Perfection may exist after all
When I first read about government plans to extend the 10 national parks in the UK, I worried the move would restrict the few areas left for sensible new development even more. However, I can see the benefit of extending protection for these jewels of the countryside.
Only around 8% of the UK is actually built on, so it’s going to make very little difference if these plans become a reality. Rather than fret about expanding national parks, I’d be far happier if more unloved and unlovely plots were liberated for self builders to create homes.
During my years delivering courses at the NSBRC, I’d try and inject a little realism into the process of land searching to disabuse people of the notion they’d be able to construct a dream house on a dream plot – as I simply don’t believe such sites exist. However, I found myself eating my words the other day when Alison and I visited the Gower Peninsula in Wales. The southern and western coastal areas of the Gower are spectacular places. Designated as the first official area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) in 1956, it has been kept virtually untouched since. As you’d expect, the mass developers have not been allowed anywhere near the place, but there were one or two superb replacement houses. One that caught my eye was above the famous Three Cliffs Bay.