Comments for ASK Bristol

Comment on How do you think Bristol could mitigate the effects of Bedroom Tax? by Lionel Friedland

Lionel Friedland — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 11:31:29 +0000

What proportion of the national budget is allocated to housing compared with other developed
countries ? If this was known it would be easier to judge the importance a government or country gives to its housing needs. It would also be interesting if there was a rating system to judge the quality of housing provided by individual countries in the developed world. There was recently a league rating literacy/numeracy, why not housing as well?

Comment on How do you think Bristol could mitigate the effects of Bedroom Tax? by Chris Tovey

Chris Tovey — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 20:34:55 +0000

Dear leftie
I can never understand why you and others think that all people who live in so called social housing are suffering from some form of hardship and stress. There are a substantial number of people living in some form of Social housing in the Bristol area and I am sure all are not suffering and some may even be offended by your comments.
The reason there are not enough houses being built is very simple, its almost impossible for large areas of land to be built due to the level of resistance from both the lefties and the liberals and greens. It takes years to go through the process and the success rate is very poor.
It is because of this land prices where houses could be built are high and this reflects in the high price of the houses. Only recently BCCC suggest a area of land in my local area next to the railway lines could be used for housing. Almost at a blink of an eye the local elected Tory Councillor agreed and the candidates for the next election were indicating their opposition.
We need a flexible approach to housing, making the best use of our existing stock and a vigorous approach to new builds with clear areas set aside for building and accelerated program of private house building.
The current piece meal approach has never worked and only prolongs the agony.

Comment on How do you think Bristol could mitigate the effects of Bedroom Tax? by Lionel Friedland

Lionel Friedland — Sun, 13 Oct 2013 19:26:31 +0000

Cost of building a one bed flat per square foot is higher than a two bed flat.

Reasons, bathroom, kitchen,living room, access, servicing, has to be built for both, Therefore
to build the single bedroom which requires the same infrastructure costs more per square foot than each of the two bedrooms with the same infrastructure.

It makes less economic sense to build one bedroom flats. One bedroom also limits the development of family life and goes against the mantra of family and marriage. What is
the cost of both these considerations to the nation ?