Just in case you hadn't heard...

[Joiner]

(From a local Shropshire weekly newspaper)

"'...a new cost to be imposed on barn conversions to residential use; will mean the owner will be liable to pay 48% of building costs towards affordable housing elsewhere in the area.'"

"Balfour's planning consultant, Karine Swanson, said: 'The proposals are within Shropshire Council's Core Strategy. [...] and is likely to come into force when the plan is adopted in 2011.

The average barn of 200 metres square would cost in the region of £240,000 to convert, therefore the owner could expect to attract a contribution of £115,000 payable to the council towards affordable housing based on the proposed 48 per cent of building cost.

This figure is in addition to the associated infrastructure costs you could already be asked for to implement the scheme...

Almost every barn conversion requires an ecology survey to support the planning application and these surveys can only be done between May and September. So this is a relatively small window to ensure your application can be prepared and submitted before the rules change.'"

 

[Moo]

And quite right too! For far too long these rich townies have been allowed to live in rural luxury while the locals have to move away to the town because they can't afford to buy anything in their village**.






(Brief pause while I disentangle my tongue from my cheek)

** where, of course, there are no jobs for them, but that's another story ...

 

[middi]

It sounds like an april fools joke to me.

 

[chuckey]

Well that should help the young locals buy a barn to convert. Should help the local barn owners and also the local builders, trebles all round!!
Frank

 

[Flyfisher]

Hmm.
I've never seen a barn conversion that I even vaguely liked, never mind ever considering living in one, but this seems to be little more than extortion by the council planning department. Something similar happened recently in our village where a long-defunct petrol station/garage site was up for planning permission to build residential houses. Permission was granted on condition that the owner/developer paid £240,000 (I believe) for various infrastructure improvements include a new footpath to the village school, away from the main road. This requirement seemed to scupper the proposal as the site is still a defunct petrol station and I can just imagine the owners refused to pay such a bribe.

As for 'rich townies' causing house price rises that force locals to move away, I appreciate the problem but it works both ways. Every buyer needs a seller. Who is selling houses at inflated prices to 'rich townies'? Yes, the 'locals'! There's nothing stopping them selling for a price that local first-time buyers could afford.

I'd like to believe Middi is right and it's just an April Fools joke. Sadly, I suspect it's not.

 

[Joiner]

Yes, I had a problem believing it, and haven't been able to find any further references. It wasn't an April Fool's item, coming from a paper dated the 9th, and the cited authority is real enough...

http://www.balfours.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=205&Itemid=42

Second photo down.

I would have checked first thing Monday, but I'm away for a week.

 

[Joiner]

http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/planning.nsf/open/B08246DA908F9828802576E3004D680A

Coming to an area near you soon?

 

[Penners]

So, after that excellent piece of news, expect to see beautiful old barns crumbling to dust in a field near you.

 

[skier-hughes]

Hmm.
Permission was granted on condition that the owner/developer paid £240,000 (I believe) for various infrastructure improvements include a new footpath to the village school, away from the main road. This requirement seemed to scupper the proposal as the site is still a defunct petrol station and I can just imagine the owners refused to pay such a bribe.

Section 106 monies, are in all major building applications. Although that seems rather a high figure, it depends on how many houses they are building. The builders of the new prision by us are having to fund a £250,000 visitor/education centre, which is funny, as they'll work it into the quote that the gvt is paying.

 

[Schoolmarm]

:evil:

 

[AMc]

So, after that excellent piece of news, expect to see beautiful old barns crumbling to dust in a field near you.

Sadly that's happening around here anyway. There is a listed barn on the "at risk" register around the corner. It makes me weep every time I drive past it's exposed roof timbers, gradually being eaten away next to the immaculate house that owns it. Pub gossip is that offers have been made to buy and convert it but it's too near the big house, so they'd prefer to watch it fall down

There's nothing new about the social housing obligation, this stopped my parents from selling their ugly 70s bungalow as a development plot. If you built enough houses to make enough money for the developer and owner then the social housing requirement removed the profit. If you "under developed" the plot the profit wasn't there and the planning dept. got huffy about low density housing in the permitted development zone. 48% does seem excessive. A devious developer will probably be able to concoct a company to do a conversion and go bust without forfilling such an onerous tax.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

So, after that excellent piece of news, expect to see beautiful old barns crumbling to dust in a field near you.

Sadly that's happening around here anyway. There is a listed barn on the "at risk" register around the corner. It makes me weep every time I drive past it's exposed roof timbers, gradually being eaten away next to the immaculate house that owns it. Pub gossip is that offers have been made to buy and convert it but it's too near the big house, so they'd prefer to watch it fall down

If it's the one I'm thinking of, it doesn't belong to the big house. And we're stuck with the situation that it was a wreck when it was listed (not quite correct, as it was listed in 1952, but a wreck ever since there's been effective legislation to proactively preserve) , so repairs notices aren't a great deal of use either.

 

[AMc]

If it's the one I'm thinking of, it doesn't belong to the big house. And we're stuck with the situation that it was a wreck when it was listed (not quite correct, as it was listed in 1952, but a wreck ever since there's been effective legislation to proactively preserve) , so repairs notices aren't a great deal of use either.

It probably is! Just goes to show you pub gossip can't be trusted

 

[Schoolmarm]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Flyfisher]

Just goes to show you pub gossip can't be trusted

Oh come on! Next you'll be saying that not everything on the internet is true. :wink:

 

[Joiner]

http://renegadeconservatoryguy.co.uk/category/energy-rated-windows/