Thoraiya DyerThe Last, Desperate Hope of the Wannabe Home Owner
May 9th 2008 22:23
Q: What do all these NSW newspaper advertisements have in common?
“Get Ready To Live The Dream” – Real Estate Agent Tony Cant, house for sale in Windella Rise
“Where town and country meet” – Forest Ridge land release in Bolwarra Heights
“The Best Of Town With A Country Feel… picturesque rural lifestyle on the doorstep of all the Hunter has to offer” – Saddler’s Ridge estate in Gillieston Heights
A: You think you’re buying this:
…when in fact, five years down the track, you’ll find you’ve bought into this:
If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the endless plugging of new housing estates promising a “rural lifestyle.” Actually, what’s involved is the transformation of overgrown cow paddocks into hideous, bogan-stocked outer “suburbs” that are destined to become slums due to poor urban planning.
When these advertisements are released, they show children frolicking over rolling green hills with swaying trees and abundant wildlife.
Maybe they look like that NOW, but when the land is subdivided into 900sqm blocks, and a thousand Average Joes have crammed 5 bedroom houses, triple garages and pools into the crowded corners of their plots, there aint gonna be much grass.
There aint gonna be many trees.
And without grass or trees – and once the pet dogs and cats have finished savaging the koalas and bandicoots - there sure as heck aint gonna be much wildlife.
How can the Sales Offices have the gall to advertise a “rural lifestyle”? How can they claim these estates combine the best of town and country? They certainly wont have the best of the country - clean air and unobstructed views. As for the best of town – surely that includes public transport, decent educational facilities and job opportunities?
Taking a closer look at Saddler’s Ridge, Gillieston Heights, we find it not far from Maitland, one of the fastest growing areas in NSW. So far, so good. Maitland has a hospital. Maitland has schools. Maitland has a shopping centre.
And Newcastle, about 35km from Maitland, has a University, a Football Stadium, an Entertainment Centre – it even has a Theatre or two!
But, according to the Maitland City Council Website, there’s only one bus that services Gillieston Heights, the #164.
Sadly, it doesn’t run at night, on weekends or on public holidays.
So, if you want to GET to the Greenhills shopping centre on a Saturday, or the Emergency Centre at Maitland hospital on a public holiday, or get home from a boutique Morpeth restaurant at night, that’s just too bad.
Why not stagger along the New England Highway, laughing and waving one thong in the air, instead? You can stop every now and again to moon the trucks and feel the cold wind of their Brisbane-bound passage on your naked arse cheeks.
Because that’s what happens when cities expand and expand with no proper transport measures in place.
The Gillieston Heights Area Plan ( Really Long Link ), adopted in April 2006, claims that one of its Desired Future Outcomes is to “provide walkable neighbourhoods with convenient access to neighbourhood shops, community facilities and other services, with less dependence on cars for travel.”
What an admirable aim!
But, sorry, it isn’t going to work. Not positioned where it is, 35km from Newcastle, with a single crappy bus to take you to the Maitland train station but only within restricted daylight hours.
According to the Age ( Really Long Link ), the consequences of poor public transport in outer Melbourne suburbs is severe:
“…the car-loving lifestyles adopted on the new estates funnel thousands of motorists onto major roads each peak hour. It is, of course, worse for those living in such areas, where a study by the Victorian Council of Social Service shows that transport shortages are causing economic and social dislocation."
”The same suburbs where property values are really high are the ones where they have plenty of public transport... It's a cruel irony. Colvin found that outer-suburban families were twice as likely to own two or more cars than their inner-city counterparts, but were far less able to afford the upkeep of multiple vehicles.”
”In the outer suburbs people have little choice but to have more than one car," she says. "If you can't afford a car or your car breaks down, you can't live, you might lose your job. In the inner suburbs you'd just be inconvenienced."
So much for creating less dependence on cars. Wake up, Maitland City Council. The Great Australian Dream of living on half an acre is over. Leave the farmland alone and start increasing housing density in existing developed areas. That, or take a leaf out of the Japanese book and build a serious rail network.
As for the money-grubbing developers and agents, why would you plug this dump (OK, it’s at least 4km from the dump, probably can’t even smell the rotting garbage) as the perfect balance of city and country?
Why not call it what it really is: The Last, Desperate Hope of the Wannabe Home Owner?
