Chimney Pot Park, Salford

[Andrew]

I'm impressed by these designs, it's great to see the old terraced houses kept and restored while at the same time being modernised. I like how the back gardens have been put at first floor level and parking provided underneath. It's a very practical use of space and it means that the first floor living rooms can open out straight into the garden rather than through a kichen and round a corner past the toilet as you do in traditional terraced house layouts. The only thing (and I suspect this is partly why the living room was moved upstairs) is that the ground floor passageways and back bedroom must be very dark. That's a problem with most terraced houses and with this design I assume no natural light gets into the back bedroom at all unless there is some kind of rooflight in the back garden. Not a huge problem considering that the master bedroom would be the front one (although the window to that being at street level would mean that the curtains would have to be closed most of the time) and you dont spend much of the daylight hours in the bedroom anyway.

[jrb]

Would queue believe it?

EXCLUSIVE

On the back of a blaze of publicity, developers Urban Splash led Langworthy residents to believe they were getting first chance to buy one of their upside-down houses - and locals queued through the night in the hope of snapping one up.

Little did they know they had been pipped to the post when all Urban Splash workers and thousands of their previous customers had been given the first option.

Ninety of Langworthy’s 349 revamped homes were made available to the developer’s 120 employees and its 3,000 previous customers before any residents could get their hands on the properties.

Twenty homes were released for sale on Saturday, March 25 to much fanfare from the developer about Langworthy and Seedley families getting an early opportunity to buy the properties.

Some even queued through the night at Urban Splash offices in Castlefield to make sure they didn’t miss out.

Jonathan Griffin, 29, of Winchester Road, Salford, was hoping to buy one of the new houses but says prices have shot up from the original estimates made.

He said: "I think it’s a scandal they’ve offered them to staff first. They’re just being greedy. Locals are no longer going to be able to afford the asking prices - they’re being pushed out of the market."

The company would not confirm how many workers and former clients accepted the offer but said "quite a few" had taken advantage of the scheme.

Ten homes were reserved by Langworthy and Seedley residents at the launch event, while the rest will be released in phases with up to 100 going on general sale from Saturday, April 8.

A spokesman for the company said: "With all our developments people who work directly for Urban Splash are given the option to buy houses before they go on public sale - it’s a perk of the job."

"As with all of its developments, Urban Splash allows its staff (120) and loyalty clients (the 3,000 people who have bought an Urban Splash property before) an opportunity to buy before the public sales launch."

Council leader John Merry said: "The important issue is whether residents had the opportunity to buy these homes and that’s been the case. I don’t think the number of staff buying the homes will be too significant and I don’t think anybody in the community has been disadvantaged.

"The Advertiser has not been able to quote me a single example of someone who has missed out on a property they wanted because of this."

The move has sparked anger from Lib Dem leader, councillor Norman Owen. He said: "I think residents will be concerned that Urban Splash have done this deal. These workers will no doubt be buying these homes to rent out or even sell on in a few months."

Prices start at £99,500. Full details will be available on the website www.chimneypotpark.co.uk from Saturday, April 1.

Each house in the Chimney Pot Park development will have two bedrooms on the ground floor with a living room upstairs and the kitchen in the roof.

Work on the project is underway and the first phase is expected to be completed by next spring. A sales centre will be placed in Langworthy Park from April 3 to April 7 from 10am to 5pm.

[Skopie]

Originally Posted by Andrew

I'm impressed by these designs, it's great to see the old terraced houses kept and restored while at the same time being modernised. I like how the back gardens have been put at first floor level and parking provided underneath. It's a very practical use of space and it means that the first floor living rooms can open out straight into the garden rather than through a kichen and round a corner past the toilet as you do in traditional terraced house layouts. The only thing (and I suspect this is partly why the living room was moved upstairs) is that the ground floor passageways and back bedroom must be very dark. That's a problem with most terraced houses and with this design I assume no natural light gets into the back bedroom at all unless there is some kind of rooflight in the back garden. Not a huge problem considering that the master bedroom would be the front one (although the window to that being at street level would mean that the curtains would have to be closed most of the time) and you dont spend much of the daylight hours in the bedroom anyway.

