(This is a letter I submitted to the Bracknell News in 2019 that was probably considered too ‘hot’ to publish – it seems the new editorship of the News is more concerned with recycling press releases for the benefit of property developers, than representing the voices of local people and tackling the hard-hitting issues of the day. More power to them.)
Another week, another soulless property development in Bracknell.
This time it’s The Grand Exchange, which proudly calls itself a ‘Game Changer’.
What game are they referring to, I wonder? Perhaps the game in which anonymous investment firms plonk gaudy concrete blocks covered with plastic cladding in the middle of our town and market them as ‘luxury’?
Or is the game that forces buyers to front an insane £54,990 deposit for a one-bedroom flat?
Because if it is, I hate to break it to Mayfair-based property investment firm SevenCapital: you ain’t changing nothing.
But they have given their ‘game’ away in a sponsored article for Homes&Property, saying that The Grand Exchange buyers can expect a ‘healthy rental yield’.
Ahh. So, these so-called ‘luxury’ flats (they use that word eight times on their website) are not intended for aspirational Bracknellians looking to buy a property in their hometown after all.
Instead it seems they are exclusively for wealthy, far-off investors wanting to supplement their income and build capital with a buy-to-let property in a town that has experienced ‘property price growth of 249% in the last 20 years’ (again, reading from the website).
Call me cynical if you like. But if you really gave a hoot about the character of a town, would you use phrases like ‘prime investment hotspot’ and ‘emerging market attracting world-class commercial occupiers’?
I refer back to my previous letter that our Member of Parliament, Dr Phillip Lee, was kind enough to share on Facebook: why not call Bracknell a wonderful place to live?
Perhaps because we are finally resolved to the fact that housing in Bracknell is no longer designed for the people who want to live here, but for investment firms looking to store their money in real estate.