New Oval Houses Will Be Dark Inside

[Colin James]

I can't help but notice that these new houses at the Oval are going to be very dark inside, they have built them very close to the road compared to where the old flats used to be and directly in front of them is a whole avenue of large trees, great planning.

 

[Colin James]

[Denise Lloyd]

Not a solar panel to be seen.  Somewhere in some planning blurb I read that a certain percentage of new houses should now be built with solar panels and water butts.  

 

I still miss  the old flats just because they held so many stories of life gone by. 

[Glenda Powell]

What you can't see is the road turning left from the front of the Oval ( the bus route) that is inbetween the houses, and pathway before the trees. I have heard today the tenants that have moved into the properties are not happy, there is problems with the houses and gardens to the rear, and they have to pay a service charge for the bushes and parking spaces in front of their properties, also the one's by the play area has to pay for the new play area when it is put in and the upkeep of it. None of this was told to the tenants or members of the management group for HHL. Also the 4 storey flats have no lift, the lift shaft was being put in but then it was stopped by HHL because it was "to expensive" tenants have asked me to set up a meeting for them to come and speak to me, they have advised me they WILL NOT contact their new councillor. other residents have told me the same over the past week saying he is a waste of space, some have contacted him 3 weeks ago and he hasn't done anything for them to help with their problems!

[Denise Lloyd]

Glenda you will have to invoice him for work carried out on his behalf! 

[Glenda Powell]

Denise, I would be waiting a long time, as I said just after the election I feel sorry for the people of Newton Farm, and  3 weeks after the election they are already finding that out!

[Colin James]

So getting back to the topic, these house are going to be very dark inside, so there lights will be on quite often I would imagine.

[Bill Thomas]

The houses are a lot closer to the road side and with those big tree's more or less directly outside the windows, yes these houses will be very dark inside.  I assume those trees are staying? Will they be thinned out to let more light through?

[megilleland]

I don't think it will be the trees casting a shadow over the houses, as the sun follows an east west axis during the day and the houses lie on this line. In the Goggle map screen shot below you can see the shadows are cast across the Belmont Road. It will be the houses themselves that are the cause of a lack of light, which you can see by the old flats in the background of the screenshot. I say this before someone goes berserk with a chain saw and chops all the trees down. We are losing too much established natural greenery in the name of development. How many years have these trees been standing here?

 

However there will be plenty of sunshine at the back of the properties, especialy if they have gardens.

 

[Amanda Martin]

I can't help but notice that these new houses at the Oval are going to be very dark inside, they have built them very close to the road compared to where the old flats used to be and directly in front of them is a whole avenue of large trees, great planning.

 

Oval.png

Oh no,  I think I know what's coming next. I can hear the chainsaws firing up now.  

 

From an interior design point of view, and wearing a hat I don't often have time to put on these days,  rooms don't need a lot of natural light in order to be light.  The problem is that most of these sorts of developments are done by the same kind of male mindset that also designs our streets.  I've lost count of the number of new builds we've seen where the only lighting is one sad tungsten bulb in the middle of the ceiling, usually accompanied by  pipes running straight across walls, the boiler is in full view in the kitchen, bathroom sinks  hanging over the edge of the bath or part way across a window or, most common of all, the radiator is behind the door.  Then they usually run amok with a pot of Magnolia.

 

These guys just have no flare and the answer is not to cut down the trees but I bet that's what will happen.  

[Bill Thomas]

I don't think it will be the trees casting a shadow over the houses, as the sun follows an east west axis during the day and the houses lie on this line. In the Goggle map screen shot below you can see the shadows are cast across the Belmont Road. It will be the houses themselves that are the cause of a lack of light, which you can see by the old flats in the background of the screenshot. I say this before someone goes berserk with a chain saw and chops all the trees down. We are losing too much established natural greenery in the name of development. How many years have these trees been standing here?

 

However there will be plenty of sunshine at the back of the properties, especialy if they have gardens.

 

Oval-tree-shadows-1.jpg

 

Thanks for this info Martin, however, when I walked past yesterday morning it looked pretty dark, it also looks dark in the photos provided by Colin. I am sure that they will not cut down these tree's but they may have to thin them out.

[Glenda Powell]

When this development was first suggested that is 5 years ago now it was decided by the Steering group which I was a member that the trees would stay.(they have been there for around 100 years as when you came under the bridge you were in fact in the country and the trees were part of the farm land, belonging to the Newton Farm run by the Powell family) having seen the inside of these houses they are well proportioned in room size, no boilers in site, no radiators behind doors or sinks hanging over the bath. The part of the houses facing the road is their parking areas and the kitchen is in the front, the lounge with patio doors and garden is to the rear.

[Amanda Martin]

Thanks, Glenda.  I wasn't literally suggesting that these particular properties have the issues I mentioned but rather that the answer lies in designing some internal lighting rather than cutting down trees. I  agree with Megilleland and if we can't decide for ourselves that we prefer green spaces to concrete and traffic,  we're screw ed.

[Aylestone Voice]

The answer to all the issues is tree house with zip lines for transport

[Colin James]

I have just come back from the Oval and had another look at these houses and tree's, I stand by what I said originally and that is, they are going to be very dark inside, some of these tree's are almost touching these houses.

 

[megilleland]

Colin looks like the whole photo is under exposed!

[Colin James]

Colin looks like the whole photo is under exposed!

