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Burtons' St Leonards Society Launches New Website

http://www.burtonsstleonardssociety.co.uk/home.html

Gladedale's Flawed Business Model?

When Gladedale planned their project for 163 units on the Archery Ground, they would have estimated a gross turnover of between £40m and £50m over a five year development period. This would have to cover all costs; purchasing the land, (£5m) preparing the designs, reports, submitting the application, all engineering construction and material costs, paying interest to their bankers as well as generating a respectable net profit.

Most of the assumptions on which their planning was based in 2007 have changed radically. Firstly, the credit crunch has badly hit property prices and a £50 million turnover is no longer realisable. Moreover, Hastings has over 800 surplus one-bedroom flats - nobody wants them.

The political environment has also changed (see article opposite about lower density requirements) - councils will now have to focus their priorities on family houses not one-bedroomed flats. Gladedale's development project is wrong for today's market. Their new Managing Director Neil Fitzsimmons (appointed in June 2010) is a former Redrow man who this year gave a firm commitment to abandon one-bedroomed flats and to focus their efforts on building three and four bedroom houses in recognition of this national market trend.

Will Gladedale's bankers be ready to bankroll the Archery Ground and St Saviours developments based on their original business model? It's looking doubtful.

Redrow turns its back on Stalingrad homes

Redrow to recommence housebuilding

 
 

Glut of One-Bed Flats

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John Bray & Sons has confirmed that Hastings is over-stocked with unsold one-bedroomed flats. In a candid letter to a STAG member the firm reported as follows:

There has been an increasing over supply of one and two bedroomed flats in recent years due to considerable numbers of conversions of large older properties in the decades from the 1950's to date added to a stream of newly constructed purpose built blocks starting in the 1960's.

The borough contains a higher proportion of flats in the total housing stock compared to the national average.  The result is that existing flats for sale are requiring lengthy periods on the market to achieve a sale often at disappointing prices and now, supply is so great and recent demand so poor that prices are falling.

The market will not be able to support an influx of further units.  There are numerous examples spread across the borough that experience in the last three decades definitively shows that developers will be obliged to seek rental tenants for the vast majority of flats which, despite their best efforts and incentive schemes, cannot be sold in the open market for owner occupation.

This news will be another nail in the coffin for property developer Gladedale and others wanting to build Soviet-style tower blocks. Labour Councillor, Peter Chowney of Tressel ward, a lead member of Hastings Planning and Regeneration Committee believes developers are not adopting the best strategy either for the town or for their shareholders. In a letter to a STAG member he outlines the problems in details. See letter

Hastings Planning Committee

HBC Planning Committee is scheduled to meet on the following dates:
18 August
15 September
18 October
10 November
8 December
According to HBC Planning office, as of 10 August 2010, Gladedale had not submitted their amended application following their meeting with the council planners on 22 January 2010. See minutes of their meeting.

The Executive Committee of STAG will next meet on 18 September. Please contact STAG for more details.

Greg Clark Stops Garden Grabbing

Decentralisation Minister Greg Clark announced that councils and communities are being given new powers to prevent the destructive practice of 'garden grabbing' and to decide what types of homes are suitable for their area,
Over the last decade, many councils have been left frustrated at being unable to prevent a dramatic increase in the number of new houses being built on previously residential land such as people's back gardens - up from one in ten to one in four between 1997 and 2008.
Planning guidance has classified gardens as previously residential land', in the same Brownfield category as derelict factories and disused railway sidings, robbing communities of green breathing space, safe places for children to play and havens for urban wildlife.
Mr Clark is today unveiling plans to take gardens out of the Brownfield category, a simple step that will dramatically transform councils' ability to prevent unwanted development on gardens where local people object and protect the character of their neighbourhoods.
From today Mr Clark will also scrap the minimum density target, handing power back to town halls and local communities to decide what new homes are best for their area. The target has contributed to the lack of family sized homes and flats that local people need. Councils will now work with local communities and developers to deliver more family homes and affordable housing the local community. read more