Harbinger of doom

This is the top end of the Stowe Valley. It is the last bit of really rural land within the boundaries of the town, and it looks like it won't be for much longer.
The field on the left top of this picture is threatened with development. As far as I know it hasn't been approved, but nevertheless the diggers are standing ready. That seems to be how they work; even when there is no permission to develop, they try to establish the inevitability of the development in the minds of locals by creating roads, putting up fences and parking diggers.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the valley (to the right and behind where I took this) there is a new application to drive an "access road" in from the main road. Access for what purpose? No-one seems to know, but I can't help suspecting that the developers are hungrily eyeing this side of the valley too.