I quite expect we all have tales to tell of town planning departments. I myself spoke at a meeting of the Brighton & Hove Council about the blatant misuse of municipal funds, and the eventual pocketing of half a million quid by one of the councillors. It was a total disgrace.
I got nowhere, but I hadn't expected heads to roll. I'd simply wanted the meeting's minutes to record that the scam hadn't gone unnoticed! Especially by me!
Not many planning approvals are as ridiculous as the one illustrated in the short video above, they usually involve refusals, then the subsequent approval to a friend of the planning officer. I suspect that 'greased palms' must be more common in town planning offices than anywhere else.
In Spain they are quite happy to give planning permission, later change their minds, pull down newly built occupied houses, and confiscate the land. This mostly happens to foreign owned properties, where the proprietors have little recourse.
On two occasions my own parents applied for planning permission on excess land (they simply wanted the outline planning permission to sell along with the house). On both occasions it was refused, but after selling the homes, suddenly permission was mysteriously given.
Back in the UK, housing is in short supply, and developers are constantly applying for permission to build on 'brown field sites' . Such developments come with strict stipulations that they include a good percentage of 'affordable homes'. Such homes, if let to tenants, must be at 20% less rent than similar nearby properties, and if sold to new homeowners, must be sold at 20% under local values.
I do remember (back in the 80's I think), the town of Telford in Shropshire was building a large new landscaped estate on the outskirts of town. It was specified that all the individual developers were not allowed to build their houses within 6 of another one of their own built houses, and no two houses similar; therefore creating a good diversity of building styles and methods, and not some monotone development. I think someone should have suggested that to the Turkish planning folk above.
That Spanish business you referred to bankrupted friends who retired there and built (with all formal permissions, no back handers) on some land they had purchased years earlier. A new mayor accused the old one of corruption and ordered destruction of all home built on permissions issued during his encumbancy. They fought it in court, surprisingly won, but at the cost of all their savings and mortgages on their home that they couldn't pay so in their 70s were living on their old yacht (and it was very old) again and back at work in London!
ReplyDeleteI believe this happens quite often, and usually with not good results.
DeleteBrownfield sites are not farmland. Brownfield refers to former industrial land that may be contaminated.
ReplyDeleteYes I realised that, but forgot to change it. I was confusing my green and brown. I'll change it now.
DeleteDisneyland in Turkey. One or two in a new "estate" is one thing but masses and masses of the wretched buildings quite another. Imagine they will end up bulldozed.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine the local planning dep't agreeing to this scheme? They must be bonkers; or have healthy bank accounts!
DeleteThe idea of giving Turkish citizenship as a free gift with every apartment is as obscene as it is wrong.
ReplyDeleteI used to know several countries where 'investment' of several hundred grand would buy you a passport and residency. Mostly small islands in the Caribbean.
DeleteThink of how many practical little houses that could have been built and sold at reasonable prices to assist the poor and middle class citizens.
ReplyDeleteIt really is an awful project. One can hardly believe that it's real.
DeleteGood grief, is that for real?
ReplyDeleteIt shouldn't be, but sadly it is!
DeleteFloresça onde Deus te plantar, permita que seja Ele a determinar seu caminho e você sentirá sua vida ser plenamente abençoada. Deus, melhor do que nós, sabe do que somos capazes, conhece nossas virtudes e fragilidades, e Ele certamente tem preparado para você um caminho recheado de alegrias e conquistas.
ReplyDeleteNão tema e avance, deixe brilhar a luz do seu coração. Você merece ser muito feliz e Deus certamente lhe proporcionará essa bênção.
I lived on the Bridgnorth side of Wolverhampton for almost twenty years Cro and moved up here on retirement. While I lived there on the few occasions when I went to Telford it never seemed to hang together as a town. Don't know what it is like now, thirty years later.
ReplyDeleteFor almost twenty years I lived on the Bridgnorth side of Wolverhampton - not all that far from Telford at the time they were building it. I only went there a few times - always on business and while I lived in the area I can honestly say it never ever felt as though it had melded together as a town or a community.
ReplyDeleteI've only passed through Telford, and it never seemed very inspiring, which is probably why I was so impressed by the planning dept's insistence upon making this new development work. Good for them.
DeleteWe just had a big win in our small rural area. The Planning Commission was going to let a large developer change the zoning on a big parcel of land and build a huge, high density housing development. People in our township organized and for a change, we won
ReplyDeleteIn our tiny hamlet; we've lost, even though no-one wanted change.
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