Musings from the Merse
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
CEMENTING BERWICKSHIRE? The NOES Have it?
This week's Berwickshire has been an unusually rich vein of blog material. A bloggee tells Huttonian that he attended a packed meeting about how any appeals against the now finalised Local Plan for the Borders will be processed. Apparently the turn out from Nimbys (remember: the Native Independent Minded British Yoemen) was overwhelming with all but a handful of people ( mostly developers in the Red corner) expressing strong opposition to any more concreting over this bit of rural Scotland.
Thus the lead letter in the Berwickshire:' More houses are not the answer' will strike a sympathetic chord in most places. The sentiments expressed by the writer are fairly forceful: He fears for the health of SBC Development and Building control committee 'they must surely be in danger of of repetitive stress injury caused by the palm-greasing and back scratching to which they are seemingly subject' He asks what else can explain the 'mushroom like growth of housing' He is all for small developments of affordable housing in existing communities but dead against turning the Borders into a 'most desirable suburb for Edinburgh, ripe for development. The Big Boys have moved in cosying up to the local authorities with flashy promises of upgrading roads and services in return for cramming in the maximum number of units.' 'Let no one be fooled' he adds 'with talk of of bringing prosperity to the district. Commuters won't shop locally and will send their children to private schools'. There is more in this vein warning about the future of agriculture here -once the fields are built on there is no going backto food production and the growing of bio-fuels. Well worth reading in full but you will need to get the paper; the electronic version omits it. I wonder why?
Fingers crossed. Thanks to people power we have seemed to have escaped lightly in this neighbourhood pending any challenges to the Plan. But it would be unwise to completely relax, too soon.
This week's Berwickshire has been an unusually rich vein of blog material. A bloggee tells Huttonian that he attended a packed meeting about how any appeals against the now finalised Local Plan for the Borders will be processed. Apparently the turn out from Nimbys (remember: the Native Independent Minded British Yoemen) was overwhelming with all but a handful of people ( mostly developers in the Red corner) expressing strong opposition to any more concreting over this bit of rural Scotland.
Thus the lead letter in the Berwickshire:' More houses are not the answer' will strike a sympathetic chord in most places. The sentiments expressed by the writer are fairly forceful: He fears for the health of SBC Development and Building control committee 'they must surely be in danger of of repetitive stress injury caused by the palm-greasing and back scratching to which they are seemingly subject' He asks what else can explain the 'mushroom like growth of housing' He is all for small developments of affordable housing in existing communities but dead against turning the Borders into a 'most desirable suburb for Edinburgh, ripe for development. The Big Boys have moved in cosying up to the local authorities with flashy promises of upgrading roads and services in return for cramming in the maximum number of units.' 'Let no one be fooled' he adds 'with talk of of bringing prosperity to the district. Commuters won't shop locally and will send their children to private schools'. There is more in this vein warning about the future of agriculture here -once the fields are built on there is no going backto food production and the growing of bio-fuels. Well worth reading in full but you will need to get the paper; the electronic version omits it. I wonder why?
Fingers crossed. Thanks to people power we have seemed to have escaped lightly in this neighbourhood pending any challenges to the Plan. But it would be unwise to completely relax, too soon.
Comments:
You omitted to mention the land owners. If they were not willing(nay eager) to sell their land to developers there would be no problem for the rest of us
# posted by 
: 12:26 PM
: 12:26 PM
Like most of the UK & Ireland, the Borders needs more houses given social changes where more and more people live alone - without the additional houses, prices will inexorably spiral upwards out of control, real/local people will be unable to afford and will become an empty biscuit box picture like the Lake District in winter because there are so many second/holiday homes.
But it needs sympathetic development - adding and infilling in existing settlements rather than what you've see in Norn Iron up to recently where it was possible to build your new house out in the sticks away from villages and towns - and not surrounding somewhere the size of Lauder with a soulless monolithic neverending housing estate like you see in the Home Counties.
Here's a radical thought though - anyone buying a second home should be compelled to build (at their own expense) an affordable house in the same area and surrender it to the local social housing provider.
But it needs sympathetic development - adding and infilling in existing settlements rather than what you've see in Norn Iron up to recently where it was possible to build your new house out in the sticks away from villages and towns - and not surrounding somewhere the size of Lauder with a soulless monolithic neverending housing estate like you see in the Home Counties.
Here's a radical thought though - anyone buying a second home should be compelled to build (at their own expense) an affordable house in the same area and surrender it to the local social housing provider.
Our problem is more with main home owners rather than second homes. They tend to be people working in Embra or Newcastle and can't afford to buy there but can afford 300grand for a house around here. They tend to just use the area as a dormitory, don't shop locally (actually no shops in Hutton or Paxton!) and some send children to private schools-altough most new owners seem to be rather older than primary school parents. Nor do many tke any interest in local affairs and are not engaged in the community.
Well I must be a welcome incomer then.... school age child attends the local school, shop locally when I can (often the local stores don't have what I want though), have milk delivered by the milkman, etc. and as you know I comment upon the pressing matters of the day as reported in the illustrious volume that is the Berwickshire News
You incame to the right place. Our school is closed; no shops nearer than 21/2 miles. Pub 2.2 miles. Bus service infrequent and inconvenient. Newspaper delivery gave up. Milk yes but I suspectwe are living on borrowed time as customers are dwindling. But our weather is free and the best in the borders
Your bus "service" must be on a par with ours - amounts to about once every 2 hours to Berwick in one direction and Kelso (sometimes Galashiels) the other.
Milk deliveries all over are under threat - I know my parents live in an urban part of Co. Durham and their milkman is under threat.
Milk deliveries all over are under threat - I know my parents live in an urban part of Co. Durham and their milkman is under threat.
we are well served am and early pm with three buses in and out of Berwick but after 4 or so nothing so it is not possible to do a full dys work in Berwick (or any where else) and get back to Hutyon
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