Borrow this headline: I'm Sorry This Is All You Poor Sods Can Afford.
At least that's being honest.
“Get Ready To Live The Dream” – Real Estate Agent Tony Cant, house for sale in Windella Rise
“Where town and country meet” – Forest Ridge land release in Bolwarra Heights
“The Best Of Town With A Country Feel… picturesque rural lifestyle on the doorstep of all the Hunter has to offer” – Saddler’s Ridge estate in Gillieston Heights
A: You think you’re buying this:
…when in fact, five years down the track, you’ll find you’ve bought into this:
If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the endless plugging of new housing estates promising a “rural lifestyle.” Actually, what’s involved is the transformation of overgrown cow paddocks into hideous, bogan-stocked outer “suburbs” that are destined to become slums due to poor urban planning.
When these advertisements are released, they show children frolicking over rolling green hills with swaying trees and abundant wildlife.
Maybe they look like that NOW, but when the land is subdivided into 900sqm blocks, and a thousand Average Joes have crammed 5 bedroom houses, triple garages and pools into the crowded corners of their plots, there aint gonna be much grass.
There aint gonna be many trees.
And without grass or trees – and once the pet dogs and cats have finished savaging the koalas and bandicoots - there sure as heck aint gonna be much wildlife.
How can the Sales Offices have the gall to advertise a “rural lifestyle”? How can they claim these estates combine the best of town and country? They certainly wont have the best of the country - clean air and unobstructed views. As for the best of town – surely that includes public transport, decent educational facilities and job opportunities?
Taking a closer look at Saddler’s Ridge, Gillieston Heights, we find it not far from Maitland, one of the fastest growing areas in NSW. So far, so good. Maitland has a hospital. Maitland has schools. Maitland has a shopping centre.
And Newcastle, about 35km from Maitland, has a University, a Football Stadium, an Entertainment Centre – it even has a Theatre or two!
But, according to the Maitland City Council Website, there’s only one bus that services Gillieston Heights, the #164.
Sadly, it doesn’t run at night, on weekends or on public holidays.
So, if you want to GET to the Greenhills shopping centre on a Saturday, or the Emergency Centre at Maitland hospital on a public holiday, or get home from a boutique Morpeth restaurant at night, that’s just too bad.
Why not stagger along the New England Highway, laughing and waving one thong in the air, instead? You can stop every now and again to moon the trucks and feel the cold wind of their Brisbane-bound passage on your naked arse cheeks.
Because that’s what happens when cities expand and expand with no proper transport measures in place.
The Gillieston Heights Area Plan ( Really Long Link ), adopted in April 2006, claims that one of its Desired Future Outcomes is to “provide walkable neighbourhoods with convenient access to neighbourhood shops, community facilities and other services, with less dependence on cars for travel.”
What an admirable aim!
But, sorry, it isn’t going to work. Not positioned where it is, 35km from Newcastle, with a single crappy bus to take you to the Maitland train station but only within restricted daylight hours.
According to the Age ( Really Long Link ), the consequences of poor public transport in outer Melbourne suburbs is severe:
“…the car-loving lifestyles adopted on the new estates funnel thousands of motorists onto major roads each peak hour. It is, of course, worse for those living in such areas, where a study by the Victorian Council of Social Service shows that transport shortages are causing economic and social dislocation."
”The same suburbs where property values are really high are the ones where they have plenty of public transport... It's a cruel irony. Colvin found that outer-suburban families were twice as likely to own two or more cars than their inner-city counterparts, but were far less able to afford the upkeep of multiple vehicles.”
”In the outer suburbs people have little choice but to have more than one car," she says. "If you can't afford a car or your car breaks down, you can't live, you might lose your job. In the inner suburbs you'd just be inconvenienced."
So much for creating less dependence on cars. Wake up, Maitland City Council. The Great Australian Dream of living on half an acre is over. Leave the farmland alone and start increasing housing density in existing developed areas. That, or take a leaf out of the Japanese book and build a serious rail network.
As for the money-grubbing developers and agents, why would you plug this dump (OK, it’s at least 4km from the dump, probably can’t even smell the rotting garbage) as the perfect balance of city and country?
Why not call it what it really is: The Last, Desperate Hope of the Wannabe Home Owner?
Borrow this headline: I'm Sorry This Is All You Poor Sods Can Afford.
At least that's being honest.
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