All Activity

Cheers @Dogkennelhillbilly Fascinating edition of More of Less on Radio 4 on the oft quoted figure of 3/4 million empty homes in the UK. That is a snap shot on one day on properties excluded from council tax including the owner dying, being renovated, moved house and the like. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002phn6 Right, off to talk more stats on the transport threads. PS Victoria got some stats very wrong on Newsnight on Venezuelan oil exports which the US/Venezuelan hawk/spokesperson did not contradict.

Hi Grace I am sending you a private message best wishes, Susie

hi Tanya I am sending you a private message Susie

got a collection gathering dust? especially in the era of streaming services.. need the space? most things considered rock / indie / hip hop / dance / funk / soul / heavy metal / jazz etc etc no easy listening DM if you think you have something of interest.. cash awaits thanks Tim

So much nonsense in a single post! 1) this vaguely xenophobic stuff is based on a belief that London is full of houses owned by foreigners that are kept empty and out of the hands of native buyers and renters. This is unmitigated bullshit. "England has the lowest rate of empty homes in the OECD, and Greater London has about one-tenth the level of Paris, just 0.7% of properties being empty compared to 6.5%...the effect on the general housing crisis is minuscule. London, Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton and other cities have eye-wateringly expensive housing because of high demand and low supply. That’s the obvious and boring answer." https://www.edwest.co.uk/p/the-myth-of-londons-empty-homes 2) where do you get this idea that infill sites have to be small? Southwark and the GLA planning documents explicitly recognise that industrial sites can be infill sites. 3) It is simply factually untrue and misleading that taller buildings are out of character for the area of the development. The neighbouring school has taller blocks, Hambledon Court on the other side of the tracks is a taller building, the Dog Kennel Hill estate on the other side of the station consists of taller buildings. 4) if that is the lesson you have taken away, then is your opposition to this new housing in East Dulwich part of a Lib Dem policy to "deny, baby, deny"? Let's be real for a second: there is no way out of the housing crisis that doesn't involve building lots of new housing. If we can't build on top of a disused builder's yard above a railway station, where are we going to build in this neighbourhood? 5) This is also nonsense. The student accommodation was initially closed because of systemic fire risks that made the buildings unsafe. KCL is now halfway through totally renovating the blocks and expanding capacity. KCL gets twice as many applications for student accommodation as it can fulfil. KCL just opened another 452 student rooms in Battersea - so clearly they don't have a concern about a cataclysmic decline in student numbers. https://www.rlb.com/europe/projects/kcl-champion-hill/ https://roarnews.co.uk/2024/kcl-accommodation-still-empty-four-years-after-evacuation/ https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2025/03/03/watkin-jones-wins-30m-student-digs-campus-upgrade/ It is really disappointing that someone involving themselves in planning matters is relying on (and spreading) prejudices, misconceptions and misinformation like this.