 

I actually increased the brightness in Photoshop before I uploaded the images Martin, I will take another photo later in the week, but it is definately dark, trust me. I think they have built the house too close to these tree's and the front of the house are situated in there shadow if that makes sense.

[Colin James]

Here you go, I took a few more this evening

 

 

Look how close these tree's are to the houses and the houses have more height to go yet

 

[Aylestone Voice]

Ha!

It was probably just a cunning plan by Herefordshire Housing/Council. Everybody knows they want to fell every tree in the County starting with these, but they know the huggers will get riled up. So the answer is build the new houses close so that when they fell the trees it will because the residents have objected to living in dark houses with leaves clogging up their gutters. The space will be used to widen the road so as to get the tree lined bus boulevard in.

[Victor Wright]

To be fair, these houses are very close to the road, the previous flats were positioned way back with grass in front, these houses just look far too close to the road.

[SON OF GRIDKNOCKER]

I think I'm going to be out on a limb here (ooops, dreadful pun), but I can think of nothing nicer than to be able to look out of a sitting room window and see those majestic trees across the road. Watch them clange through the seasons. Rather that than (like the poor folk who live in Edgar Street) know that for the rest of your days you'll be looking at a timber-slatted car park that has all the architectural merit of moored container ship!

[Frank Smith]

I think I'm going to be out on a limb here (ooops, dreadful pun), but I can think of nothing nicer than to be able to look out of a sitting room window and see those majestic trees across the road. Watch them clange through the seasons. Rather that than (like the poor folk who live in Edgar Street) know that for the rest of your days you'll be looking at a timber-slatted car park that has all the architectural merit of moored container ship!

 

Oh for Christ Sake get over the bloody trees in Edgar St, I am bored of hearing about them now.

[Steve Major]

Oh for Christ Sake get over the bloody trees in Edgar St, I am bored of hearing about them now.

 

I was going to say the same thing.   Looking at these photo's the tenants will be able to touch the tree's from their upper floor windows by the look of it. Houses could of done with being built 8-10ft further back imo, giving a small garden too, I can see what you mean about possibly being dark inside.

[SON OF GRIDKNOCKER]

It really is sad reflection of Herefordshire, that there are people about who take such a blinkered view of the farce of the Highways Agency's spurious Edgar Street 'pinch point', which clearly wasn't needed at all! 

 

I wonder (@ Messrs Smith & Major) if we are permitted to post observations here on The Voice about the fact that the jack-booted HA are about to re-plan (for a third time!) the notorious Asda roundabout. Or is that off limits too?

[twowheelsgood]

Oh for Christ Sake get over the bloody trees in Edgar St, I am bored of hearing about them now.

 

There was no mention of the Edgar St trees - Grid Knocker was referring to the dire view of the moored container ship that masquerades as a shopping centre.

[Gentle Giant]

How great does the difference have to be for a house to be "dark" rather than "well shaded"
 

The sideways on shot does make things look bad, but if the trees are well spaced it may well be quite bright, while remaining well shaded. On the other hand, it is more or less North West facing, so shade isn't really an issue.

 

To those who are " . . . sick of hearing about the Edgar Street trees . . .", I guess you don't actually live there or use the road all that much at peak times. Yes, it can become tiresome, hearing the same old story over and over, but no more so than pulling up in peak time traffic and seeing the "desperately needed" lane largely empty and ignored. To make matters worse, its layout favours traffic movement towards the A49 north, rather than the intended A438.
As sick as you my be of hearing about it, I am equally sick of the waste of resources which could have been better spent and feel that the more those responsible are reminded of how the people really did know best, the less likely they will be to make similar mistakes in the future.

 

I am not naive enough to believe that no mistakes will be made, but every highlighted reminder will serve to reduce the possibility.

[lpusseycat]

We live off Waterfield road and have a green around our house with a row of trees surrounding it at the back of our house  there were that many you could not see the houses in Pixley Walk. Hereford housing have come along and chopped them down there are only about 5 left I know some have died over the years but some were healthy.They told me they would be replacing them with new ones it has not happened yet and doubt it will.

[Adrian Bridges]

Get Balfour Beatty in. there will be none left, a little careful pruning and cutting off the odd branches is all that is required to brighten up the road?

 

Also they may not be able to cut these back yet as there is the bird nesting season from March to September and trees are not supposed to be cutback until after this period unless it is on safety grounds.

 

Hopefully they will be given some minor attention but do not let Balfour Beatty in they will chop them to the ground.

[dippyhippy]

Well said, Adrian! Let's keep Balfour Beatty well away..... there will be carnage!

 

Given the choice between a noisy, dirty, polluted road.... and a vista of beautiful old trees, I certainly know which option I'd prefer!

 

As another poster has already pointed out, they should get the sun around the back in their gardens for quite a lot of the day. I live in a Victorian terraced street, where the roads are narrow and many houses three storey. Our living rooms are dark during the day!

 

The houses may not be of the highest architectural standard.... but they ARE an improvement on what was there before! I'm sure the residents are pleased with their new homes, and hopefully will appreciate the beauty of these magnificent trees every time they open their curtains!

 

I know I would!

[SON OF GRIDKNOCKER]

Well said, Adrian - and good to have you contributing to The Voice.

 

But be ever so careful about using phrases like 'bird nesting season'; you'll have the bigots posting irate 'Oh For Christ Sake' messages like the one above!