It’s official – I’m a NIMBY

I am now a card-carrying, fully paid up member of the NIMBY brigade (not in my back yard) because the new housing developments around my small, rural town are ruining the character for everyone.

We are (or were) a small community nestled in amongst beautiful Shropshire countryside – a pleasant balance of characterful old properties and modern housing which made us feel more like a village than a town.

Now the balance is tipping in favour of large housing developments springing up all around us, the latest one about to start later this month and set to swallow up some beautiful, peaceful countryside close to our own home.

I know this country needs more housing, but shouldn’t we be trying harder to renovate all the empty, boarded up houses in our towns and cities before we start carving up the countryside?

It’s not that I don’t see the other side of the argument, but when 200 houses are being erected in the fields that made me chose to live here – it is pretty upsetting. Sadly, I think it might be time to move on.