The banker loving, baby-eating Tory party thread (regenerated)

[itdoesntmatterwhatthissay]

2 hours ago, Xann said:

Guess what's happened to the pledge to make 200000 new affordable homes?

Well that depends what you term as affordable.
In my industry we didn't feel starter homes (which is what they are reeling back on) were affordable and tbh 'affordable' is a meaningless tag that the media/politicians have latched onto quite nicely. What about affordable over its lifetime?
You might as well roll back on a policy than deliver a failed one; such as the 1 for 1 replacement on 'right to buy' which was an awful promise.

However, starter homes south of Oxford are vital as land prices and opposition are real barriers. Having them should encourage investors to start releasing their stock which will really help. As an example have a look at the Homewise 'retirement' portfolio on Rightmove. 

Up north, houses are built for well under the £250,000 ceiling so it makes sense to not focus too heavily on starter homes as a major supply solution.

This government appears to be having serious discussions about diversification and moving away from starter homes is a smart move in that respect. Starter homes need local authority engagement at a time when they are resource stretched. Also not all regions will have brownfield, especially in the South West. This will mean reliance on less complicated large sites, sites for the major housebuilders, and delivery will be stagnated again.
Much of the affordability challenge can be driven by a diverse competitive market.

[Ingram85]

I think the people above who decide these things have no idea what affordable means. 

I and many others need small comfortable new 1-2 bed houses or accommodation that we can get a mortgage for for £100,000 or less. "Under £250,000" is not affordable. Not in most people's eyes I think. 

If I save up £8,000 and still can't get a mortgage for an £80,000 flat or apartment because I can't meet criteria or there aren't any £80,000 apartments in good condition (which there aren't) then the system is utterly broken.

Edited March 12, 2017 by Ingram85

[Chindie]

I seem to remember reading that there been some wrangling over the new house building campaign due to MPs in the more affluent parts of the country doing some old fashioned NIMBYism.

Might be wrong as only scan read months ago, but stuck in the memory.

[chrisp65]

1 hour ago, itdoesntmatterwhatthissay said:

Well that depends what you term as affordable.

I'm going to stick my neck out, and say homes that people within the average wage band (£23,000 to £28,000) can afford to live in.

 

1 hour ago, itdoesntmatterwhatthissay said:

Up north, houses are built for well under the £250,000 ceiling so it makes sense to not focus too heavily on starter homes as a major supply solution.
 

The very definition of a Doncaster, Wrexham or Cambourne 'starter home' being £250,000 shows a system, a political class and a house building cabal totally out of touch and out of control.

 

 

 

[blandy]

33 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

The very definition of a Doncaster, Wrexham or Cambourne 'starter home' being £250,000 shows a system, a political class and a house building cabal totally out of touch and out of control.

The point's valid, though the numbers aren't. You can theoretically get small homes for way less than that up north, at least. There may not be enough of them, but they're not a quarter of a million quid.  Then again, plenty of people up north and in cornwall and wales will not be on much of a wage, so the prices are still out of reach. If only there were some sort of good stock of publicly owned housing which could be rented out.

[chrisp65]

1 minute ago, blandy said:

The point's valid, though the numbers aren't. You can theoretically get small homes for way less than that up north, at least. There may not be enough of them, but they're not a quarter of a million quid.  Then again, plenty of people up north and in cornwall and wales will not be on much of a wage, so the prices are still out of reach. If only there were some sort of good stock of publicly owned housing which could be rented out.

I think that's what I was trying to say, whilst typing angrily. 

That quarter of a million isn't my definition of a starter home, that's what the tory government think a starter home in Burney can be reasonably defined as.

Inside the M25, obviously a couple of 22 year olds with a kid are looking for a starter home at £400,000 (govt figure).

[StefanAVFC]

This alternative facts lark is getting silly now.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-liam-fox-denies-sending-10011715?1

Quote

“The United Kingdom, is one of the few countries in the European Union that does not need to bury its 20th century history in a pan-European project.”

He said today: “Just as a point of clarification, I didn’t send out a tweet. Number two, it was taken from a speech I gave about a year and a half ago and it was tweeted out, I think, by the Guardian, and it was an incomplete reference in any case.

Said while sitting in front of this.

[HanoiVillan]

56 minutes ago, blandy said:

The point's valid, though the numbers aren't. You can theoretically get small homes for way less than that up north, at least. There may not be enough of them, but they're not a quarter of a million quid.  Then again, plenty of people up north and in cornwall and wales will not be on much of a wage, so the prices are still out of reach. If only there were some sort of good stock of publicly owned housing which could be rented out.

