Checkerboarding in Scotland.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-1308655,00.html

I hope the property developer filed an abuse report.

I wanna read it, but I ain't registering.

Oops, sorry Dev, I'd forgotten about the register thing.


Strip of land is sold for a king's ransom
By Shirley English

A TINY patch of land barely larger than a snooker table has been sold for more than £1 million, making it one of Scotland’s most expensive pieces of real estate.
The “ransom strip” — which is just 9sq m and would struggle to accomodate even a modest garden shed — is not in some prime city-centre location in Edinburgh or Glasgow but sits in a gap between two houses on a Wimpey-built estate in the unremarkable environs of Broxburn, West Lothian.

Its owner, West Lothian Council, claims to have recognised its true worth some years ago and with the cunning of a ruthless entrepreneur decided to hold out for the best deal possible.

For the tiny strip of ground, while not literally sitting on a gold mine, is extremely valuable, providing as it does the sole access to a much larger development site behind.

That land — owned by James and Marilyn Frame, of Holmes Holdings, Broxburn — has been earmarked for private housing in a deal worth about £4 million to the Frames and totally dependent on securing the council-owned strip.

Yesterday Councillor Willie Dunn, convenor of the enterprise and development committee, made no apologies for effectively holding the Frames to ransom over the three-metre long piece of ground.

“We prefer to call it an ‘opportunity strip’. It’s smart business and everyone is happy with the outcome,” he said. “All the money we make from this land sale will be ploughed back into improving services in West Lothian for the taxpayer.”

The strip is the last piece of a large chunk of land that the council bought for £140,000 from a government department more than 20 years ago. Since then it has sold on the land for housing developments in deals totalling £10 million, Councillor Dunn said.

The phenomenon of “ransom strips” has been around for decades in the building trade, according to experts. They are small pieces of land that have been deliberately retained by landowners or developers who want to profit from, or control, the future development of adjacent land.

Builders often aquire a large site piece by piece, buying up small chunks to create a lucrative large plot.

Three years ago the council sold land to Wimpey Homes but retained the 9sq m patch because it provided access between privately owned land beyond and the public road.

If compulsory registration bothers you, I point you towards the general direction of this helpful site:

http://www.bugmenot.com

Viola how've you been? Haven't seen you inworld in awhile.

Cheerio.

Thx, Torley.

That's an awful lot of money to pay, just for access to a few wimpy homes. Who wants to live in a wimpy home anyway. I wanna home with character.

I have to admit when I saw the word "checkerboarding", the only thing that came to mind was a checkboard landing (Kai Tak, Hong Kong pictured, no longer in operation) where aircraft have to turn immediately before landing/after take off to avoid mountains.

If you're not familiar with the maneuver, the Kai Tak approach in the image was one of the more spectacular landings in the world, as the sharp turn immediately before touch-down occurred directly over a heavily populated area. The altitude was so low during this turn that passengers could see into people's apartments! People used to fly into this airport for no other reason than to experience the landing.

Here is another link that shows just how low the aircraft are immediately after the turn.

Too much plane on the brain I suppose.