All this for housing?

I mentioned my horror on Thursday 22nd August 2013 of a proposal to build over 360 new houses on prime agricultural land behind my parents old house in Wellington. Well, here's another view of the land under threat.

In this shot you can just see the rooftop of their house in the distance. In between thier house and where I'm standing will be covered with houses if the developers get their own way.

This is a local issue but up and down the country the same scenario is being played out as developers seek to build on greenbelt and prime agricultural land. Developers always use the same argument - the Government have set ambitious targets for house building and we must get on and do it. What a load of codswallop. According to The Times, there's enough brownfield land in the country for 1.5 million homes, more that is needed to meet the target. But developers are not so interested in brownfield sites as it costs more to build than on a site like this.

I thought we needed all the prime agricultural land we had to protect and secure food supplies but giving over tracts to developers is not going to help.

Question is, how do you stop this and get more rational and sustainable solutions? I've seen in other parts of Telford where developers are building on brownfield site and making a reasonable fist of it. It seems to me that developers are calling the shots here, not the planners, who ought to be able to direct development onto suitable land rather than give in to the steamrolling demands of specualtive companies.

All in a day's walk. I'd rarely seen this view across the fields to my parents home and the Wrekin beyond. It looks likely I may not see it much longer.

One bright spot was walking through Appley Woods - an area of Wellington I knew nothing about but has been quietly and effectively opened up for public access. And a really good job the group have done too. I learned a whole new chunk about the history of Wellington.

The evening passed in pleasant company of cousins at the Red Lion on the occasion of our "Annual General Meeting" We agreed to meet again for a meal out in November. There are 11 of us cousins from the Jones side of the family (there were 12 but David sadly died) and we range in age from 55 to 75. It is very pleasing that we all want to keep in touch.