More pics and drawings of the eco hobbit home in Pembrokeshire. This is a magnificent home and I want to get the word out. The local council may tear the home down as they’ve threatened, however we can turn this action against the wrongdoers by using it to rally support for natural building and affordable homes for all.
Read more at the source: Daily Mail
I bet whilst Charlie and family are snug in their hay bale insulated carbon storing round house their persecutors are shivering in their conventional builds that vanish in a twinkle in firestorms as seen worldwide and complete architectual ethos needs rethink to make it sustainable.
That’s a nice thought. Sweet justice. And let’s not forget how deep down their souls are miserable. Who could destroy an honest family’s home and live with themselves?
I’ve been thinking about what the owners of this house might be able to do at this point.
Here are the thoughts I have come up with.
1. Stop calling this a “Hobbit House.” Stop calling this house “Charlie and Meg’s Roundhouse.”
Don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with this style of architecture, or even using that name for this style of house. The point is, for this situation, there is only one name that will garner the appropriate sentiments from the local public for this house. The owner’s first names are fine, but still, it’s not the best name they have available.
2. Start calling this house “The lovely home that little Baby Eli lives in.”
That name is the strongest weapon they have available. No politician wants to be known to his/her voters as the gestapo that threw a baby out of his home. This is the most important story. This will create a huge uproar in the local community. Nobody wants to see Baby Eli become homeless, and that is exactly what the Pembrokeshire government is trying to do.
3. Contact Kirsten Dirksen immediately. She NEEDS to do a feature on this family, their house, THEIR CHILD, and the fight this family is going through. There is nobody on this planet that is better qualified to tell this story.
Kirsten not only needs to tell this family’s story, she needs to at least attempt to interview all the council members and the building inspectors involved.
This story needs Kirsten’s special talents DESPERATELY.
4. Charlie and Meg need to have a multi-path strategy. They need to aggressively work on multiple outcomes simultaneously.
Strategy 1. Keep working to get the Pembrokeshire government to allow the house to stand by every means possible. The most important factor is to make sure that the elected officials recognize that voters will be made aware that the Pembrokeshire government is trying to make Baby Eli homeless, and the voters are the ones that will hold them accountable.
Strategy 2. Prepare to dismantle the house and salvage everything possible if Strategy 1 fails. Charlie and Meg need to build storage sheds to store items until they can rebuild.
This dismantling/salvaging operation should include VIDEO!!! Record every heartbreaking moment. Every tear shed. Show Baby Eli losing his play area. Have Baby Eli wearing a tiny T-Shirt with a council member’s name on it begging for them to save his home.
This video may become very useful during the next election cycle when opponents to the current council want to run political campaigns. Charlie and Meg can and should use it very carefully. They only want to have it be used in support of candidates that will pass laws that allow people to build their own homes naturally.
5. Charlie and Meg need to create their own branding. Baby Eli is as much of a symbol as the house is. Use this situation to create a groundswell movement. Work to change the system for the better so that others won’t have to go through what they have been forced to go through.
6. Don’t be so stubborn that the parents that allowed Charlie and Meg to build this house on their land risk losing their house too. The government has the ability to make everyone in their entire extended family suffer for the rest of their lives. As great as this house is, it’s not worth their parents being taken to financial destruction along with the house. The house is just a thing. It can be replaced. Baby Eli and the parents cannot.
7. Pray like you’ve never prayed before.
Great ideas. I wonder if they could convince political opponents (running in next election cycle against current council members) to take up this story to win votes?
Working with Living in the Future would be more practical than getting Kirsten Dirksen since they’re in the same area I believe.
http://www.livinginthefuture.org/index.php/1
Look through the FairCompanies videos. Kirsten has made videos all over Europe as well as America. She has videos from when she lived in Italy and Spain.
I think you posted at least one of their videos from France.
I seem to remember a a video or two from England too.
They certainly get around.
Yeah, I know. But this may not be possible on short notice.
It would be criminal if “The Council” DECIDES to “tear down the house.” What I’d like to know is…why haven’t we (the average American) been building our own low-cost homes all along, or been encouraged to do so? This is exactly what we need! Who sets the standard of living for us anyway? Seems to me our right to happiness and prosperity and sense of well being is being “manipulated” by those who are erroneously placed in strategic places. Wake up America!!! Is it time to revolt yet, or what else must happen first? I am outraged, as I am sure many others are. Time to take a stand.
The conditions that caused our current dilemma (excessive codes, regulations, taxes…) crept in gradually. The economy was booming after WWII for instance and so people went along with these new developments as a sign of ‘progress’. That’s when suburbia with tract housing and car culture took off. Easy credit was made available for veterans. Jobs were plentiful. Now you could have a new home right away without a lot of money or having to build it yourself. How wonderful! Or at least that’s what people thought at the time. It turns out the whole system was one giant debt and enslavement trap. Fast forward to today and people are waking up fast and realizing they’ve been disenfranchised and are trapped in a cycle they don’t like. I think people need to stand up and turn things around now before it’s too late.