Looking at the plans, the back bedrooms appear to have a light well installed in the corner.

[b4mmy]

Originally Posted by jrb

Ninety of Langworthy’s 349 revamped homes were made available to the developer’s 120 employees and its 3,000 previous customers before any residents could get their hands on the properties.

Not cool.

[The Longford]

Bit of a non story to be honest but the words 'PR' and 'disaster' spring to mind.

[Andrew]

I'm not suprised that they did that and to me it's not that much of an unreasonable thing to do especially if it's their policy for all their developments. It was a silly mistake for them to let local residents believe that they'd be offered first choice though and I can imagine that they were understandably pissed off when they learnt the truth after a night of waiting in March/April weather! lol I agree it is a bit of a non story but it could be a real PR disaster.

Looking at the plans, the back bedrooms appear to have a light well installed in the corner.

Ah yes that's good, when I typed that last post I hadnt seen the plans. Looking at the plans however, while answering one question they make me ask another question: If parking for the houses is at ground level in the back 'lane' under the gardens, how exactly do residents get to their cars? Before looking at the floorplans I assumed that the back bedroom was not the entire width of the house and that the passageway from the front door led to a back door from which you could directly access your car. Now I assume that the developers dont expect residents to have to park their car in the back lane and then get out and walk all the way back to the end of the terrace, round the corner and back into their house via the front door, so how is that issue addressed? I dont see anything on any of the plans or renders that shows how they get round this problem, the only way I can think of without having back doors at ground level would be to have a spiral staircase from every back garden but none appear on the plans! Anyone know the answer to this?

[ForeverSalfordRed]

Its a disgrace when the locals have been pushed aside!

[kebabmonster]

It's disgusting, Forever Salford Red. It's like when the council CPO'd homeowners in Lower Broughton, offering them next to nothing for their houses so developers could come in and build flats.

[Radley]

The idea they saved the terraces instead of demolishing them is a bit dubious as well. They saved the facade to make them look like terraces at the front but demolished everything else. Not for design purposes but to make sure they were new-build and not refurb because the latter attracts 17.5% VAT tax. Sly buggers.

[The Longford]

Sly buggers or shrewd business? Just getting round an unjust and unfair law if you ask me. They should level the playing field on this (metaphorically speaking - not highriser speaking)

[b4mmy]

...maybe its not as bad as it sounds, but its still not cool for a cool company to get caught out like this.

[Farsight]

Agreed. It's a money-grabbing stealth tax that damages our existing housing stock while contributing to greenbelt newbuild.

Jeez, that jrb exclusive is interesting. This whole thing is starting to sound a bit unsavoury. I'm not sure what the overall development will cost, but there's public subsidy and maybe the sale prices won't cover it. You've got compulsory purchase orders followed by terraced streets being preserved because they're historic rather than a great place to live. Only the houses aren't really being preserved because they're Vat-free newbuilds with just a retained facade. And instead of real gardens the back alleys will remain, with poor access and tight parking. Bedrooms will be downstairs, which is not always popular, and the back room will be darkish with an iffy outlook. They aren't for key workers, or even for locals, but seemingly for speculators who price ordinary people out of the market and then charge them rent. It's starting to sound like bad news. That's what I dislike about "heritage" - the way it's all too often a money-making bullshit industry rather than something honest and historic and sincere. Paid for by ordinary people who don't necessarily want it.

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by Farsight

Agreed. It's a money-grabbing stealth tax that damages our existing housing stock while contributing to greenbelt newbuild.

It's hardly a stealth tax (unless you count any indirect taxation as "stealth"). Personally i'd like to see all VAT exemptions scrapped and use the proceeds to lower income tax and national insurance to encourage wealth creation.

[b4mmy]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

It's hardly a stealth tax (unless you count any indirect taxation as "stealth"). Personally i'd like to see all VAT exemptions scrapped and use the proceeds to lower income tax and national insurance to encourage wealth creation.

