Money hungry HELLISH (building) developers.

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Malabus
Posts: 13336
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 12:26
Location: The Death Star.
Cycling around the county and constantly viewing ugly developers destroying anykind of greenbelt left and now it's NO joking matter.

I didn't agree for the RAPE of the British countryside.
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Shade
Posts: 16797
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
The countryside has quite a lot of Rape in it right now. Fields full of yellow. Beautiful.

But some of the architecture of these new builds are pretty disgusting. Whoever the hell approves it must need their head seeing to.
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Malabus
Posts: 13336
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 12:26
Location: The Death Star.
Bishops Cleeve is a fuccking mess. Destroyed.
theidlerich
Posts: 1781
Joined: 03 Dec 2009, 09:22
Location: Cotswolds
I believe t'was on the local 'West' BBC news on TV yesterday that the wqeather presenter referred to ..."those lovely colourful yellow flowers" Field of Rape with its associated pesticides !!!!! Dumbwit.....
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Nesty
Posts: 6652
Joined: 18 Jun 2011, 09:17
600,000 empty houses in England and they build more !
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Shade
Posts: 16797
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
Nesty wrote:600,000 empty houses in England and they build more !
Exactly. I just really don't understand why there isn't more redevelopment of run down and abandoned areas rather than building on new land. Surely knocking down old s#!t holes and rebuilding is cheaper anyway than building an entire new area and the infrastructure for it?
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
Posts: 29744
Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
Shade wrote:
Nesty wrote:600,000 empty houses in England and they build more !
Exactly. I just really don't understand why there isn't more redevelopment of run down and abandoned areas rather than building on new land. Surely knocking down old s#!t holes and rebuilding is cheaper anyway than building an entire new area and the infrastructure for it?
Cost and information.

Infilling in urban areas, which may need demolition, decontamination, awkward plot sizes is more expensive than two flat fields of identikit housing. And the purpose of house building in Britain is to maximise shareholder returns and Chief Exec pay so the small scale difficult sites are a no-no. And smaller builders can’t afford up front costs.

The second is information. Local authorities are awful at knowing all their vacant plots. In turn, potential developers don’t know what is out there. And planners struggle to know the impact of urban development on local utilise and transport networks.

Innovation is happening in terms of business models, construction methods and digital planning so the barriers to urban infilling will be coming down.

Google ‘future of planning’ work by the Future Cities Catapult. Some of my recent work on a commission for them will be launched at the PlanTech 2018 conference.

In terms of funding, my own view is local authorities should be able to take control of derelict sites and encouraged to invest in preparing difficult urban plots in return for being able to keep 100% of the local taxes which the Treasury currently takes chunks off before handing back in grants. As high housing demand areas (ie where lots of jobs are) would have more tax to keep, the incentive to increase supply is bigger in areas with more demand.
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Malabus
Posts: 13336
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 12:26
Location: The Death Star.
Just been around Ashchurch...I believe Tewkesbury Borough Council main interest is to destroy the countryside.
Ralph
Posts: 4828
Joined: 23 Dec 2009, 01:56
Is the army camp still there or houses now? Each time I come home, I see so much change
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Malabus
Posts: 13336
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 12:26
Location: The Death Star.
Ralph wrote:Is the army camp still there or houses now? Each time I come home, I see so much change
Camp is still there, but I don't think its in use.
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Nesty
Posts: 6652
Joined: 18 Jun 2011, 09:17
in Alderton we have seen 72 new houses in the last few years and have had two planning applications turned down thankfully but we are getting geared up to fight two more applications. its crazy. there is one bus a day to Cheltenham and back that makes commuting difficult, so more cars on the road.
The Tewkesbury plan dictates 800 odd houses for the 12 service villages of which Alderton is one, so using simple maths we have had our share, Bare in mind those 800 houses had to be built by the year 2031 !!!
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
Posts: 29744
Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
Yet plenty of scruffy, low environmental value, wasteland categorised as Green Belt in the edges of Gloucester and Cheltenham. These areas have better access to the urban centres and easier to to add into the utility networks, and would have lower environmental impact.

Completely nonsensical that pristine Gloucestershire countryside can be built on whilst scruffy unused fields next to a dual carriageway or industrial estate has green belt status.
silverrobin
Posts: 18
Joined: 29 Apr 2018, 08:01
Churchdown has its own problems especially the proposed new build on Pirton Fields. Although approved initially, matters have been delayed due to the developers having no infrastructure plans with regard to education. The primary and senior schools are all full even before another 1800 houses have even been started. Has anyone been on the Golden Valley road during rush hour and had to endure the gridlock near the Elmbridge Court roundabout. Imagine another 1000 cars or so trying to get to Gloucester on top of what already occurs.
Red Duke
Posts: 1985
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 09:15
Location: North West
I drove through Cheltenham on Saturday. It has been a few months since I had been down and now it is even worse. The amount of gridlock on the road past the brewery is beyond a joke. All caused by developments being made with no thought to traffic flow.

