David Moore: The usual emotive claptrap from a minister

We know that the construction of new homes will continue to dominate the headlines everywhere in the country but it’s places like Horsham District, which will come under the greatest pressure. The benefits of living in a desirable area mean that it is also extremely attractive to developers.

It was, therefore, horrifying to see the comments by Nick Boles, the planning minister, recently when he classed anyone, who objected to a development, as a NIMBY.

He seems to believe that we should accept housebuilding by developers anywhere in the countryside and restrict ourselves to constructive comments about the design of the proposed developments.

His justification for this was the usual emotive claptrap; we all need development because we have kids and relatives, who desperately need somewhere to live.

The sad thing is that we do know people, who desperately need somewhere to live.

However, the reality is that the developers are not in general building homes for those people.

Too many of the new homes in and around Horsham District are being built for people, who wish to move into the area.

Mind you, we shouldn’t object to house building as a matter of course just because it’s near us.

We ought to be sure that we’re not being NIMBYs and objecting to suggested developments just because we’ve adopted an entrenched ‘not in my back yard’ position.

So let’s look at developments that we would object to for very good reasons.

Clearly, we wouldn’t want to see anything being built on Horsham’s Chesworth Farm, owned by Horsham District Council, and the adjacent Muggeridge Field, owned by West Sussex County Council.