A couple of years ago, I was quite interested in starting a home build project. If I could get a plot at a reasonable price. I then became aware of an organisation that call themselves "The United Plot Owners Association".
The general concept behind this organisation, is that they present plans for whole developments, where the plots themselves are owned by individuals. The idea being that a well thought out plan for an entire development with all of it's infrastructure, would be better received than an individual plot, in the middle of the countryside.
They also choose sites that are close to existing developments to ensure that they maximise the chances of acceptance. Considering the policies being pushed by Prestcot, it all sounded quite feasible. I decided that the best course of action, would be to hold fire, until I saw some progress on at least one of their sites.
Now here's the crunch. I have now been popping onto their website fairly regularly to see if they ever make any progress on ANY of their sites. One that took my interest in July of last year was their site at Burpham Court in Surrey. At that time their website claimed "an application will be submitted in 2004". As Christmas came and went, I kept looking for an update to the page. Keenly interested to see if the application was accepted, or if not, what issues they needed to address to get the plans through.
Finally in February of this year, I noticed that the "2004" had been edited on their website to read "2005". Since 2005 is now getting close to it's end, I had another look and, surprise surprise, No change. I wonder how long it will take them to edit it to 2006.
I can't help but feel sorry for all the mugs that have bought plots on these sites. Since they give absolutely no information on the trials and tribulations they've had in their preparation of the plans for themselves, I can only assume the whole thing is just a con.
Another thing that smacks as iffy, is the fact that they charge the plot owners for membership on an annual basis. Therefore, the longer they take to get an application approved, the more money they get. This obviously creates a situation of conflicting interest. Once they get planning permission, they stop receiving membership fees. While their continued failure to take any action is rewarded with more membership fees.
In case you're interested, this is the page that I have been following for the last two years. Perhaps we could have a sweepstake on when the 2005 gets edited to read 2006. It is only one of over hundred sties on their books, so there is big money being made here.
Ironically, their website doesn't seem to have had a great deal of time (or money) spent on it. I even sent them an Email early this year advising them of various issues that it had (such as links that don't work etc..). In this message I gave them the exact details of which lines of which files needed to be edited, and what changes to make. Since they haven't even fixed these minor problems, I can only assume that they don't have anyone dedicated to looking after the website. Hardly inspires confidence eh?
The general concept behind this organisation, is that they present plans for whole developments, where the plots themselves are owned by individuals. The idea being that a well thought out plan for an entire development with all of it's infrastructure, would be better received than an individual plot, in the middle of the countryside.
They also choose sites that are close to existing developments to ensure that they maximise the chances of acceptance. Considering the policies being pushed by Prestcot, it all sounded quite feasible. I decided that the best course of action, would be to hold fire, until I saw some progress on at least one of their sites.
Now here's the crunch. I have now been popping onto their website fairly regularly to see if they ever make any progress on ANY of their sites. One that took my interest in July of last year was their site at Burpham Court in Surrey. At that time their website claimed "an application will be submitted in 2004". As Christmas came and went, I kept looking for an update to the page. Keenly interested to see if the application was accepted, or if not, what issues they needed to address to get the plans through.
Finally in February of this year, I noticed that the "2004" had been edited on their website to read "2005". Since 2005 is now getting close to it's end, I had another look and, surprise surprise, No change. I wonder how long it will take them to edit it to 2006.
I can't help but feel sorry for all the mugs that have bought plots on these sites. Since they give absolutely no information on the trials and tribulations they've had in their preparation of the plans for themselves, I can only assume the whole thing is just a con.
Another thing that smacks as iffy, is the fact that they charge the plot owners for membership on an annual basis. Therefore, the longer they take to get an application approved, the more money they get. This obviously creates a situation of conflicting interest. Once they get planning permission, they stop receiving membership fees. While their continued failure to take any action is rewarded with more membership fees.
In case you're interested, this is the page that I have been following for the last two years. Perhaps we could have a sweepstake on when the 2005 gets edited to read 2006. It is only one of over hundred sties on their books, so there is big money being made here.
Ironically, their website doesn't seem to have had a great deal of time (or money) spent on it. I even sent them an Email early this year advising them of various issues that it had (such as links that don't work etc..). In this message I gave them the exact details of which lines of which files needed to be edited, and what changes to make. Since they haven't even fixed these minor problems, I can only assume that they don't have anyone dedicated to looking after the website. Hardly inspires confidence eh?
