The DIY Maniac

The Ipswich Society rightly concerns itself with planning applications and major projects that affect the built environment. I would like to raise an issue that is continually changing the housing stock by lots of small actions, and in my opinion changing it detrimentally, namely the DIY maniac. Not the person who does a bit of painting and decorating and small repairs. No, the person who tackles major projects. The person fired up by television programmes who buys a house to 'do it up' and make a profit.

Original features are ripped out and new 'original' features are installed, and the new style house sold for a profit, reassuring the DIYer of his ability and style, ignoring the reality that the rise in price was a result of asset price inflation for the last sixty years. The new owner then embarks on the same procedure ripping out the work of the previous DIYer as he doesn't like it. So it goes on, costing the economy billions of pounds of wasted effort and destroying the architectural integrity of large numbers of houses. There is almost nothing that can be done to stop this merry-go- round. However, if house prices go down and people are a lot poorer perhaps the DIYer will be discouraged. Perhaps forty years of slowly declining property values would help preserve Ipswich's old houses.

Louis Musgrove