Back after WWII, things were much different than they are today.
Yes, that is when tract housing really started to take off. (Although it started before that, you are correct that the postwar period is when it became mainstream.)
However, things were much different then. Prices were much cheaper, and mortgages were on the order of 10 to 15 years max. They weren’t as lifelong enslavement as they are today.
The standard mortgage today is more like 30 years, and the interest payments alone on a mortgage that long will more than double the amount of money paid for the home.
Add to that the smaller downpayments of today, and the endless fees tacked on that never used to exist, and the real increase in cost to the consumer can often be triple the price of the home.
That’s why building your own home as you can afford is the smart choice. Pay cash and build small. Never pay a dime of interest. Avoid as many fees as possible. Add on and/or make improvements as you can afford them, and you’ll never worry about someone knocking on your door evicting you, even if you lose your job.
Loans are for losers.
This topic needs to be hammered on constantly. These loans are a source of so many of society’s problems. The situation is getting very serious. I probably won’t report on the depth of the problem because it’s so serious. Readers can search about the new MERS mortgage system if interested. I don’t want to get too far off course going down another rabbit hole. Keywords: clouded title, etc.
I agree that this issue needs to be hammered home.
It bleeds an economy dry. It is sooooo very destructive to society overall.
We have been sold on this idea of an “American Dream” of home ownership, and for some bizarre reason, most blindly accept that it comes along with a lifetime mortgage.
I agree that to fully explore the issue from all angles would be an essentially impossible epic task.
For those that believe in freedom…
For those that believe in free choice…
For those that believe free markets and capitalism…
I ask the questions…
Why should LOCAL regulations require a house to be built bigger than what the owner wants to build?
Why should LOCAL regulations prevent someone from building their own home a little at a time as they can afford to?
Why should banks, insurance companies, and building material corporations make the rules for everyone whether we want to have a mortgage, or build with commercial materials or not? (Make no mistake, these big corporations write the ICC building codes that the rest of us must follow.)
Why cannot free market forces be allowed to work when it comes to home construction? Why must housing markets be artificially inflated by corporations?
How much capital might be freed up in our economy if people could build houses cheaper, and not waste money on interest payments that build no products and create very few jobs?
This is a open wound on society bleeding entire economies dry. It weakens nations. It costs far more jobs than it creates.
Why do I have to answer to THEM when it comes to building my own home in the way I want to build it?
Well said. This has always been our most popular topic. For new readers, see Counties with Few or No Building Codes
https://naturalbuildingblog.siterubix.com/counties-with-few-or-no-building-codes/
You said “Why do I have to answer to THEM when it comes to building my own home in the way I want to build it?”
Well, you don’t have to if you move to a rural area with few or no codes. I got fed up with all the regulations and found a better place to live. This is far easier than fighting the system for years. Going along with the system just feeds the beast.
Meg and Charlie’s petition has received 46,837 signatures. Only 3,163 needed. It’s possible that the council will grant retrospective planning permission. It’s not over till it’s over.
https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/pembrokeshire-county-council-and-the-welsh-assembly-grant-retrospective-planning-permission-to-charlie-and-meg-s-roundhouse
One state that doesn’t require permits etc is North Dakota AND they have TONS of scoria for sale. And by the amount of mines I’ve seen listed on line, I’d bet you get it cheap. This is a “For what it’s worth” moment…..
I very much agree with you.
This house is becoming a symbol of defiance — something people can rally around. Who can’t sympathize with a young couple doing what they think is best for their new family, and booing the evildoers who want to destroy their beautiful sustainable home?
What would happen if hundreds of protesters surrounded the house with locked arms when the bulldozer shows up? Yeah, the police could arrest everyone, but that would make a big stink and could backfire against those in power. Widespread coverage of this story is important to expose the corrupt system for what it is. Remember Pembrokeshire!
The problem is, that it won’t happen that way.
It’s not like the Pembrokeshire government is going to sent city bulldozer crews to that property to raze the house.
What has already happened is that the local government has ORDERED the owners of the home to tear down their own home, and given them a deadline to comply.
If/when the owners do not destroy their own home, they will start leveling fines, and perhaps take further legal action holding the owners in contempt.
Eventually, even the owner’s parents who live on that same land will have their home put at risk. The fines will pile up. Liens will be placed on property.
Essentially the government will use legalized extortion tactics to get what it wants. It doesn’t have to send their own bulldozers to do the job. That’s what the government has lawyers for.
“Legalized extortion” THAT really sums it up. What a shameful thing.
This is an article from a Pembrokeshire local newspaper. It was published back in March.
SCROLL DOWN AND READ THE COMMENTS!!!
http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/10307996.North_Pembrokeshire_family_fight_to_keep_roundhouse_they_built_without_permission/
The article itself contains no new information that hasn’t be covered by previous blog posts or other articles. The comments are very interesting, as I suspect most of the comments are from Pembrokeshire locals.
SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE ARTICLE
I wonder if some of the comments were planted to make things seem more favorable to the council’s position (like lots of people agree with their stance)? Either that or some of these people have very sad lives. Geez. No wonder so many people are moving away from urban areas to less developed areas.
