Power Lines and Health Risks

Many people will remember the old chestnut that returns from time to time regarding the health risk of living in close proximity to overhead electricity power lines. There have been numerous studies over the years particularly focusing on the possible link between exposure to high electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and increased risk childhood leukaemia.

Another study has resulted in the likely recommendation that new houses should not be built any nearer than 230ft (70m) to overhead power cables. This is based on statistical evidence and still no causal link has been found to establish the risk as a fact. Although the link has not been found this could simply be down to our medical knowledge not being up to the task at this time.

It is expected that the advice coming from the Stakeholder Advisory Group will result in a new PPS as guidance for local planning authorities.

In point of fact there has been a strong reluctance by builders to construct new housing in proximity to power cables as sales rates and prices are likely to be adversely affected. The development community will probably welcome anything that establishes a ‘safe distance’ as this can be used in planning layouts and then in sales literature.

The more worrying aspect of this is with regard to existing housing that is inside the ‘safe distance’. One of the members of the Stakeholder Group is the Council of Mortgage Lenders. It is entirely possible that they will produce private advice to their members that there will be an increased risk in providing mortgages on affected properties.

If existing properties become impossible to mortgage then their value will drop alarmingly. There is talk of the need to knock down and replace affected properties, but you have to ask yourself ‘how willing will any government be to pay private owners compensation in this circumstance?’ And even if they do decide to do so ‘how long will it take to establish and pay out from such a compensation fund?’

My advice to anyone looking to purchase a house or flat is avoid it if it is in an affected zone and if you already own one then sell as quickly as you can. This will drag on and once it becomes a significant talking point the chance to sell will have gone.



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Do you want to see the house or gardens next door to you developed?

Some Members of Parliament are starting to wake up to the fact that (particularly in Southern Britain) the much lauded preservation of our Greenfields from the rape of development is enabled by building every higher densities on land that was previously gardens.

Greg Clark the Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells has become concerned regarding the issue and he has instituted some research in six planning authorities over applications that have been approved over the past year. These are Bradford, Chelmsford, Guildford, Nottingham and Tunbridge Wells.

Now he has been reasonably fair in the distribution of these authorities although he could have thrown in one from the South West and at least one major city or conurbation to give a completely fair analysis.

The results were that the authorities are achieving the 72% of new housing development on ‘Brownfield’ land that the Government is so proud of, but due to the lack of sufficient redundant industrial land, two thirds (i.e. 66%) of the Brownfield development is taking place on ‘previously residential land’. This means either backland development on rear gardens or knocking down houses and building blocks of flats.

Mr Clark is now promoting a Private Members Bill to alter planning legislation and prevent ‘garden grabbing’.

He stands absolutely no chance of succeeding with this measure but he will gain some publicity for the situation that is overtaking all residential communities.

There should be a proper debate over the issue of housing dealing with both the level of requirement and its distribution. However at the moment we have the Government deciding on the level of requirement without engaging the public in any real education of why these houses are needed and where they should be built. Next you are getting the distribution decided by the new unelected Regional Assemblies.

It is a mess and given the long-term impact of housing issues it deserves far more open treatment. I am sure once people are made aware of all the arguments affecting housing they would then accept ideas that at least would enable development to take place without the bitter opposition that currently takes place.

Because if you accept the need for housing and you don’t want to see currently undeveloped land built on then you have to accept increasing densities in your neighbourhood. Alternatively take another idea that has been floated recently and use areas of farmland, develop the majority of this for new woodlands and public open space areas and a small part for new high quality housing.



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Property Development Project - Day 198

Celebrations over and it is time to consider the next move. What do I need to do?

1. Get plans prepared and a Building Regulations application in,
2. Select a shortlist of potential builders to quote for the work,
3. Draw up a specification and associated plans,
4. Do service enquiries to establish the position and depth of the main services (Water, sewerage, gas, electricity and telephone),
5. Do a level survey to establish the route for the foul drainage and the position of Soakaways for surface water drainage,
6. Dig a trial hole to establish the depth down to the subsoil and undertake a percolation test for the soakaways,
7. Appoint a Structural Engineer to design and specify the steels required for the extension plus any underpinning, and
8. Appoint a Quantity surveyor to prepare the build contract and undertake the contract tender.