Most of it appeared to be caused by a single pedestrian crossing!

I believe there is a John Lewis going to open up soon. It will attract customers to the town. I bet that they haven't thought about the traffic flow.

On Sunday I followed my brother to go from Hewlett Road to Combe Hill. It was route that full of rat runs, trading estates and cutting through a shopping area.

The planners in Cheltenham should hang their heads in shame of the mess that they have created.
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Shade
Posts: 16797
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
Red Duke wrote:I drove through Cheltenham on Saturday. It has been a few months since I had been down and now it is even worse. The amount of gridlock on the road past the brewery is beyond a joke. All caused by developments being made with no thought to traffic flow.
The main reason for that is Boots Corner is closed to through traffic now, so everything is forced onto the roads around it. As you can imagine, rush hour, trying to get north of the town centre, is now 10x worse with Old Bath Road, College Road and anywhere around the Lower High Street/bowling green being an utter nightmare. Especially the Lower High Street mini roundabout with Ambrose Street, as everything queues up Ambrose Street to go right and up St George's Street, but then anything going east up the Lower High Street to go up St George's Street or turn right into Ambrose Street can't because it's blocked over the roundabout, which in turn blocks anything trying to go west onto the Lower High Street because there are always cars or vans parked on the left making it one-way. Add in the zebra crossing right on to the roundabout, people stopping for that and having to block the roundabout up, it's a complete clusterf*ck, but who would expect anything else from our glorious leaders that are adamant they want the centre of Cheltenham to be like some kind of European style square. But with buses and taxis still able to drive through it...
Red Duke
Posts: 1985
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 09:15
Location: North West
So the Boots Corner closure has caused the additional loading onto already overloaded roads. That explains the difference I encountered.

Why don't they do something radical like have a complete outer one way system with one way roads cross linking (similar to the Loop in Leeds)?

Therefore you could have two lanes of traffic going past the Brewery. Phase the lights so that if you drive at 25 mph, you get green lights all the way.
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Shade
Posts: 16797
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
Because that would be a solution, and they only want to cause problems.

The thinking behind it is, and they have actually stated this, that they don't want people to drive into Cheltenham. They only want people to use public transport or bicycles. So, they make it as horrible an experience as possible, and we'll all get on the bus next time.

OR, more likely, people will just get in the car and go to Gloucester, Bristol, Birmingham, Tewkesbury, etc, instead. They're killing the town because they have a utopian dream they're trying to implement which just won't work, as far as I'm concerned.

To complement the Boots corner closure, they've made the road up the side of the block I work in one-way, which means I know have to add around an extra 3-5 minutes onto every journey coming in, as I have to go all the way around St George's Place (half of which is still closed northbound for 18 months due to building works), St James Square, Knapp Rd, and finally Clarence Street, because I can't go 20 yards up the one-way street into the car park.
kora
Posts: 573
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 12:55
Several points in Cheltenham town centre are well over the nitrogen dioxide safety level, Boots corner being the worst; this is an attempt, admittedly flawed, to fix it before the powers that be force them into maybe bigger changes. The intent is good but not carried out very successfully.
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Shade
Posts: 16797
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
kora wrote:Several points in Cheltenham town centre are well over the nitrogen dioxide safety level, Boots corner being the worst; this is an attempt, admittedly flawed, to fix it before the powers that be force them into maybe bigger changes. The intent is good but not carried out very successfully.
Improving the flow of traffic would be the way to do that, not to make other areas worse by clogging them up. As you say, good intentions but very flawed.
Ralph
Posts: 4828
Joined: 23 Dec 2009, 01:56
It gets worse each time we come back. You can't put a load more cars onto the Golden Valley at Elmbridge Court. They were doing "improvements" at that roundabout last time we were over.

So Boots corner is now closed to traffic

When does John Lewis open? The traffic up there will be crazy when it does.. Must be soon. They were knocking the old Beechwood Place about last time we saw it
Andy
Posts: 349
Joined: 17 Aug 2017, 11:15
Elmbridge Court burger roundabout is now complete and works well.

Trouble is they are now messing about with bus lane again out of Cheltenham near Arle court roundabout.