This is breaking my heart. What can be done to support these people in keeping their home? Are there negotiations underway regarding a compromise?? Is there a local lawyer willing to work pro bono to come up with something…?
You might want to contact them through their facebook page to find out the latest news firsthand. See link at bottom of blog post.
This home is going to become very famous. It needs to be photographed from every possible angle so people can build similar homes. The owners could compile all the drawings and photos in a PDF ebook. Use the proceeds toward another home if the council destroys this one.
This is a great idea. It very well could pay for the new one if the “people in power” get their way and destroy a perfectly good home. They should be ashamed of themselves. This too, may come to pass.
Life is a stage. We get to choose what we do each day. Some people want to build up, help people and create wonderful things. Some want to destroy.
Yeah you said it Doc. Some people’s heart seems to need an overhaul while others deserve praise.
Sad to tear a house down as this, What has the world come to?Just about money, waste and commerecialization. No common sense? Everyone should have a right to build their own house?
I agree. My thought is IF you charge me property taxes then you have NO right to tell me what I can build on it.
Agree. And maybe have a simple rule that informs potential buyers whether or not the home was built to code. Buyers can hire a home inspector to check for any problems.
Yep….
I just purchased the eBook called No Building Codes: A Guide To States Without Building Codes. I ran through it quickly and by what I saw there’s a few but, not many and you really have to think if you’d want to move there because of various reasons from severe weather to employment to hospitals, schools etc. It was worth the $19.95 just to have a better idea of how the virus has spread all over America.
To me, to have them to tear this down would be a very clear crime. It would be great if people in and around their area would go and tell these ninnies that they support these young people and that they should let it stand. That it is much worse to have an area that’s disliked where people discourage other people not to buy a home there or to shop there. Where they become the scourge of the area. Where people would look down on people who are from there. Word of mouth is the best advertisement. It can bring you good OR bad.
It’s a complicated issue. For one, people have been duped into thinking codes are necessary. Like I’ve said repeatedly, some minimal common sense codes or guidelines can be helpful, but what we have now is beyond ridiculous.
Also, people have been conditioned to just follow what the government says. Some ‘official’ says tear it down and many people don’t think beyond what’s they’re told. The corporate controlled media reinforces the official message. And people are busy going about their lives. They figure this incident doesn’t directly concern them and so they keep doing what they do every day. Plus, I think people are afraid to rock the boat by speaking out. They don’t want to draw attention to themselves or put their jobs at risk, etc.
Another issue is property values. Allowing this house to stand would be a green light for thousands and then tens of thousands of other people to build their own low cost homes. Just imagine what would happen to housing prices. Those who invested in expensive houses made of modern materials would quickly lose out. They could never sell for what they paid for the home if the market is flooded with houses at a fraction of the cost.
Billions of people need affordable housing. There’s almost unlimited pent up demand. People are desperate. Knowledge about low cost alternative building methods is now spreading like crazy on the Internet. So the local council may succeed in tearing down this one house, but my prediction is it will unleash a major backlash. Look at how England overreached in India and imposed one too many taxes. There’s a tipping point to everything. Sooner or later people rise up and say enough is enough.
“Property Values.”
Interesting term.
That one term deserves an in-depth exploration as to what it REALLY means.
What is value to one person may not be valued by another.
Monetary Value? Money only has value as long as others are willing to trade items that have real tangible value for money. As soon as people lose confidence in the value of green ink on paper, what is it worth?
A quality built home has real value. It is a shelter. It is a place to live. It has aesthetic value, practical value, energy value, efficiency value, and legacy value that can be passed on to future generations. Money… maybe it will have value, maybe it won’t. One never knows what economic collapse is around the corner.
A quality home will be valuable to it’s residents no matter what.
The real fear is that typical generic housing has very real value. It has become a commodity bought and sold no differently than a run-of-the-mill T-Shirt from a factory in China.
Seriously… almost all common housing is so generic and similar that there really is no value difference between them. Oh sure, there are superficial differences. Essentially they are all built the same.
When one is just the same as any other, where is the value? What makes one special? Is the special house the one that hasn’t yet molded, rotted away, or burned down?
I submit that this home has more value in it than any other home of comparable size within Pembrokeshire.
Perhaps that is exactly why the local authorities fear it and see it as such a threat.
Local officials are probably embarrassed by how this house has more charm and beauty than their much more expensive conventional home. But that’s probably not why it’s threatening. They’re afraid of opening the floodgates and allowing everybody to build low cost houses like this. Homeowners wouldn’t need loans or contractors or buy lots of building materials (which generate tax revenue). Their homes would be free of debt and so people would have more free time to grow food, start homebased businesses and think about how to create a more just government… It’s a slippery slope, isn’t it? Can’t have the proles (proletariat for those who don’t know) getting all uppity and challenging authority. The bottom line is it’s all about control.
Agreed….
Agreed…
The more I look at this house the more I like it. You can keep looking closer and closer and see many beautiful and practical details.