Builders will solely convey us extra car-dependent sprawl

It’s disappointing to see the massive city sprawl at Gilston, north of Harlow, described as rejecting “automobile‑centric fashions” (A brand new city for the twenty first century?, 9 February).

Huge, ultra-low-density developments like this, removed from rail-transit networks, are inevitably car-dependent, regardless of claims by their promoters. It takes greater than constructing the first faculties necessitated by such schemes to get individuals out of their automobiles, particularly as walks to high school are prolonged by the very low densities secured by big consumption of productive farmland.

Nor ought to the builders be given credit score for “blended tenure” housing. They managed to get East Herts council’s aspirations for 40% “reasonably priced” housing diminished to 23%, utilizing cynical “viability” provisions in planning steering that allow builders to demand excessive charges of return and so scale back their obligations to offer reasonably priced housing. And don’t overlook that a lot “reasonably priced” is just slightly-less-unaffordable – and might embrace little or no social-rent housing.

The “backyard city philosophy” has created just a few “cookie-cutter estates”, however a lot has fallen foul of a part of builders’ “blueprint for the long run”: their unwillingness to offer a lot of the massive infrastructure that’s wanted. In the long run, like Gilston and a number of other of the “new cities” the federal government is mulling, all they actually create is car-dependent sprawl.Jon ReedsSmart Development UK

Information of one more “backyard village” arriving someday between now and the subsequent ice age prompts me to jot down earlier than I’m formally admitted to a hospice for these nonetheless ready on nationwide infrastructure. We’re assured these schemes want solely 20 years of planning and one other 25 to construct. At this price, the ribbon‑slicing will probably be attended by my nice‑grandchildren – a theoretical cohort, as I don’t have any – assuming they will get by means of the site visitors attributable to the nonetheless‑unfinished entry roads.

Whereas the housing disaster is going on in actual time, we stick with timelines that make medieval cathedral builders look hasty. In the meantime, empty buildings throughout the nation quietly decay regardless of already having roads, pipes and sometimes roofs. Refurbishing them would ship properties inside a single human lifetime, however as an alternative we embark on multi‑decade odysseys of inquiries and consultations.