OnlyMe Report post Posted September 2, 2006 The Brownfield plan - govt and bank of england sponsored HPI and jobs destruction. http://www.timesandstar.co.uk/news/viewart....aspx?id=406945 Heartbroken steelmen say their goodbyes Published on 01/09/2006 David 'Hammy' Clarke 1 of 2 Prev | Next THEY turned off the lights, locked the gates and threw away the key to one of West Cumbria’s oldest and greatest industries last Friday - amid tears, anger, disbelief and another blow to the area’s economy. Steel rail-making, a Workington speciality that goes back 129 years - and much further back if you include the years when railway track was made of iron - has gone for good. Workington saw its last piece of white hot steel snaking over the rollers of the Mossbay works on Friday morning as the last steel railway lines came off the production line of Corus Rail. ...... http://www.timesandstar.co.uk/news/viewart....aspx?id=406991 138 homes planned for Corus site Published on 01/09/2006 PLANS for a 138-home estate on the old Corus site have been submitted to the council. Persimmon Homes wants to build 35 flats and 103 two and three-storey houses on the scrubland, off Mossbay Road in Workington. The land was formerly occupied by steelwork offices. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dnd Report post Posted September 2, 2006 Still money to be made from property - if your BUILDING them that is.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OnlyMe Report post Posted September 2, 2006 Still money to be made from property - if your BUILDING them that is.... Still money to be made from industry - if you are shitcanning the workforce and denuding the country of future earnings. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pooh Bear Report post Posted September 2, 2006 Why bother running a business if you can make more money selling the premises? To paraphrase RB: Gordon, what have you done? :angry: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AvidFan Report post Posted September 2, 2006 To paraphrase RB: Gordon, what have you done? :angry: I thought you were paraphrasing The Floyd. Where is total desperation summed up in a concept album when you need it. Quoting from "Post war dream": "If it wasn't for the Nips being so good at building ships... The yards would still be open on the Clyde". ... "Magie what have you done, Oh Magie what have you done... to England". "Shout, shout we scream. What happened to the post war dream?" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarkG Report post Posted September 2, 2006 Great, isn't it? Not only are jobs going abroad, but the factories are being turned into blocks of 'executive apartments' that no-one really wants... so even if a government decides to turn around the policies to encourage manufacturing business to come back here, where will they operate? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crash2006 Report post Posted September 2, 2006 Great, isn't it? Not only are jobs going abroad, but the factories are being turned into blocks of 'executive apartments' that no-one really wants... so even if a government decides to turn around the policies to encourage manufacturing business to come back here, where will they operate? on the roof Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pooh Bear Report post Posted September 2, 2006 (edited) "If it wasn't for the Nips being so good at building ships... The yards would still be open on the Clyde". ... "Magie what have you done, Oh Magie what have you done... to England". "Shout, shout we scream. What happened to the post war dream?" Had forgotten that great song. OnlyMe has manged to capture a microcosm of the UK economy in a single post. In a way, you have to admire the brilliantly evil way that the decline of the UK is being hidden behind house price hyperinflation. You'd have thought there'd be at least one group today that would try singing about something other than diamond encrusted bottles of Krug, or the way someone's ar5e jiggles. Even if they did, suppose their label's focus panels would prevent them from risking damaging their market share. They wouldn't get much airplay on radio 1 Oh well, suppose the lyrics will improve in the recession. As AvidFan says, we need something like a UK version of lazyboy's underwear goes inside the pants! (Edit: maybe not a good song to play at work) Edited September 2, 2006 by Pooh Bear Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wayo Report post Posted September 2, 2006 PLANS for a 138-home estate on the old Corus site have been submitted to the council. Persimmon Homes wants to build 35 flats and 103 two and three-storey houses on the scrubland, off Mossbay Road in Workington. The land was formerly occupied by steelwork offices. That must be one hell of a contaminated site, even if it is just the old offices? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pindar Report post Posted September 2, 2006 I thought you were paraphrasing The Floyd. Where is total desperation summed up in a concept album when you need it. Quoting from "Post war dream": "If it wasn't for the Nips being so good at building ships... The yards would still be open on the Clyde". ... "Magie what have you done, Oh Magie what have you done... to England". "Shout, shout we scream. What happened to the post war dream?" It's somebody else's post war dream now. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BuyingBear Report post Posted September 3, 2006 (edited) Here's some posts of mine from back in June, sorry to blow my own trumpet but I think they're relevant. Sounds like a roller coaster ride. You can expect as much, the planning system distorts the value of buildable land so a company can often just shutdown a facility and bank the money and achieve higher returns on capital than actually doing productive work and exports. Take Peugeot in Coventry for instance, the site is worth a fortune, hence it's being closed down and sold off, production is being moved to Slovakia where the land and supporting infrastructure is gifted by the government as they're grateful of the employment it brings. We on the other hand like to give undue value to a 'brownfield' or chunk of scrub land. It's all part of the bubble economy, it drives out real production and exports and replaces them with ponzi style asset speculation. They're also planning to destroy large parts of the Silverstone racing track to provide housing, of course, guess what's surrounding the track for miles around? Yup, sweet F.A. Exactly, you see this especially in manufacturing as it's relatively land hungry compared to a call center for example. Of course, there has always been a natural incentive to shutdown sites and consolidate production, but when a company is offered a fair few mil by a developer it focuses the mind, especially when Eastern European countries are gifting land and tax breaks like the UK once did for companies such as Toyota. Or you can simply outsource to China and just retain a small HQ in the UK. We've even lost HP FFS! We now give undue value to once worthless land, you can see it all over the place, like new build estates crammed next to major motorway interchanges or rail termini, such sites once 'housed' light industry and no self-respecting council would allow housing in such environments. Our remaining industry is only there because of sunk costs, they couldn't afford to set up again today, if a company wanted a five hectare site their return on capital would have to exceed that of building >250 houses. In the longrun a company will add value, employ people, pay taxes, produce exports and contribute to real GDP growth... but if a housing estate is build in its place what does it add? Notional equity and debt? That will keep the banks happy but can you sustain an entire country on that? There is a gross misallocation of capital. It's not the first, nor will it be the last, if we allow this to continue the UK will simply be a giant collection of flats mortgaged to the hilt built on 'brownfield' land, no productive industry will remain, just financial services, estate agencies and property management for those wanting to cash in the chips. Edited September 3, 2006 by BuyingBear Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
