Community Plan
Comments under the "Housing" category
- The tendency on the part of LDNPA planning to give planning for infill housing. Can there be a survey on how many holiday lets can be purchased for affordable housing? Respond
- Water energy (Lake Windermere) community to benefit. More help for young couples to stay in area. Help to encourage new businesses in Windermere area. Respond
- More affordable housing. Encourage local business's to stay in an area for a sustainable community. Make a vibrant area to encourage young families. Cheaper transport enabling to travel to work,. Respond
- Purchase vacant properties to rent out, local housing authority. Make sure parking and waste storage are included in any plans for new houses. Respond
- Have a housing trust. Give employers more incentive to train young people. Respond
- Derelict land is lying wasted,. i.e. the old garden centre. It would make a nice housing development for starter homes and at the front Car Parking for local businesses for staff - leaving valuable short stay nearer the village. Respond
- Training utility costs. More housing for our local young people. Senior pupils need to be taught skills instead of urging them to go to university whilst still at school get them interested in a trade. Respond
- The problems for young people is lack of good jobs, rather than the housing that always gets mentioned. Many good jobs have gone from the area in recent years. (Good job we have Lakeland Ltd I suppose). Housing - too many in plan at Troutbeck Bridge - some maybe needed but don't put just anywhere and spoil the environments of many more residents. 'For locals' is often too expensive i.e 350 K and over for a flat. Respond
- Housing - Hotel staff house, poorly maintained, noise etc,. Change of uses needed. Respond
- Second homes to pay at least 75% of council tax,, which could release some a/c for local residency. More training facilities/apprenticeship grants for tradesmen (plumbers, electricians. Use old garden centre for low cost housing and public car park. Respond
- Ease planning restrictions on converting barns/outbuildings to housing. Place restrictions on houses being bought as second homes. Affordable housing for local occupancy. Respond
- More affordable housing. No more second homes. Respond
- LDNPA brought into 21st century by relaxing planning rules to allow energy efficient usage. Respond
- We do not want our property to be de-valued by the need for it to become an affordable property wherein it cannot be sold on to become a holiday home. Respond
- Housing - bring back council house developments. People need housing here in the same way as people need housing throughout the country, property prices are a result of the economy not controlled by the council but the economy. Respond
- Affordable housing. Respond
- Too many holiday homes and lets. Respond
- Use Windermere Garden Centre land for housing. Respond
- Local occupancy clauses are starting to cause problems for local people who need to move. Housing associations and private landlords often have a get out clause and can let to anyone if the property has been empty for 3/6 months. Meantime owner occupiers have no get out plus lose their sale. Local occupancy clauses should be removed from all owner occupier property. They are a disincentive to buyers, in spite of being unenforceable. They cause hardship for lock people without providing 'affordable' housing. Many are on quit expensive properties. Respond
- There may be a desire for more local housing, but there is no evidence of need. If there were a real need, then people would be living o n the streets and they are not. Respond
- No-one actually needs to live in Windermere on Bowness. There is a narrow-minded attitude that people have a right to live here just because they were born here. Respond
- Loss of local housing to the holiday trade increases the travel/parking problems of those staffing local shops etc. Respond
- More local housing for the young people of the area. Better employment so people can stay local. Respond
- Housing in the National Park is expensive for a very good reason - it is a nice place to live. This is exactly as in towns - the good areas are expensive for a reason. Respond
- Housing needs surveys - does anyone really need to live in Windermere? Why should anyone expect to live in an expensive area just because they have grown up there. If your parents drive a Rolls Royce you should not expect to have one as your first car. Respond
- Training - support the re-born Kendal College as our college to train local children as technicians, chefs, mechanics to help them find a home and stay in the area. Re-introduce council housing. Respond
- Need more sites for local needs housing - revisit some of sites previously looked at to see if could be made suitable e.g. A590/Thwaites Lane junction. Open area Droomer/Claife Close (put houses on top of garages). Respond
- Criteria for council housing should favour locals and not incomers with several children. Respond
