How about a 21st Century travel system for the 21st Century?

[whole diary]

[trainer]

I guarantee that no other rail forum has an informed, passionate discussion on upland farming in the middle of a rail-related thread.  I love this type of education. 

[ellendune]

So farming has to become more intensive.

I agree, so lets understand the downsides and try and find ways to avoid them.

For example as I said further up this thread:

Reduced stocking improved this as did the construction of small belts of woodland from which the sheep were excluded. 

There may be other ways as well. Some have questioned whether we need to consume as much meat as we do. (Some say we should all become vegetarian, but that doesn't make sense for me as some farmland is only good enough for pasture).  The land used to produce winter (and summer top up) food for the animals could then be used to feed humans. 

[Bmblbzzz]

The increased area used for housing is not only (probably not even mainly) due to increasing population but changes in household habits. More of us live alone and more single people live in whole houses rather than flats. There's been a general shift from towns and cities to villages and smaller towns, reversing the trends of the 20th century. Within towns, we're largely abandoning the late-20th century move to blocks of flats and returning to individual houses with gardens. Layouts are also demanding more road space. And drives and sometimes garages, of course, (which also increase flooding risk by expanding the area of impermeable asphalt). I'm not saying these changes in housing habits are necessarily bad – they obviously have good and bad aspects – but it's not as simple as more people = more houses.

[4064ReadingAbbey]

The increased area used for housing is not only (probably not even mainly) due to increasing population but changes in household habits. More of us live alone and more single people live in whole houses rather than flats. There's been a general shift from towns and cities to villages and smaller towns, reversing the trends of the 20th century. Within towns, we're largely abandoning the late-20th century move to blocks of flats and returning to individual houses with gardens. Layouts are also demanding more road space. And drives and sometimes garages, of course, (which also increase flooding risk by expanding the area of impermeable asphalt). I'm not saying these changes in housing habits are necessarily bad – they obviously have good and bad aspects – but it's not as simple as more people = more houses.

The problem is that until now the equation has been "more people = more houses". I agree that in the longer term this is no longer sustainable and other countries provide a selection of ways forward that might be suitable. France still builds lots of individual houses in the suburbs, but it is a much larger country with a smaller population and as it's on balance a bit warmer farmland is a bit more productive. Germany has similar issues to us and there, at least in and close to towns, blocks of several flats are built. Typically there are six, eight or ten to a block - each flat is as large in floor space as a normal suburban house and almost all have large(ish) balconies and lifts serve the upper floors. Clearly these flats come in different sizes and all are defined by floor area. In more modern buildings the sound-proofing between the flats is excellent. The buildings all have cellars for storage and for housing the communal kit for heating and utilities: water, sometimes gas, telephone terminations, TV distribution, etc. The cellars sometimes include a communal laundry, ventilated drying rooms for clothes to avoid condensation in the flats, and always a car park with spaces for all the flats.

This latter has the advantage that the buildings can be more closely packed as parking space is not required, the cars are protected from the winter snow and the streetscape is unencumbered with vehicles. The legal position is that, roughly, the structure is owned by a co-operative the owners of which are the inhabitants of the flats. There are all sorts of safeguards to avoid the case where one owner doesn't want to pay for his/her share of repairs or improvements - but there is of course always room for disagreement but these are not very common.

The point is that flats of this type are perfectly suitable for families with children and the building packing density is higher than the typical UK^▸ (United Kingdom) suburban development. The downside is that the gardens are communal - although may people have a garden in a sort of 'garden colony' elsewhere. Imagine lots of suburban gardens with hedges but no houses - except for a wooden garden house.

It might not be entirely suitable for all comers - there are still people with individual houses in Germany - but in towns the concept works well.

[Bmblbzzz]

It's a concept that works very well in several countries and would work well in Britain, in terms of providing suitable space for households on less land and as a bonus using fewer materials to do so, and needing less energy to heat. Balconies, as you say, provide space for kids, some storage, plants, drying, barbecues etc etc. But for some reason it's unpopular here; maybe because we're too wedded to the idea of a garden but I think it might also be because most examples of such blocks that have been built have been council flats, or social housing to use the current term. British attachment to private ownership of housing makes that a stigma to overcome.

[chrisr_75]

British attachment to private ownership of housing makes that a stigma to overcome.

And the short termist approach we generally have to property rentals - if that could be changed to follow for example the French or Dutch models, I think the numbers of long term renters might increase and would help to make our ridiculous property market (both sales & rentals) a little bit more sensible.

[Noggin]

British attachment to private ownership of housing makes that a stigma to overcome.

And the short termist approach we generally have to property rentals - if that could be changed to follow for example the French or Dutch models, I think the numbers of long term renters might increase and would help to make our ridiculous property market (both sales & rentals) a little bit more sensible.

But that cuts both ways. Your average landlord isn't going to enter into a long lease with a tenant that they are uncertain about. So what you'll find is that anyone on benefits, the minimum wage, without good references or with a bad credit rating will be excluded from renting such properties. Also, landlords may well be less inclined to maintain properties with a long lease, as they don't stand to benefit, and where a tenancy turns sour, they may resort to unfair tactics. 

For long-term rentals, what you really need are professional, long-term investors, who aren't going to have to sell a flat to fund their retirement or because they lost their job. You also need properties that have been built to require minimal maintenance. There aren't that many of either around to date, what we perhaps need are some tax breaks and regulation changes to encourage 'patient' capital, such as pension funds, employers and maybe even trade unions to enter the market?   

[chrisr_75]

Agree with what you say Noggin, the system is in dire need of an overhaul.

The reason I mentioned the French system is that it is much more like (afaik) a business lease whereby the tenant is responsible for a large part of the maintenance and can make the place more like a home by carrying out structural and cosmetic alterations.

The Dutch system which I have direct experience of, has one most redeeming feature in that rent levels are controlled and any unreasonable increases can be appealed to the municipality rent board whose ruling is final. This I think encourages longer term, stable occupancy and discourages short termist profiteering by landlords shifting people on every 6 months.

I also read an article recently (I can't remember where/when so no link, sorry!) on the growing numbers of new build properties in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), particularly blocks of flats, which developers are constructing on a 'build to let' basis, financed primarily by large developers and institutional investors, who are almost always looking towards the long term, so there is some hope of change!