Fw: Fwd: Please help to save this absolutely beautiful dwelling.

Brendan Boal b_m_boal at yahoo.com
Fri Apr 12 22:56:42 BST 2013


I agree.


These people should not be condemned for making a nice job of their 
home, on the contrary, they are to be congratulated. I've seen a lot of self built houses and most of them 
leave a lot to be desired. If we want to make self-built, low impact homes more 
main-stream (which surely we do, or what's the point of it all?) we need to make them far more appealing, just like 
this one. Draughty shacks, damp caravans and verminous benders are a disaster for the image of self-reliant, low impact living. I think the desire to escape from consumerism can sometimes lead people to reject all comfort and beauty. This is a mistake. As an escaped childhood catholic, I am well aquainted with the guilt/hair shirt thing, and it is an entirely negative mindset. By contrast, comfort and ascetic excellence through 
good design and intelligent use of resources are actually central to sustainability - if you think about it.   

Brendan.          

"Simplicity of
life, even the barest, is not a misery, but the very foundation of
refinement; a sanded floor and whitewashed walls and the green trees,
and flowery meads, and living waters outside"

William Morris, ‘The
Decorative Arts: Their Relation to Modern Life and Progress’


----- Forwarded Message -----
From: geonomist <steve at envisioneer.net>
To: Diggers350 at yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, 12 April 2013, 21:07
Subject: Re: Fwd: [Diggers350] Fwd: Please help to save this absolutely beautiful dwelling.
 


  
Surprised to see such disinformation here. The only privilege is the freedom to design for beauty that comes with unfettered control of your own home.

As to 'true' low-impactors, both Tony Wrench and Simon Dale occasionally worked on this house, as did I, along with a stream of gifted craftspeople passing through Lammas as volunteers, some staying for months to work on the house, inspired by what they were creating. None of them would support the kind of development you are criticising without knowledge or justification here.

Charlie had never seen a strawbale dwelling till they started popping up next door, and he is a perfect example of someone inspired to emulate the low-impact vision of Lammas using materials almost entirely gathered from the immediate surrounds.

It seems your vision of low-impact, like your Dickensian idyll of humble peasants gratefully huddled in caravans, requires being virtuously content with crappy disposable cast-offs from consumer society. Many of us are no longer content to beg such crumbs.

Sustainable does not equal Ugly. 

Steve.

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Ian" <ian.stardust at ukgateway.net>
Date: 25 March 2013 21:24:26 GMT
To: Simon Fairlie <chapter7 at tlio.org.uk>, 
Subject: Re: [Diggers350] Fwd: Please help to save this absolutely beautiful dwelling.
Reply-To: ian.stardust at ukgateway.net

This is all over the internet, but I feel quite a lot of resistance to it. This is certainly a well
made building and it would be a pity to knock it down but why simply because this is made
from straw bales, should we support this any more than if it was made with bricks and
mortar. It doesn't look "low impact" to me. To me it reeks of privilege. These are rich people
trying to take advantage of the hard fought for inroads into the planning system made by
true low impactors like Tony Wrench. Many people I know would be only too pleased of the
chance of a "freezing damp caravan" securely sited and would use low impact methods to
make it warm and dry.

Ian.

On 25 Mar 2013 at 19:36, Simon Fairlie wrote:

From: <hearth at hartwoodcommunity.coop>
Date: 25 March 2013 11:38:33 GMT
To: "SimonFairlie209" <chapter7 at tlio.org.uk>
Subject: Please help to save this absolutely beautiful dwelling.
Reply-To: <hearth at hartwoodcommunity.coop >

Hi SimonFairlie209,
Another day, another young family is threatened with needless eviction and the destruction of
their home and the savings they invested in it. But this one could be different...
Charlies Home
Literally right next door to the Lammas Ecovillage, Charlie & Megan's stunning strawbale home,
built in a corner of the family farm, is easily the best example of it's kind I have ever seen. Please
watch this short video to meet Charlie and see what they have created.
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=49451225
Having grown up in the village and then like thousands of others, finding the only permitted way
to stay in their area, even with a child, was to live in a freezing, damp caravan parked in the
garden, they took the plunge and built this masterpiece with help from friends, neighbours,
Lammas residents and volunteers.
This is a young local family, trying to remain on their family farm, right next door to the most
famous low-impact development in Britain, in what is hard to describe in words other than
'stunning' and 'beautiful'. Even the officials sent to inspect the place were overawed, exclaiming
"You could win an award with this!".
There has probably never been a better opportunity to show up the planner's antisocial
vandalism for what it is. Media friendly, young local family and glossy photo opportunities galore.
A perfect way to show up the risible affordable housing policy, and unjustifiable refusal to apply
new TAN6 planning laws in practice.
Please support their appeal by spreading the word, links to the video and filling in the short
appeal support form also available with guidance from the Natural Homes website here:
http://naturalhomes.org/save-charlies-house.htm
This has a deadline of 4 April 2013 - so please act NOW!
Their victory would open the door to many others desperate to provide comfortable, truly
affordable homes for their own families.
Thank you for reading,
Steve James.
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