro or micro scale. Given that these “proposals” seem to be a national edict backed by the unaccountable WMRA, I get the feeling that it is largely unstoppable. Is this really the case?

I’ve signed your online petition, but what else can we do?

By: Philip Hall

Philip Hall — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 10:02:50 +0000

I completely agree the situation is very worrying. I have emailed wmrc to express my personal opposition and Wigginton and Hopwas Parish Council, while still considering their position, are likely to reluctantly accept the lowest option. We are particularly concerned about the position in Tamworth where there is a continual threat of massive development in our area. I regard this as a particular problem because of the poor record of past Tamworth developments with their ugly, skyline destroying, tower blocks and the future slum of the Glascote/Amington development. The “development” of the town centre is also rather dubious.

By: Mrs DeCalmer

Mrs DeCalmer — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 19:59:01 +0000

I feel that Lichfield is slowly being wrecked and that the visitors who come to see this perfect little Georgian town will no longer be able to find it and no longer come. Also living in a village Stonnall] I feel it is only a matter of time before greedy developers backed by the government will be casting envious eyes on our greenbelt which our village works so hsrd to protect. We have just come second in the ‘best community village’ and it would be a catastrophe to have it ruined and swallowed up by housing. Liz DeCalmer