Jump to content

Buying a house next to a play area


boris77

Recommended Posts

We're looking to move and a plot on a new development has come up that we are considering. The one question mark is it's (at a guess 16 metres) from a play area that's on the plans (not built yet).I can think of good reasons. Nice green area, somewhere for my daughter to go close by) but also a load of bad ones. Such as drunk teens at night using it, kids footballs through windows, etc.

Having bought in a naff location we don't want to make the same mistake twice. Anyone live near one? Would you buy near one?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have a walk around the park at different times of the day, especially in the evening. You'll soon see what shenanigans happen. or not.    

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whereabouts is it Boris? If it happens to be in Babergh then it's likely to be one I'm looking at, in which case I'll pull up the plans and have a look for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a panorama taken from one of my living room windows (3 story house with living room on the 1st floor):

54399050334835-vi.jpg

On balance I'd say we enjoy the location. You aren't as enclosed as you are on most new estates and essentially have a council maintained big front garden. I think it makes the house more attractive should we wish to sell it too.

There are downside and you guessed most of them. The positioning of the houses around the park make people's voices quite loud on a quiet summer night if we have the bedroom window open. There has been the odd phase where kids have been playing football in the cage down the far end until midnight, which is annoying. In the summer you get some stupid teenagers / drunk people (or combo of both) making a ton of noise but largely they are passing through. Girls are the worst by a long way. On occasion I've wanted to hurt a few people badly!

But as I say, on balance we are still glad we bought the place rather than in some pokey street where we would look out of our window into someone else's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a grassy area near where we are.  Technically it's for the benefit of residents of our (small) development only but, in practical terms is open to all.

 

The kids love it as it's a good place for them (and there's only a handful of them!) to meet up with friends and run about a bit, even though there is no play equipment, but it's easy to see how teenagers could be tempted to congregate there for an illicit fag/cider (although they'd probably get moved on) - as a result, I'm not 100% sure I'd want to live in one of the houses that overheard/overlooked it.

 

I definitely wouldn't want to live next to one with loads of play equipment though - it's astonishing how much noise kids make when they're all running around egging each other on - or if I thought the parents of local kids/teenagers would let them hang out into the small hours there.

 

I guess a lot depends on how you think the development will shape up, how long you're planning on being there for, and to a small degree what you think reactions from prospective purchasers might  be when you come to sell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whereabouts is it Boris? If it happens to be in Babergh then it's likely to be one I'm looking at, in which case I'll pull up the plans and have a look for you.

 

Yep, you guessed right Babergh. It's Hadleigh Suffolk, Weavers Meadow. It would be really handy to know whats going there, the plan just says play area. The sales people are (as sales people are) a tad vague.

 

 

M444TB, your view looks roughly how I imagine the area *could* look from the detail I have seen so far. The not looking out in to my neighbours house is definitely appealing. And given the view we currently have (industrial) it would make a nice change.

 

Wile-E. As you mention its the though of teens causing problems that is more of a concern. Its a new estate and not complete so hard to judge at this point. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's entirely possible that they don't know exactly what they'll put there (as little as they can get away with I suspect!), but might be worth being robust with them about wanting to know before you commit?

 

We were lucky with ours - we were among the last to move in so could size up the neighbours before we moved in (in fact, after one viewing I noticed our neighbour cutting his lawn so looped back after the developer's agent had gone to have a chat with him).  Ultimately all you can do is make a judgement call based on what you expect your neighbours to be like.

 

If all else fails, could always hide a Mosquito near your boundary for night time use..?  :oops:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, you guessed right Babergh. It's Hadleigh Suffolk, Weavers Meadow. It would be really handy to know whats going there, the plan just says play area. The sales people are (as sales people are) a tad vague.

yes that's one of mine :) bare with me and i'll see if i can log in to work to access the site plans else I'll have to wait till i'm back at work on Wednesday.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok this is what we've got :) I'm posting links to the online planning documents as they're available as public documents, but what we have as working consruction drawings are likewise the same as these. From the plans and your description I'm guessing its the play area opposite plots 54-57?

Site Layout Plan

http://planning.babergh.gov.uk/doldp/65072_18.pdf

http://planning.babergh.gov.uk/doldp/65072_19.pdf

And a link to the Planning Application and all the documents.

http://planning.babergh.gov.uk/dcdatav2/AcolNetCGI.gov?ACTION=UNWRAP&RIPNAME=Root.PgeDocs&TheSystemkey=93158

The only agreed landscaping scheme we have is the one below. The actual layout and type of play equiptment isn't yet defined and would be decided by the Council rather than the developer.

Landscaping Scheme

http://planning.babergh.gov.uk/doldp/59074_2.pdf

Although nothing appears to be decided with the design of the play area, I would expect it to end up looking not much dissimilar to this. This is on the Aldham Mill Hill Development (also in Hadleigh) which was completed about 7 years back and built by the same developer.

https://www.google.com/maps?q=ip7+6sj&hl=en&ll=52.052425,0.955097&spn=0.000007,0.005681&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=43.713406,93.076172&t=h&hnear=IP7+6SJ,+United+Kingdom&z=18&layer=c&cbll=52.052438,0.955295&panoid=DuX3eiHFSeQQ9vurp9A7ng&cbp=12,341.55,,0,10.5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also just to note that on the site layout plan the properties coloured in blue are private ownership, red are rentals and yellow are shared ownership.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also just to note that on the site layout plan the properties coloured in blue are private ownership, red are rentals and yellow are shared ownership.

 

 Well, that's my one thing learnt for today.  Never knew developers zoned for rental as part of the "affordable" numbers.

 

Out of curiosity, do they tend to retain them, sell "on mass" to a single investor, or move them on individually?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, that's my one thing learnt for today.  Never knew developers zoned for rental as part of the "affordable" numbers.

 

Out of curiosity, do they tend to retain them, sell "on mass" to a single investor, or move them on individually?

Read "rental" as "council houses" or at least that's what they used to be called :) in our case these would all be managed by a company such as Orwell Housing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fantastic Smokey, the ones we are looking at are opposite the other play area - plots 133,134,135. (The L.E.A.P area, whatever that stands for!)

 

I tried finding the info on the planning site but I guess I was putting in the wrong search params as I never found those documents.

 

Interesting on the colour scheme, never knew that regarding rentals and the like.

 

Brilliant stuff! I knew asking here I'd get some useful answers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Please review our Terms of Use, Guidelines and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.