Are they replacing the car park that was At Beechwood place when they rebuild John Lewis?

Not been passed it myself for a while but it was looking good from the front. Not sure when it’s due to complete.


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Shade
Posts: 16797
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
Elmbridge Court is actually much better, credit where it's due. That bus lane is more ridiculousness. Taking all those trees out will impact the people in the Benhall estate's lives with extra noise and the view, and all so that a bus can get somewhere 1 minute quicker. Probably at the expense of more cars being stuck in longer queues.

Boots Corner - I've just seen that they still haven't brought in the £30/£60 fines for drivers going through there illegally, and won't be until new signs and road painting has been carried out as it's apparently not clear enough that cars aren't allowed through. 60,000 cars have gone through since it was brought in on 28th June, apparently. Imagine what the roads would be like if those 60,000 had gone down roads they were supposed to...

I don't think they've put a date on John Lewis as it's had a couple of delays. Still a way off, though as it all looks very bare inside at the moment, from what I've seen when walking past the back. Not sure about the car park.
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
Posts: 29744
Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
Type of p!##-poor endeavour one expects from a provincial council with too many people to try and not p!## off and too little money to do it.
Ralph
Posts: 4828
Joined: 23 Dec 2009, 01:56
Ok so whats a "burger" roundabout at Elmbridge? Is it just a roundabout still with the traffic lights or anything else?

Cheers for the updates too guys
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Shade
Posts: 16797
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
Ralph wrote:Ok so whats a "burger" roundabout at Elmbridge? Is it just a roundabout still with the traffic lights or anything else?

Cheers for the updates too guys
Anything coming down the Golden Valley to Elmbridge Court that wants to go round the roundabout, towards Over, now has 2 dedicated lanes to just drive across the roundabout, as they've put a curved road through it. There are lights to get from the GV onto the through road and from the through road back onto the A40, but it all flows better and cuts out quite a bit of traffic on the actual roundabout. They've also widened and put more lanes in at the end of the GV (the 3 left to go around the r'bout as normal, 2 on the right to go through the r'bout) and made the actual roundabout bigger. It helps the flow much better than having everything queueing all round the roundabout. The road through the roundabout supposedly makes it look like a burger in a bun from above. And it was actually finished on time and on budget. Still took 12 or 18 months (I can't remember) for them to do, though.

Oh, and the traffic lights are "smart lights", apparently, which means they have automatically learnt, over a period of time, how long to hold traffic for in order to minimise the length and amount of traffic waiting at each set at various times of the day.
Ralph
Posts: 4828
Joined: 23 Dec 2009, 01:56
Jesus.. more new stuff to have to contend with lol
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
Posts: 29744
Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
Shade wrote:
Ralph wrote:Ok so whats a "burger" roundabout at Elmbridge? Is it just a roundabout still with the traffic lights or anything else?

Cheers for the updates too guys
Anything coming down the Golden Valley to Elmbridge Court that wants to go round the roundabout, towards Over, now has 2 dedicated lanes to just drive across the roundabout, as they've put a curved road through it. There are lights to get from the GV onto the through road and from the through road back onto the A40, but it all flows better and cuts out quite a bit of traffic on the actual roundabout. They've also widened and put more lanes in at the end of the GV (the 3 left to go around the r'bout as normal, 2 on the right to go through the r'bout) and made the actual roundabout bigger. It helps the flow much better than having everything queueing all round the roundabout. The road through the roundabout supposedly makes it look like a burger in a bun from above. And it was actually finished on time and on budget. Still took 12 or 18 months (I can't remember) for them to do, though.

Oh, and the traffic lights are "smart lights", apparently, which means they have automatically learnt, over a period of time, how long to hold traffic for in order to minimise the length and amount of traffic waiting at each set at various times of the day.
Smart for the 1990s maybe. Proper smart lights would adapt to the live conditions, connected by LoWran to sensors in the road and on connected vehicles.
silverrobin
Posts: 18
Joined: 29 Apr 2018, 08:01
Certainly the burger road is a big help for traffic travelling from Cheltenham and wishing to continue on towards the Over roundabout which is now subject to 'so called' improvements. Hence has only moved the gridlock a little farther west.

My concern as a resident of Churchdown is the B4063 with traffic travelling towards the roundabout at Elmbridge. Despite all of the improvements there is still no provision for traffic lights for vehicles leaving Churchdown and joining the roundabout. Outside peak times it's not a major problem but, the works and school runs must be horrendous coming out of Churchdown.
Fortunately I'm retired so can usually choose not to travel at those times.
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