The final straight

What type of housing would you build? Refer to resources.

The first type of housing I would build is ………………
This is because Resource 4 tells me that the number of households with single persons is predicted to increase from ……. thousand in 1991 to ……. thousand in 2021. Also, the average number of people per house has decreased from 2.47 in 1991 to 2.15 in 2021; these types of houses will therefore be suitable.

Within these, I would ensure there are some properties included in the Key Worker scheme, which is……
The situation according to Resource 5 is worse in the South West, because house prices are…….

Secondly, there will be a need for more specialist housing for elderly people. This is supported by Resource 2, which shows that the UK has approximately one in six of its population over 65. There were 1.2 million people over 85 in the UK in 2005. This large increase reflects improving survival and the post World War One baby boomers now reaching this age group.

The questionnaire results (Resource 14) suggests that the housing most needed is 2/3 bed family homes. However, due to the time the questionnaire was carried out, it may be that this is not an accurate reflection of demand; on a Friday morning the majority of people in the City Centre would be ……..


Which site would you choose to build new housing on? Explain your choice.

Of the two sites, I would choose to build new housing on the Brownfield Docks site.

The advantages of this site include…… (see Resource 14); it is located only 0.75 km from the city centre (Resource 6). This means that….

A second advantage of this site is……
This is sustainable in terms of local people because……
It is sustainable in terms of the environment because….

In contrast, the Longford site has several disadvantages, which I feel outweigh its advantages. Although it would offer the benefits of rural life, such as ………, valuable green land would be lost. This would mean that….

However, there are ways in which the plans for the Docks redevelopment could be improved. For example, it has been criticised by a local architect for a lack of atmosphere. This is similar to concerns raised in The Guardian in June about a loss of culture in the Thames Gateway region.

Therefore, I would recommend that the plans include waterfront shops and leisure facilities (Resource 11 states that this is an aim of the redevelopment). An example of this is Copenhagen, where the Dock area is bustling.