Buying a house near a planned gypsy site

Clutterfree

Do you know why the vendors are moving?
Just wondered if they're are jumping ship...
I think I would too.
Even if the site ends up being the tidiest site in the country and the residents are "salt of the earth", unfortunately the reputation of others in their community will be what sticks in people's minds.

Tiglet2

Our local council is in the process of trying to build additional homes and some traveller sites across the region. There has been various local groups fighting the plans, particularly those relating to the traveller sites. The council won't say where these sites will be yet but the uncertainty in the area is very worrying, with some people already making plans to move.

For the above reason, I'm with Money and Victoria.

SG27

sxp842 wrote: »

Really, was it that bad?

I grew up in a house quite close to a gypsy camp. They generally kept themselves to themselves and I never really saw them, but there were a few occasions over the years where we came back from holiday to find our house burgled.

Has it made it harder to sell properties in your area, or affected house values?

I wouldnt say it reduced the the value of my (parents) house as we were a few miles away. Not far enough to suffer the effects though. The house in adjoining roads where unsaleable some tried unsuccessfully. But to add some context this was a paticularly bad case. The biggest combined legal/illegal site in the UK which often made national news.

Tiglet2

Not Crays Hill lol?

pmlindyloo

Another thing to consider is that there is bound to be a knock on effect to the schools in the area.

Children from travelling families often need extra support in school and this can affect the education of the other children as resources become increasingly 'spread thin'.

ProDave

sxp842 wrote: »

Really, was it that bad?

I grew up in a house quite close to a gypsy camp. They generally kept themselves to themselves and I never really saw them, but there were a few occasions over the years where we came back from holiday to find our house burgled.

Has it made it harder to sell properties in your area, or affected house values?

I have never had a house burgled in my life. If it kept happening a FEW times I would be moving PDQ

bouicca21

I'd be more worried about the access route and the effect on traffic going past my house. Is it to be for permanent residents or those that continue to travel?

My first house was about a mile from a travellers/gypsy camp. No problems. It was a cheap (by London standards) area so no discernible effect on values. I was burgled whilst living there but I have no way of knowing who to blame. Have always had a burglar alarm since - I think that's enough to protect me from opportunistic wouldbe burglars.

But having said all that, 5 minutes away, if access were going to be past my house, would put me off.

goodwithsaving

Surely you are more concerned about the impact on safety, quality of area, burglary stats (the casual consideration of this in particular astounds me. "Only 2 or 3 times over the years"), than on whether the house value will be affected.
I actively looked for things like this when buying and wouldn't touch any houses near one.

Cheeky_Monkey

If it were me, I wouldn't care how close I was to exchange, as soon as the word gypsy was mentioned, I'd be off - running :eek:

Davesnave

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Another thing to consider is that there is bound to be a knock on effect to the schools in the area.

Children from travelling families often need extra support in school and this can affect the education of the other children as resources become increasingly 'spread thin'.

What a refreshing change from how it was in the good old days. At my small Dorset primary, the gypsy children couldn't enter the playground until the Headteacher arrived. Until then, the local kids would throw stones at them if they tried to access the school.

The lady teacher who took infants lived on site and must have known, but I never saw her intervene.

This is going back a bit (!) so the kids were old-fashioned gipsies, who smelled of wood smoke, and there was no extra support to spread thinly anyway, unless you count clips round the ear.

As an 'incomer,' I was often made to sit by one of these children, which suited me fine, as they were generally more civilsed than many of the local kids.


I see my earlier comment is looking pretty much correct so far; people aren't going to buy into the uncertainty of this at all.