Balvicar Swamp

[Beetlejuice]

Anyone know what's happening with the housing site at Balvicar crossroads corner? If they're waiting to get started until they've sold all the plots then I think they'll be waiting a lo-o-o-o-o-ng time. The only thing the purchasers will be able to grow in their gardens is reeds and flag irises, to go with the fungi under their floorboards. The developers surveyors can't have set foot on that site, otherwise they'd have noticed that their shoes were well under water.

[NickB]

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I gather this is the new affordable housing . . .

[Minimum]

I think they're waiting for planning permission - wasn't there a planning application recently to raise the height of the buildings?

[NickB]

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There are 'for sale' notices on all the plots now. I imagine that they aren't going to build until a certain number have been sold.

[Minimum]

Here's the application, approved, to raise the roof.

http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/PublicAcc ... 2F5CH0BJ00



The developers obviously didn't expect such a lot of water to be in a bog. (Oh dear - back to pans again!)

[Seil Blubber]

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There are 'for sale' notices on all the plots now. I imagine that they aren't going to build until a certain number have been sold.

Looks like that eyesore is going to be around for a while then. Nothing's been selling this year.

[longshanks]

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I imagine that they aren't going to build until a certain number have been sold.

I very much doubt that you hold the correct view there.
"Off Plan" sales virtually died after the housing crash started and the collapse of Lehman Bros. When it existed "Off Plan" was beloved only by property speculators and buy-to-let practitioners.
Today mortgage finance is minimal for such purchases ("Off Plan" means buying before the house is built) and certainly not suitable for so-called "affordable" housing as this estate is supposed to be.
Of course, if you do happen to be correct, then it implies that the houses will be purchased by speculators and buy-to-letters.
There are two likely futures for the aptly christened Balvicar Swamp.
1. The developer and his bank have confidence in the Seil housing market (despite national conditions and the current glut of houses for sale on Seil), so the bank funds the building and the properties are sold once complete.
2. They don't have that confidence (particularly the bank) and the whole project is put on hold until the economic and housing conditions improve.
My fear is that 2. is the most likely. If this is so then something needs to be done to secure access to the site as, once word spreads, it becomes very attractive to certain, persecuted, people.

Gipsy Rose Shanks (caravanner by choice)

[Beetlejuice]

Is £180,000 to £220,000 "affordable" these days? I certainly couldn't afford it.

Looks from the blurb as though they're being marketed as holiday homes.
http://www.macphee.co.uk/property-detai ... rop_id=680
Click on "download the full schedule" to get all the guff.

So a third likely future is that they get bought up by people who want to pretend to live the traditional rural life for a few weeks a year, but don't want to do it in a traditional rural cottage, and Seil's part-time population will be further increased.

"there is the possibility of moorings in the bay being available", says the blurb.
Well, I suppose there is a possibility, but not a probability.

And decking! They've got decking!! So the holidaymakers will be able to sit outside with their drinkies and watch the streams flowing beneath them, while millions of traditional rural midgies dance round them.

[Pentlandpirate]

You don't suppose they want to raise the height of the houses to allow for sinkage? Personally I think the artists impressions of the development look attractive and will add something to the Balvicar corner....but do I think it will end up looking like that? No way.

Presumably they won't build until most of the unbuilt houses have been sold, but who would stump up their cash not being certain when/if they'll get their house? If the developer hasn't got the funds to complete the whole site in the first place, would you trust them in the current economic climate?

[Seil Blubber]

Good news - they are going to use it as a pipeyard in the meantime.

[NickB]

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I think they are putting in piles for the foundations to prevent the new houses settling to the centre of the Earth. It makes a change having a piledriver going instead of a pecker. It does look as though they are using old oilfield drillpipe though.

I wouldn't personally buy one until they have been there for a few years . . .

[moonraker]

story is none are sold :English Flag
going to build three for show houses to sell :jack
not the best of places to build :English Flag
think i have a spare bilge pump if anyones buying