So, there is plenty to be getting on with, however before all this I am not entirely happy with the design for the new house.

In doing the revised plans to please the Conservation Officer I feel that although they are workable they could be improved to make the house more saleable.

My real concern is with the position of the front door. Having it at the front of the house is fine and traditional, but it means that I have created a situation where the front door opens straight into the living room. In an old traditional cottage this may be acceptable but in a new house where I am hoping to get in the region of £300,000 for the finished product I am not convinced this is the right way forward.

So rather than rushing ahead and having to alter the design later when it will be more expensive and potentially create greater delays I will draw up some ideas and do market research among the local Estate Agents.



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The iPad - A solution to the first time buyers problems?

John Prescott wants to build at ever-greater densities to try to overcome our housing problem without building on the precious greenfields. David Cameron is also getting on the bandwagon and championing those who support building in brownfield areas and admonishing those that resent new developments next to their own home.

To join in this endeavour we have Barratt dusting down an old idea they first produced in the 1980’s. Back then it was called the ‘Studio Solo’ and it was a small flat built on large developments to attract the ‘first time buyer’ who had been priced out of the housing market.

Does this seem familiar to the current situation?

Well Barratt have come up with a ‘new design’ to solve our housing problems, this time it is called the iPad. It is a one bedroom flat that has been shrunk to 380 square feet. To get that into proportion it is less than 20ft x 20ft. In this you get a living area, a bedroom and a bathroom. They are unfurnished but include kitchen appliances.

Now the Studio Solo also provided the appliances and the reason was that they were all specially made to fit the space and if anything went wrong you could not replace them with a standard size appliance that can be bought in a normal store.

Not surprisingly these units that were popular when they were produced did not stay that way and became an investment disaster for those that needed to try and sell during the property recession. Why buy a flat the size of a garage where you can’t update it when you can now afford a proper house or flat.

I would urge anyone to be cautious with this new offering and the alternative being designed by David Wilson homes that will be called the i-Life.


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Property Development Project - Day 196

The day has arrived at long last; there is a large envelope on the mat this morning from the Local Authority. It can only be either Planning Permissions or another set of refusals.

I could tease myself and wait a bit before opening it, but no, open it up and there they are two permissions as shown above.

The two-storey extension permission is short and sweet in that it only has two conditions:

1. Time – it has to be undertaken within 5 years, and
2. External details have to match those of the existing house.

Both very reasonable and now we come to the new house and single-storey extension:

1. Time - again undertake development within 5 years,
2. Before the start of development submit details and agree – the external facing materials, boundary treatment and the verge, eaves and window details,
3. Before the start of development lower the hedge height on part of the frontage,
4. No occupation until the parking is in place, and
5. The external details of the extension to match the existing house.

As you will see later I will have some problems with condition 2 and getting the necessary agreements on time. However now it is time for celebration and looking to move the property development project forward to the next stage.



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Housing Market - Spring 2006

As a diversion from the Property Development Project I thought I would comment on some of the various projections that are being put forward for the housing market over the remainder of the year.

A number of the mortgage lenders and other pundits have been commenting on the current housing market since there has been a small upturn in the figures. It always happens that there is a variation in the figures since Halifax Building Society has a preponderance of its business in the North and Nationwide Building Society has a slight bias towards the South.

Both Building Societies are using figures for mortgages that have been taken up as opposed to the Land Registry that has to wait until house purchases are registered after completion of the purchase. This means that while Land Registry’s figures are the most accurate and cover the whole country, without any bias, they are lagging behind those of the Building Societies by as much as three months.

Nationwide has a quarterly rise of 2.3%, giving an annual rise of 4.9% for the whole country.
Halifax has a quarterly rise of 1.6% giving an annual rise of 6.2% for the whole country.
Land Registry has a report to the end of 2005 showing an annual rise of 4.6%.

