New garden city will be practically next-door to Cameron
Nothing corrupt about this, then, is there?
Apparently the Coalition government has confirmed that Bicester, in Oxfordshire, will be the site of the second new Garden City. It is six miles from David Cameron’s home village of Chipping Norton, but conveniently (for those wanting to avoid accusations of corruption) in the next-door constituency of Banbury, held by fellow Tory Tony Baldry.
It is already the home of Chic (that’s not a description – it’s the name of the company) outlet shopping centre Bicester Village, home of many big brands – and for “big”, please feel free to read “expensive”.
Now, up to 13,000 new houses are to be built on the edge of the town, as part of the National Infrastructure Plan. They are part of a £2 billion investment to build 55,000 houses per year until 2020. Do you think they’ll be expensive too?
According to the BBC News article, “Garden cities are large-scale developments in which, according to the government, certain features can be ‘hardwired into designs from the beginning’. The government has said it does not want to ‘impose any definition of what garden cities are’, but features can include ‘quality design, gardens, accessible green space near homes, access to employment, and local amenities’.”
A feature already announced is a new railway station “to serve the expanded population”.
How many locally-born working people will have a chance to live in this new conurbation? How many residents will be migrants from elsewhere (you can bet immigration will be no object if they’ve got wads of cash)? Whatever happened to austerity?
When he announced the plan for new garden cities in April, Nick Clegg said it was a “call-to-arms for visionaries in local areas in need of housing to put forward radical and ambitious proposals” for “beautifully-designed new cities” providing “affordable homes to live in”. But this part of the Cotswolds is already spectacularly well-off and nobody there will welcome a development that will adversely affect house prices.
What we’re looking at here is an expensive dormitory town for the people who have benefited from David Cameron’s premiership – high-cost homes in a luxury environment, served by designer-label shops and with an easy commuter rail link to London and all points beyond.
The whole project is sure to create a large amount of prosperity for Oxfordshire in the immediate future – handy for Conservative MPs whose government stinks and who want to ensure their continued political survival after a forthcoming general election! Meanwhile, other parts of the UK – that need the investment – will go without.
It isn’t for ordinary people, that’s for sure – you can bet the residents’ bins will be emptied by workers who have to travel in from sink estates in other towns – paying for the journey out of their own pockets.
Garden city? With Cameron’s fellow parasites installed, it’ll be a blot on the landscape.
Postscript: It seems Sam Cameron – the prime minister’s wife – has holdings in the company that will be responsible for this development. He reckons he “forgot” to mention it on the register of members’ interests! As one commenter put it: “I’m sure it’s all above board. I mean, he’s an MP, a Tory, a Cabinet Minister and the leader of the country. All positions beyond suspicion or reproach”, while another added: “Yes and we all came up the Clyde on a bike!”
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They’re not garden cities either – the Garden City movement was a socialist idea that envisaged planned communities where the land was held in common by all residents who all had an equal say in the running and development of the communities. These are just big housing estates for the well off.
Speechless for once, they are simply beyond comprehension.
Mike, for once you are way off the mark. Come and have a look at Bicester for yourself, I’ll be your guide. This is not chipping Norton, this is where the workers live.not many locals shop at bv some work there though.
I don’t think this is about what Bicester is; it’s about what he wants to make it – a dormitory town for the very rich, who’ll be living next door to this fantastic shopping centre. From what you say, I was mistaken about them having to import workers. Perhaps they want to locate there because working people are there already and they’ll have a ready supply of chattels?
Its true bicester is a dorm town, but its also a busy light industrial town. The housing varies from minimally affordable little boxes to big ones. There are 10000 houses being built here already and the infratstructue cant cope as ig is. The shoppers at bicester village are mainly chinese and burka clad women tourists who lay siege to the area at weekends . This will be a bloody great estate on top of all the others. You really need to see chipping norton and bicester to understand the difference. Young people from chipping norton buy houses in bicester because they are priced out of those areas. Bicester is not a cotswolds poster town. And as far as i can tell so called new station is just the rebuild of bicester town station already under way.