We would still get ripped off one way or another.... we have euro mp's, french farming and french lorry drivers to support as well as our own infrastructure....

[Farsight]

It's a stealth tax in that it's generally excluded from the sums you see quoted. If I want £10k's worth of work doing to my house I need to earn over £20k to do it.

Employer's National Insurance 13%
Employees National Insurance 12%
Income Tax 40%
VAT 17.5%

In addition a good slug of the labour goes straight out the door in tax. Overall you get about £8k value out of your £20k earned. Hence cash talks, and the government puts a lot of energy into stopping it. Try taking more than £1k out of the bank and have a laugh at the "money laundering" formfilling nonsense.

[The Longford]

As a raging socialist i wouldnt want to scrap the vat on refurb I would just lower it and make sure no developments are exempt.

[dirtyred619]

Originally Posted by Andrew

Ah yes that's good, when I typed that last post I hadnt seen the plans. Looking at the plans however, while answering one question they make me ask another question: If parking for the houses is at ground level in the back 'lane' under the gardens, how exactly do residents get to their cars? Before looking at the floorplans I assumed that the back bedroom was not the entire width of the house and that the passageway from the front door led to a back door from which you could directly access your car. Now I assume that the developers dont expect residents to have to park their car in the back lane and then get out and walk all the way back to the end of the terrace, round the corner and back into their house via the front door, so how is that issue addressed? I dont see anything on any of the plans or renders that shows how they get round this problem, the only way I can think of without having back doors at ground level would be to have a spiral staircase from every back garden but none appear on the plans! Anyone know the answer to this?

Good point but they haven't overlooked it, if you look on the website and look at the plan for a Type B house, the light well which is basically an L shaped patio/french window opens to give access to the bedroom, not ideal really.

[majormystery]

Originally Posted by Farsight

It's a stealth tax in that it's generally excluded from the sums you see quoted. If I want £10k's worth of work doing to my house I need to earn over £20k to do it.

Employer's National Insurance 13%
Employees National Insurance 12%
Income Tax 40%
VAT 17.5%

In addition a good slug of the labour goes straight out the door in tax. Overall you get about £8k value out of your £20k earned. Hence cash talks, and the government puts a lot of energy into stopping it. Try taking more than £1k out of the bank and have a laugh at the "money laundering" formfilling nonsense.

I'd love to be able to say my Income Tax was 40%. As would most people who dont earn nearly enough to be in that tax bracket.

[spacepostman]

Originally Posted by Farsight

They aren't for key workers, or even for locals, but seemingly for speculators who price ordinary people out of the market and then charge them rent.

Well said.


Exactly part of the point I was putting across at the start of this thread before I was shot down by loaded out-of-towners and those who hadn't properly read the story and taken on board the implications.

Since when did people have to que for three days to buy a house?. If people are queing to get their hands on one of these properties can someone tell me who decides who gets on and who does not?


Todays BBC Manchester article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...er/4889248.stm

Steve Dobb was made redundant last year and considers the house he will purchase on Saturday as an investment. "It is a fantastic development but I have to admit I am here for the money," he said. "I'm working on the assumption of £10,000 profit a day (spent in line)."

The 43-year-old lives in Diggle, Saddleworth, but said the community feeling that has sprung up here might convince him to swap picturesque village life for an urban oasis in Salford. "I can't believe people wouldn't want to live in a place like this," he said. "But if I do let it, it's important for me to let it out to people who will be right for the community."

What a prick!

This whole thing makes me sick to my stomach. I've been trying to buy a house in this part of Salford for the past year now, I've lived and worked here most of my life and I have been given a decent mortgage (roughly 100k) yet there is virtually nothing in my price range, and the properties I do see are gone within a few hours of them going on sale, swallowed up by greedy investors and landlords.

[The Longford]

Steve Dobb = cunt!
With you 100% on this SPM.
This is a real problem in today's housing market but it seems nobody wants to do anything about it! Its even more annoying when they turf people out of their homes (and only give them 30k for the houses) and for twats like Dobbin to slime in and make profit out of it.