The property development frenzy in the south East of England has made it economically viable for developers to buy perfectly sound houses, demolish them and then add as many houses as they can get away with on the site.
Our town is full of such sites, and it makes me cross.
A company called Luxor Developments in association with The Hall Partnership recently bought the oldest house in our street (for £600k apparently). They submitted a planning application to demolish this house and build 2 new houses on the plot.
Their mistake was to quickly cut down, on the same day as the application went in, a splendid Magnolia tree which would have interfered with their plans. This tactic meant that no-one could put a tree preservation order on the tree, but also had the effect of prompting most of the street (26 in all) to object to the application.
I just learned that it has been turned down. Yay!
Presumably they'll either appeal or re-apply with something slightly less extreme that allows the neighbours to retain at least some of the current light in their garden. No doubt eventually they'll get their way, and make a few hundred grand for doing not very much.
In the meantime, there's a street full of people highly motivated to put as many obstacles in their way as possible.
Posted by frazerr at June 24, 2003 12:05 PMI love your site over here in Florida US,,,check mine. Just started mate. www.developerssuck.com .. good luck to ya,, Mark
Posted by: Mark at August 4, 2003 09:20 PM