@RNBlake Space lasers. Always so disappointing when a politician with access to information comes out with something like GPS pavement watch. You moron.
@AlbertoWeinric1@mattotele Says the 36 follower guy who calls himself a Spaniard living in Texas but Twitter sees you in the Netherlands.
A fool or a tool. Go fuck yourself.
@AlbertoWeinric1@mattotele 1000 posts. 36 followers. And zero understanding of the word facadism, or what a handsome Georgian building looks like. Go enjoy your "cultural tutor" and dance to his fascist dog whistling.
Two entrepreneurs want to build a million-person city on Suffolk farmland.
- Permanently affordable homes.
- "Permission, not subsidy." (their words)
The numbers tell a different story entirely IMO.
I wrote the bids for half the Homes England feasibility studies. I've delivered housing and infrastructure at scale. Happy to argue any of this.
The model proposes 400,000 homes via Community Land Trust, meaning resale prices are capped forever.
That's 235x more CLT homes than the sector has ever delivered, ALTOGETHER.
When asked how, the founder's answer was one word: "Community land trust." No mechanism. No understanding. Just dismissive platitudes.
Cost estimate for 400,000 homes plus hospitals, schools, trams, rail, utilities, nuclear reactors: Β£130-200 billion.
That's conservative. Assuming we were a nation who were actually able to deliver infrastructure properly.
They're raising Β£200 million. For planning. That's 0.13% of what's needed.
Investors at Β£100bn+ scale need 5-15% annual returns. 5% on Β£100bn = Β£5 billion per year.
Where does Β£5bn annually come from if prices are capped forever?
It can't be government, because they said they weren't asking for subsidy.
So it's private investors. The saudis? Quataris? Kuwait sovereign funds?
You cannot promise investors market returns AND promise residents prices won't rise. The maths doesn't work.
When pressed, the founder admitted: "The SEZ squares the circle."
Special Economic Zone. That means tax exemptions, business rates relief and regulatory carve-outs.
That's not "no subsidy."
That's billions in foregone tax revenue.
They want to break ground within this Parliament. ~4 years.
That probably sounds really ambitious and achievable if you've never actually been involved in infrastructure planning and delivery at scale.
It will take 4 years to commission and deliver a realistic feasibility study at that scale. Never mind the collosal undertaking of putting that amount of land through compulsory purchase orders.
The entire UK builds c.200,000 homes per year total. They're proposing double that in one location.
Where do the workers come from? The materials? The supply chains? And that's just for the housing, never mind the collosal infrastructure required.
Let's look at the land. What do they control? Nothing.
By their own admission, 50% of the land is owned by three lords, an Arabian sheikh, and two solar farms.
No options. No agreements. A map with a circle.
Their plan is to lobby for Development Corporation powers, and use compulsory purchase powers.
That's not "permission not subsidy."
That's asking the state to forcibly acquire hundreds of millions in private land on their behalf.
The founders have stated their company would receive 80 acres of city centre land as "reward."
Agricultural land trades around Β£10k/acre, vs prime city centre in a million-person SEZ at Β£2-5m/acre.
That gift could be worth Β£150-400 million, and under SEZ rules, there'd be reduced taxation on profits.
I believe the founder stated the trust wouldn't be controlled by residents because "democratic choice often runs counter to long-term interests."
That's the opposite of how CLTs work.
So what do you have?
- Fantasy maths
- Fantasy land
- Fantasy permission
- Millions in profit for the two entrepreneurs and their backers
- Zero growth for residents. Locked in to low value housing forever
- A shift in the overton window on new towns
- The two entrepreneurs and their advisory board positioned as the go-to consultants for new towns and cities (the likely grift IMO)