Famously, you can buy a decent house in Stoke for £1, or have been able to in recent times.

[snowychap]

1 hour ago, StefanAVFC said:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-liam-fox-denies-sending-10011715?1

The disgraced Liam Fox telling brazen porkies? Shurely shome mishtake.

 

[blandy]

1 hour ago, chrisp65 said:

I think that's what I was trying to say, whilst typing angrily. 

That quarter of a million isn't my definition of a starter home, that's what the tory government think a starter home in Burney can be reasonably defined as.

Inside the M25, obviously a couple of 22 year olds with a kid are looking for a starter home at £400,000 (govt figure).

Tory govt has never been to Burnley then, you could buy half the town for that!

[blandy]

1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said:

Famously, you can buy a decent house in Stoke for £1, or have been able to in recent times.

Next door to that Paul Nuttals from the UKIPs, probably.

[MakemineVanilla]

4 hours ago, snowychap said:

Where are your figures from?

Edit: I'm assuming that it's National Account taxes (not current receipts as initially thought) but do you have a table of the data somewhere that you've got this figure from?

Philip Aldrick of The Times.

[snowychap]

5 minutes ago, MakemineVanilla said:

Philip Aldrick of The Times.

So you haven't checked to see whether he's correct (he might well be but it would be nice to see the data)?

Edited March 12, 2017 by snowychap

[MakemineVanilla]

8 minutes ago, snowychap said:

So you haven't checked to see whether he's correct (he might well be but it would be nice to see the data)?

It was the print edition and so no links provided.

[dAVe80]

17 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

This alternative facts lark is getting silly now.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-liam-fox-denies-sending-10011715?1

Said while sitting in front of this.

What annoyed me most about that, is that the woman interviewing him, didn't call him out, and just tell him to turn his head an look at the screen. Then I realised, it's Sky News.

[blandy]

1 hour ago, dAVe80 said:

What annoyed me most about that, is that the woman interviewing him, didn't call him out, and just tell him to turn his head an look at the screen. Then I realised, it's Sky News.

By doing the gesture she did, motioning to the screen where his tweet is visible in big effing letters, she probably did enough, to be fair. I mean how dim would anyone have to be not to spot he was lying, just from the image on the screen? and if they were that dim that they couldn't connect a massive picture of his tweet with him denying he tweeted it as an act of lying, then what's the point of her saying anything?

The likes of you or I who consider Fox to be an odious, deceptive, untrustworthy, and dangerous dangleberry might get some enjoyment out of a Sky person vocalising at least part of that analysis, but what does it achieve, really?

The picture paints a thousand words one hundred and forty characters.

[itdoesntmatterwhatthissay]

21 hours ago, Ingram85 said:

I think the people above who decide these things have no idea what affordable means.

Well it was Cameron so no, he didn't have a clue. Plus it was a London/South East based policy. Also on your flat situation, lots can be done at the local level if there was the motivation. I'm trying to change the way local policy comes from central but I'm running into local authority pushback on my flats idea; sadly. Though at least their argument is based in reason.....for a change.

20 hours ago, Chindie said:

I seem to remember reading that there been some wrangling over the new house building campaign due to MPs in the more affluent parts of the country doing some old fashioned NIMBYism.

Might be wrong as only scan read months ago, but stuck in the memory.

Wouldn't surprise me. The opposition to development is very strong because politicians don't want to lose their jobs. And remember the majority of Tories are in the affluent South where opposition really is tough.

Then again I live in Brighton which is Labour dominated and tbh it's worse than central for caring about housing. Even when the Greens were in it was a joke. They ONLY look for large sites that deliver lots of 'planning contributions' or sites they can build themselves to make themselves look like they're doing something meaningful.

I attended a meeting on Friday where a govt official told me there was little to no land for development in the South East.....Politics is the housing crisis maker but ignorance is as much of a problem.

Edited March 13, 2017 by itdoesntmatterwhatthissay

[blandy]

 

[snowychap]

@blandy Never come across The Rochdale Herald before. I think I'll bookmark that one, ta.

[blandy]

42 minutes ago, snowychap said:

@blandy Never come across The Rochdale Herald before. I think I'll bookmark that one, ta.

It's not been going long, I don't think. I found it on the twitter and did a follow a few weeks ago.