- There are 165 empty, unfurnished homes in this parish (not including 650 second homes). SLDC give 50% discount on council tax, which they need not do. Cancelling this discount would free up some housing. Respond
- Employment - people are being imported into 'local housing' thus depressing wages for true locals. Respond
- Housing said to be for locals is being allocated to people from far and wide. It should be restricted to parish. Respond
- Build more council houses for locals - council houses not for sale. Respond
- Building homes is bad for the environment, so existing houses should be bought instead. Grants to housing associations are available for this, but housing associations are not bidding to the Government Housing Corporation. Respond
- Need much more affordable housing. Second homes ought to be taxed very highly. Old empty properties utilised e.g the old court house. Respond
- We have a responsibility to future generations not to build any more houses on green spaces around and in Windermere and Bowness. Wanton and unnecessary building has already polluted the lake with sewage. Housing wants and the politics of envy are not the same as genuine need, Respond
- More affordable housing. Prevent previous council houses being resold as 2nd homes. Legislation for sale into 2nd homes to be change of use. Higher council tax for 2nd homes. More diverse employment opportunities to cut down dependency on tourism. Make better use of local library as a community and educational resource. More opportunities for apprenticeships in local building, gardening, plumbing firms etc. More local Government support for insulation and fuel saving measures. Respond
- Housing - suggested development at Troutbeck Bridge of affordable housing is a good idea and should be pursued. Has the possibility of small working units be constructed for small cogs been considered. Free transport for trainees to enter hotel and catering at Kendal College. Development and encouragement of at least one sizeable industry to be encouraged, Where would it be situated? Respond
- Housing - houses unoccupied could be used for low cost housing. Poor monitoring of people occupying low cost housing. Subsidies available for energy saving devices - solar panels. Respond
- Housing - should be a local who has lived here all their lives. Respond
- It looks as though the local occupancy restriction is respected when private homes are sold - but when we first moved here there were stories of the new chapel style homes being sold on inappropriately. Has that loophole been successfully plugged? Respond
- Housing is not peculiar to this area!! The cost of housing is not related to local pay. Local pay needs to be reviewed. Respond
- With business rates high it is very difficult to make enough profit to put back to keep quality high. They say they are looking for land and barns for affordable housing. That is not true as they only say that to look good to the media. Make it easier for planning permission. Respond
- Rates of pay do not reflect local cost of living which make housing 'too expensive' for low earners. Respond
- There is no monitoring of occupancy of low cost/affordable housing. House are being sole to not local people and not monitoring of it. Respond
- Charge twice the community charge for 2nd homes. Local born/family people only. Respond
- Low cost housing doesn't mean locals would get one of these houses.. Depends on points system. This need changing. Respond
- Housing - define local? Respond
- More emphasis on affordable housing many local occupancy houses are expensive. Respond
- The housing survey was geared up in such a way that it could only find a need. The housing 'need' is greatly exaggerated in this area - in fact we should be resisting any further house building - there aren't the jobs to sustain it. Local occupancy housing and affordable housing near us are lived in by families who commute to Carlisle. We must not follow the myth that more new housing is needed or that housing in SLDC is more expensive than elsewhere. Houses in Kendal are below the national average. Respond
- The major problem is lack of affordable housing. This knocks on to opportunities in reasonably aged employment. There are considerable differences in income levels, with the result that there is not 100% support to a community effort. Need to convince all that lack of affordable housing impacts on the whole economy. Respond
- There is not enough affordable family housing. Too many people who work here cant afford to live here. Respond
- Housing - affordable housing an urgent must for the young of this village. Employment - there is a need for more employment and the possibilities for cheap travel to and from these sites. Respond
- Housing too expensive for young couples. More cheap rentable housing for local young people, or special arrangements for 1st time buyers. Especially when many house are empty for holiday lets. Training needed for people in low paid jobs to improve prospects. Respond
- Existing houses should be used - 165 empty instead of building new ones, which is bad for the environment. Respond