The sad thing is that because we're so short of housing in the UK (some of the causes are single people buying homes and staying single, one parent families and people living longer and therefore not freeing up homes), more homes have to be crammed on to less and less space, and land previously considered unsuitable for housing is being used.
Poole is a very mixed town. It has light industry, tourism, luxury yacht building, it's a working port with passenger and freight ferries crossing to the continent, it's a retirement town and it has some areas where the very wealthy live in mansions or have second home large apartments with views across the harbour. One couple have their sixth home (a mansion) here, with the other five in various parts of the world. There's one area of Poole already in existence, and another currently being built on, which was previously industrially polluted. Individual homes are being built on very small plots so that the front of the house (bungalows are now rare because they take up more land space) is only a yard or so from the pavement (sidewalk), and the back garden almost non-existent (the width of the building and about 10 feet deep). Gardening has always been a great pastime in the UK (although I'm not interested in it, but do like my garden to attract wildlife), and these houses are sold with it written into the deeds that nothing edible can be grown on what garden there is because of the risk of poisoning. In other areas, single dwelling are being demolished and a block of flats (several floors with at least one self-contained dwelling on each floor) built in their place. These are usually one living room and one or two bedrooms. In the expensive parts of Poole flats are called apartments - apartments cost more than flats, but are the same thing. Poole was originally purely a working port with children who didn't know which sailor was their father. Obviously the character is changing - everywhere does - but the local council and businessmen are trying to force the change that they want. Instead of the town slogan being "Poole, it's a beautiful place" (in my opinion, whoever coined that needs their eyes testing) for a fairly quiet retirement town, we now have "Poole, it's all happening" and "Surf, rest and play", to attract younger people. What they fail to mention in the second slogan is that there isn't any surf. What they've missed out is the word "wind" because we now get a lot of wind surfers and jet skiers as well as yachts and cruisers in the harbour. You might get the impression that I'm not keen on Poole - I'm not. Because it isn't being allowed to evolve naturally, and the people who already live here (I'm not including me in that as I'm new to the town) are being treated very badly - shops and transport are becoming less average local resident friendly. Some very wealthy people intend to become even more wealthy by trying to force Poole to be the kind of place they want it to be. I'm glad to say that at least two have already come unstuck and have been bankrupted. DH is quite happy here, I'd rather live in the countryside. Jean in Poole To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
