Simple things lost amid the dreams and schemes

Two men, one man and his dog went to mow a meadow. But, lo and behold, the meadow had been set aside to allow its transformation into a building site – or should I say housing estate? So the two men, one man and his dog set off to find another meadow to mow. They got lucky with this one. Someone had wanted to erect an array of useful solar panels on it but some other people didn’t fancy the way it would look. People who don’t want things to be built somewhere, as it were in their back yard, are called ‘Nimbys’. In order that the ones who didn’t want the solar panels built could get their own way while avoiding the ‘N-word’, they declared that said solar panels would disrupt the lives of Mrs Tiggywinkle, Squirrel Nutkin and their friends. This, of course, (to keep with the animal theme) is pure hogwash. Tiggywinkle, Nutkin, Peter Rabbit, Mr Mole, along with field mice, stoats, weasels, foxes and almost every other kind of walking, digging, creeping and slithering thing will adapt to changes in their habitat – in most cases better than we humans can. Many will even adapt perfectly well to the Chilmington Green housing estate. There, foxes will raid the bins, hedgehogs will gobble up slugs and pigeons will chomp their way through emerging seedlings,

‘Growth is the buzzword which, nowadays, is the name of the highest card in the pack’

while cats will proudly bring home dismembered birds, mice, voles and baby rabbits to present as gifts to their human housemates. The thing is, the Chilmington Green cancer represents GROWTH and growth is the buzzword which, nowadays, is the name of the highest card in the pack. Never mind that growth is not infinitely sustainable. Never mind that the promise of hundreds of extra jobs makes no mention of what kinds of jobs will be on offer for an increasingly over-qualified and deeply indebted pool of university educated youngsters, and never mind that who-knows-how-many families moving into the area will require the provision of more services that are beyond the power of the local authority to provide; hospital and police being but two. It becomes increasingly clear that, with all the dreams and schemes aimed at building Bubble-Ashford, simple things that affect the lives of ordinary townsfolk such as a decent, covered market which could have remained open through the recent gales, get pushed further down the council’s to-do list.