Night flight blight triggers house price crash
Ramsgate property prices have dropped over 7% in the last 6 months.
The effects of "night flight blight" can already be seen in the fall in house prices in Ramsgate, as compared to the rest of Thanet.
Despite its architectural richness, thriving independent retail sector, attractive harbour and the new high speed rail link, prices in Ramsgate over the last 6 months have fallen sharply (from www.zoopla.co.uk):
|
Ramsgate: |
-7.36% |
|
Broadstairs: |
+0.54% |
|
Margate: |
-1.70% |
The high speed rail link was expected to boost property prices by up to 20%, so what's gone wrong? The answer, my friend, is lumbering over the horizon, blotting out the moonlight and wrecking thousands of lives across north-east Kent. The answer is night flights.
The wisdom of crowds: does anyone know whether local residents would be able to claim compensation from TDC or Infratil for the loss in value of their homes, and how we would set about it?
If you do want to be able to claim any kind of compensation for the loss in value of your single most expensive asset (your home), you'll need to have some "before and after" figures, so get in touch with some local estate agents and get your home valued now.
Broadstairs, Margate, Ramsgate, Thanet, economy Manston, Night flights
Reader Comments (8)
"The level of noise allowed by regulations on night flights at Heathrow unfairly breached the right to respect for private and family life."
http://www.humphreys.co.uk/private_solicitors/articles/litigation_1_1069.htm
Some members of our apparently educated elite in Ramsgate who don't want their town ruined by night -flights feel that to be concerned about this is some kind of political betrayal. The property price fall in Ramsgate is just further evidence of the Council's and Infratil's willingness to debase the quality of life for Ramsgate residents and sacrifice a large number of people's financial equilibrium, against a background of the added austerity assaults, on the basis of supporting a commercial development, creating (possibly) profits for the few.
This is as dangerous to the lives of the many directly affected households, in the distress that it can cause, as night-flights themselves, or rather the ridiculously drawn out process of determining acceptance of scheduled night flights or not. As for compensation, well I assume that TDC will be happy to reconsider council tax levels for a start and that to prevent too much pollution only allow pigs to fly at night.
Now we know that house prices are being affected, we ought to be looking to find out who is driving this. In this week's Gazette, one of the nasty little letters in favour of night-flights is a fake. It wasn't written by the person whose name was put on it. How many more of the Gazette's pro night-flight letters are fakes and who is writing them? I think we should be told.
He seems to be in favour of supporting Manston Airport, perhaps he has been the one sending letters of support to the papers.
But my alter ego tells me that the threat of night flights is enough to reduce property prices and in any event there is already the odd unscheduled, but actually scheduled night flight.
What a stupid twat I am !