Wednesday 18 September 2013

Residents tell the Council what they think of them!

Over the last 18 months the major issue for Standish has been mass housing building on our green open fields.

Last week Wigan Council disgracefully voted to allow 000's of houses to be built on the green open fields in Standish. This is even when they have no idea what they will do about the traffic problems we have at this present time nor have they got a plan when these houses are built.

One thing that they have said is for ever 1000 houses to be built, they will receive £3m in a levy tax that they are proposing to put on each house built. But this Labour control council have said that out of the £3m raised only 15% (£330,000) will stay in Standish, as that is the legal minimum. The other 85% can go to other areas, no doubt Labour will put it in their "areas of deprivation."

However, residents are not lying down and taking it, as one resident, who has asked for their name to be withheld on the blog, has taken it upon themselves to write to the head of planning and Chief Executive about the whole affair. Here is their letter,

Mr Normington,
 
This is a genuine communication from a borough resident, who pays the highest band of council tax, is an educated professional, contributes positively to the local area and, sadly, one who wishes to convey the most abject dismay and frustration over your departments handling of the government’s core housing strategy. I am absolutely seething over the situation you have inflicted upon us.

It all emanates from within your department, who have completely mismanaged the entire process. Initially being bullied and embarrassed by house builders, then 'turned over' by the government inspector Kevin Ward (who has no affiliation/interest for the local impact of his decisions) and then, finally, by Wigan Council who voted in his appalling recommendations and run around 'celebrating' the result as if you had achieved something! What?? You absolute bunch of fools!

How on earth you have chosen to single out Standish and effectively 'dump' an extra 1000 homes (minimum) in an area that is already at breaking point is beyond comprehension. Have you driven through the crossroads at busy times of the day? Why drop all the houses in one single area when you have the entire borough to choose from? The answer is for pure short term greed on behalf of the Council, underpinned by ill thought out strategic planning.

It is also criminal that those Standish residents (who actually find the drive through the village a stressing experience already) will see a pittance of the overall revenue that this 'selling off' of our Greenfield sites will yield as the Council seek to penalise Standish and attribute the monies elsewhere for others to benefit. We are the ones who have to live daily with these ruthless decisions being made.

The whole situation is a farce and you are directly responsible for the outcome of this. As a high council tax payer, I have the right to express my opinion on your performance, which is quite frankly diabolical. The private sector would not tolerate such incompetence.

You are effectively stealing my money each month as you have done absolutely nothing to represent my interests or those of thousands of others living in Standish. You have abused and insulted us. I am sure you will agree, that is appalling and not how council members should behave.

As a direct consequence of Wigan Council actions, my partner have discussed the situation and will be looking to move back out of the borough once this obscene housing development commences. So, having succeeded in attracting desirable, high income, working couples into the area, you have effectively driven us back out again. How ironic.

I accept that there is no reversal of this calamitous situation and nor do I want a response from you (I have no respect for your opinion or further deceit) but you and your entire team need to conduct a serious appraisal of how you managed to get this totally and abhorrently wrong.
 
 
Absolute brilliant letter and I think this letter is typical of what residents in Standish think and I am sure that this wouldn't be the last letter sent to the Council.

In my surgery, last Saturday, many residents commented to me about how disappointed they were about the Council.

Any way let me know what you think to this letter and also if you want to write to the Council please do.




 

9 comments:

  1. What a great letter. It certainly sums our family up with what we think about how the Council has handled this whole sorry affair.

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  2. well done this letter is exactly what I and most of my close friends are doing we will move out of Standish as soon as building commences and are putting plans in motion to sell imminently, as schools roads doctors and other facilities are under strain already. before our children need to attend an already full to capacity high school we will move to another area were hopefully we can put down some roots .Shame on all involved to break up such a beautiful historic village.

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    1. A brilliant letter we agree entirely with this and have already put our property up for sale Standish will be ruined by these developments

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  3. But where are our young people to live? We must build new houses, create jobs and reduce the cost of housing. It's all very well for the rich to say "keep Standish for me" but it's not very Christian.

    People need to stop being so selfish and think of others who cannot afford to rent or buy.

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  4. Selfish, Standish is the only area to have developed at the rate that it has in the borough of Wigan.

    The houses are going to be 5/6 bedrooms tell me how they are affordable to first time buyers?

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  5. they don't have to be first time buyers. it's called the housing ladder. existing residents 'could' move into the larger properties, vacating other properties for other people to fill. it's not a difficult concept to grasp.
    i would rather standish expanded in line with the growth and maturity of its residents, it means that families can stay in the same area and not have to move away.
    and as for schools, it's usually a good sign when a school has a population that meets its capacity, a significant disparity in numbers would raise questions. i've seen all schools within standish expand over the years to meet an increase of demand, why would this change? things don't stay static.

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  6. To the person who sent the last comment in. The fact that there are many properties for sale in Standish and other parts show that there is either no demand for them at those prices or they can't get a mortgage so building yet more new houses won't solve the problem it will in fact make it worse. What is needed is a solution to the problem of getting a mortgage.

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    1. I would expect quite the opposite. If, as you claim, there is no demand at current prices then market forces dictate that an increase in availability/product will drive prices down with an increase in competition.
      As for the availability/barriers for obtaining a mortgage, then the government backed 'help to buy' schemes will improve that situation even further over the next few months. It could be argued that the scheme will skew the market the other way as demand will outstrip supply, driving up house prices and only an increase in supply (more new houses) might prevent the creation of another housing bubble.

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  7. The point is, why Standish for all these houses? Why destroy a huge proportion of the nature reserves and green open spaces that the residents enjoy? The council can put these houses anywhere in the Wigan borough yet they've chosen to dump them all here with no thought or care for the residents who will be losing amenities, privacy and money. Nobody objects to affordable housing being built, just spread it around the borough and make it fair.

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