My local high street (well, local-ish) has just seen its empty Woolies store replaced by a 99p shop. The reaction, and the reaction to the reaction, has been vaguely amusing. Admittedly, it’s a fairly (alright, very) middle-class area, surrounded, as most are in London, by other less genteel areas, so its opening was bound to cause the classic middle-class reaction (an indistinguishable raising of the eyebrows and a barely audible tut, followed by stiff letters to the local MP).

But despite some shopkeepers and local residents calling it ‘the thin end of the wedge’, many people are quite happy that you can buy extra virgin oil and sets of white china for under a pound, while the chief exec of the store says it’s simply offering those who don’t earn a packet a cheaper choice within the high street.

It’s clearly better to have a functioning business in what was otherwise an empty, boarded up store. And those who have enough money to pay more than 99p for a set of china can always vote with their feet. However, the lure of a bargain is too strong for some of us, and local shops may of course suffer from the competition.

As you’d expect, the excitement of the opening caused a punch up in the store on opening day and shoppers were locked in by security guards while it was sorted out. Far more publicity generated by that than if a minor local celeb (and there are loads of them) turned up to open it. So, will it harm the high street? And should you welcome one to your high street? I’ll be off down there later to see what’s on offer – I might even blow the budget and spend £1.98.

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The BBC has reported today that a council which was the first to prosecute a mother for lying on an admissions form to get her son into a good local state school has had to drop the charges. The woman in question gave her mother’s address when applying to the school, despite only living there for four weeks.

We all know that houses within the catchment areas of the best schools tend to be much more sought after – and therefore potentially much more expensive – than those either out of catchment areas or close to schools that parents would do anything to avoid sending their children to. So, if you do live outside the catchment area of the school you want your child to go to, what do you do?

Either you’re lucky enough to have sufficient funds to move nearer the school. Or you cheat. I know parents who have bent the rules when getting their children into a good school – some have rented nearby (and rented their own homes out in the meantime). Others have bought rental properties nearby and used these addresses to apply from – covering the mortgage on the property itself by letting it out to renters. And then, of course, some people just stay temporarily with friends or family who live within the catchment area.

So what’s fair and what’s clearly not? It’s not fair – but perfectly legal – that people who can afford to buy a house near the school do so when others can’t. But then, it’s our desire to send our kids to good schools that drives the house prices up in these areas. It’s not fair that people buy a rental property in which they pretend to live so that they can apply to the school they want their children to go to. But how can local councils police every single application to find out if they are really living there? And it’s not fair that children who go to good schools because their parents are either wealthy or lucky enough to be able to send them there grow up to be better paid, better educated adults, who then ensure their children go to good schools, too. But then that’s capitalism for you.

So, just how far would you go?

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For those of you who wanted to know more about - or didn’t catch – the comments made by Sarah Beeny about intumescent paints and Victorian fire doors a couple of weeks ago on Property Snakes & Ladders, we’ve expanded on the subject in time for this week’s show. Pour yourself a stiff black coffee first and sit in a hard chair (it gets a little technical) but don’t miss it - if you’re renovating or building a house at the moment, Intumescent & Fire Proof Paints is a must-read.

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I don’t know about the rest of you, but as someone who’s sitting painfully at her desk having strained her back lying on the sofa watching tv last night (damn the excitement of that Property Ladder episode!), I find my garden (which I plan to spend the afternoon in, recovering) is most often best enjoyed from a deck chair, rather than from above a spade.

It’s not to say that I don’t do my share of digging – in the past year, I’ve laid a deck on my own, levelled and laid my own lawn, created raised borders and planted out 20 containers. So not lazy, then. However, when my back isn’t strained, I often find I just don’t have time to keep the garden looking good.

So, pretty happy that someone’s just sent me details of a company called The Balcony Gardener. I’ll warn you – it’s not desperately cheap, but in terms of how much time and effort you’ll save, it’s a bargain. The company plants up and delivers good-looking containers to help you create ready-made gardens. Choose from contemporary, edible and English country, among others. And, if you have got time to do it yourself, check out our plant galleries and garden design galleries, all on our gardening pages.

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I thought Property Ladder made for fascinating viewing last night – especially as I bought my house in April 2007 at the height of the market. Luckily for me, unlike last night’s developers, I’m not thinking of selling any time soon, so I could watch the rollercoaster ride they were on with sympathy, but a certain detachment. Can’t wait for the rest of the series now, and I think this series, more than any other, deserves future revisits – in a year or so – to see just how these ambitious, would-be developers managed over time to realise their dreams, if at all.

If you’re looking for clarification of Sarah’s remarks about the housing market, we have our own expert take on the property market. It’s realistic, it’s not all pretty, but it’s by our expert Kate Faulkner, who knows exactly what she’s talking about. Don’t miss it. And let us know what you thought of last night’s show, too.

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Surprisingly, it’s not all doom and gloom, despite this year’s budget being the most contraversial and gloom ridden in living memory. To find out what it will all mean to you – whether you’re a homeowner, own a second home, are a first-time buyer or rent, go to How Will The Budget Affect You? now…

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In case you missed it – and he is talking fast – Alistair Darling has announced the following:

A scheme to guarantee mortgage-backed securities to boost lending and ease the flow of mortgage finance.

An extra £80m for the shared equity mortgage scheme.

The stamp duty holiday for homes under £175,000 to be extended to the end of the year.

He also announced additional support of those who lose their jobs and new help for first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder.

We will be looking at the Budget report closely tonight and we’ll report just how his measures will affect you tomorrow. Watch this space…

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Last night saw the first episode of Kirstie’s Homemade Home, in which Kirstie Allsopp does up a house in deepest Devon, using, where possible, local materials and craftspeople, and her own enthusiastic but untested craft skills.

So what did you think? For what it’s worth, I think it’s refreshing to have anything on tv that isn’t about making money from your home. I’m not nearly fresh-faced enough to believe that the programme will do anything to change the way we think about our homes – we’ve all invested too much (financially and emotionally) in the whole housing process for us not to look at a house as an investment, even if it’s a long-term one. And with savings rates being as low as they are, many of us still think it’s best to sink hard-earned cash into property rather than put it in a bank.

That said, having done up six houses myself, it’s great to see someone approaching a renovation in a way that doesn’t involve a) trip to DIY store, b) trip to giant furniture store to buy roomset and c) trip to supermarket to buy ubiquitous products to accessorise with. I’m not knocking any of these approaches – we all go to Ikea, for example, because their furniture is cheap, just about stays together AND you can buy a whole room’s worth of furniture that looks really quite good together. The only hassle is getting it through the check out.

However, that kind of room, while stylish, swish, modern and, importantly, affordable, is never going to be unique, individual and one-off – and that’s what really makes a home interesting. And while I don’t want to put anyone out of a job at these bigger high street or retail park stores, I do think it’s high time we all supported local British craftspeople who work really hard, for little profit and almost no national recognition. And if the show does nothing else but to inspire us to think a little bit more imaginatively about how we design and decorate our homes, it will have done a good job.

What do you think?

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So yesterday we heard that house prices had gone up (if only a miniscule amount). Today, we hear that’s all wrong and they’ve gone down. So which is it? Well, the information we’ve seen shows that there’s currently a steady improvement in the market, but all this in comparison to a very poor performance overall. And, of course, no one knows how long this growth spurt will last. We’ll have more detailed information for you on this next week – keep your eyes on our Housing Market News & Views page.

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