50% Unsold

There has been a plethora of new housing developments in our local area over the last few years. Thousands of houses have been built in about a 5 mile radius of where we live. My image is just one of them. It always make me chuckle slightly the way developers promote their developments - they are usually named after an environment they have just built on - Bluebell Fields and Cherry Orchard are just some examples! Or as in this case they put up a huge sign showing 50% of the development has sold - surely this just means 50% has not!
We have a road near us called Hermitage Lane which was once surrounded on both sides by open fields and farmers' crops but has now almost been entirely given over to housing. New developments seem to be always given the green light with the justification being that other land in the area has already been built on. I understand the need for housing, especially affordable housing - very little of which these developments consist of. However, the developers have mostly not built any new roads, shops, doctors' surgeries or schools (although we did get a drive thru McDonalds!) to service the influx of more vehicles and people leading to traffic congestion and overstretched services. Recently sink holes have started opening up near some of these developments and yet, whilst two of our local MP's have suggested any further building work be stopped until this has been fully investigated, a local council has just given permission for a development of a further 200 new homes in the same area. Madness!