Avoiding the Inappropriate

A great deal is written about 'Nimbyism' when it comes to building new homes, but I think this is a disrespectful and inaccurate description of many of those who express concerns about proposed new housing developments in their community, especially when that community is rural and relatively small.

Now, you might be surprised to hear me, a house builder, expressing that view, but it is honestly held - and it has been reinforced by attending a number of parish council meetings recently to discuss the issue of building new homes. 

I genuinely believe that many of those who oppose new developments do so not because they are against any new building, or because they do not see the need for new housing to help keep our rural communities vibrant.  No, the word you hear most often to describe such proposals is 'inappropriate'. 

Whether it is a question of scale (too many houses which threaten to swamp a local community), or a design which jars with the surroundings, or a reluctance to contribute to local community facilities - too often you see proposals put forward which are clearly not appropriate . 

Frequently the culprits are big, national developers, who care more about their city shareholders than the communities in which they are trying to build.  With their off-the-shelf designs, they will attempt to cash in on an opportunity and then disappear with the profits.  Why would they care about particular local needs or concerns?. 

But building new houses doesn't need to be like this; there is another way.  What if house builders took account of genuine local housing needs, as well as the social, economic and neighbourhood factors which all go to make up a community?  Then they could come forward with more appropriate plans which would be more acceptable to local people. 

Of course, to do this, builders would have to genuinely understand those local communities, and this is the bit that the big, national developers cannot grasp.  They seem hell-bent on imposing their agendas on local people, rather than working collaboratively with them to provide the housing which most of our rural communities genuinely need. 

This is where locally-based builders have the edge.  Because we live and work in the communities we build in, we take more care to work with them – if only because once we have finished, we will still be living and working amongst them, in contrast to developers based elsewhere who will have upped sticks and disappeared over the horizon. 

Of course, there will always be those who believe we shouldn’t be building new homes at all, and they are entitled to their views.  But I think the majority of people who express concern recognise that we do need to build new homes so that local people can find somewhere to live.  So it is incumbent on us to make sure our plans are proportionate, and appropriate.