So far as projections are concerned you can find a range between the doomsayers who are predicting a house price crash (as they have been doing for the past few years) to those betting on a recovery at about 6% or so. Nobody is predicting a return to excessive house price growth as the affordability ratio in relation to earnings means that there is just not the money to be borrowed at levels that can be afforded to push prices up at double digit percentages.

The only aberration is in the top of the market in London where substantial bonus payments have reignited this market that has remained dormant for over four years.

So where am I in this mix – well I see the sense in the Halifax report where they feel that house prices over the next decade will only rise roughly in line with earnings, since that will keep the affordability ratio in line with today’s figures. At the moment this means between 3.5 – 5%.

FPDSavills are predicting no growth at the moment and I have great respect for their research as they have made a far better job of getting it right over the past few years compared to any of the others.

Anecdotal evidence where I am in the South is that prices are not moving upwards but there is greater activity in the market with better buyers. This means that people are coming out of rented housing and back into owned property.

It would seem that we have been amazingly lucky in achieving a most remarkable outcome after the last period of growth in that we have a ‘soft landing’. This is rare and most welcome. Economic factors are still encouraging with growth (albeit slow) in this country, the start of growth in Germany and the Euro zone and growth in America. There is even the chance of renewed growth in Japan after a decade of deflation.

The only clouds on the horizon that I can see is that unemployment is starting to increase and that always dampens confidence in the housing market. Also all Gordon Brown’s tax increases are starting to hit the spending power and confidence of the ordinary taxpayer.

If the economy stays stable then I reckon that prices will move upwards slowly and there will be a return to normal activity levels. However any factor that seriously affects the economy or confidence levels could tip the market into recession. So let’s hope that George Bush does not invade Iran and that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown don’t dip their hands into our money any more than at the moment.


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Property Development Project - Day 186

I am consumed by impatience but after gaining some self-control I phone the planning officer dealing with my applications to see how we are progressing.

He confirms that there are no objections of any real merit and the applications can and will be dealt with under delegated powers.

This means that they will not have to wait for a committee cycle and can be signed off by the chief planning officer. We are now only a week away from the end of the eight-week period since registration and I know the Council will want to have them concluded by then.

The planning officer however will not give me a date when he will be writing his report although I know that he must be dealing with it along with any other applications that are getting to the end of their eight week periods.




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Property Development Project - Day 175

I go to the Town Council website and download the minutes of the last Planning, Town and Environment Committee meeting. The Committee met only a couple of days ago so the results of the minutes have not yet reached the District Council.

Among the various applications being considered are my two and for both the observation column states ‘SUPPORT’.

That is great since it means that barring a District Councillor suddenly deciding they don’t like my application I should be heading for a pair of approvals.




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Property Development Project - Day 174

Jumping forward again we are now five weeks into the eight week period for these applications before they are going to be determined. I have spoken to the same very good assistant planning officer that helped me before and he has looked through the file.

No comment yet from the Town Council but the Conservation Officer has done her bit. The comments refer to our discussions and that the new plans are in keeping with the conservation area. The only reservation she has is that she wants conditions imposed requiring approval of materials prior to the start of development.

This is a standard form of condition that I would have expected anyway so this gives me no concern.

I will just keep in touch to find out when the Town Council repsonds.




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Property Development Project - Day 160

We can leap forward again to the end of the three-week consultation period.

In the interval the planning officer has been out and put up new notices on the fence and I take the precaution of copying them in case I have trouble with the local kids trashing them again. As it turns out this particular game seems to have lost its appeal and the notices remain intact.

I have left it until a couple of days after the end of the consultation period and then I ring up the planning department and speak to someone who looks at the file for me. There are three comments:

• Highways have no problems and simply want a condition relating to the height of the hedge
• My neighbour has objected again on the same grounds as before
• The local historical society has objected as they think the development will be out of character

• I didn’t expect a problem with highways as this aspect of the scheme has not altered
• My neighbours objection will carry no more weight than it did last time
• The historical society objection is a bit of a surprise since they did not object to the previous application that was far more out of character, anyway the planners tell me that they are used to these objections and they have very little impact

However as before there are no comments in from either the Town Council nor the Conservation Officer. I shall just have to keep in contact, as I do not want to fall into the same trap as before if she has altered her opinion in any way.




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