Paul Cheshire is Professor of Economic
Geography at the London School of
Economics. On 9th July 2014 his post on the
LSE's Spatial Economics Research Centre
blog began "Almost every reasonable person
must now accept the case that we need to
build on some parts of currently designated
Greenbelt land. Not everyone is, of course,
reasonable". He places Taplow in the 'Not
everyone' camp and casts himself as the
epitome of reason by saying "There is land
around Taplow which looks to have
environmental or scenic value but plenty
which does not" and concluding his long blog
by observing "Maybe if the 1,584 citizens of
Taplow are unwilling to accommodate more
housing they should be taxed the increased
value of their houses".
So are we citizens of Taplow unreasonable
NIMBYs? The facts say not. There were 1,584
people living here in 2001, 1,669 in 2011 and –
when current and prospective developments
are taken into account – the population will
soon rise to between 2,100 and 2,500. Even the
lower of these projections represents an
increase of onethird on Prof Cheshire's out
dated benchmark.
South Bucks District Council seems to
believe it reasonable to protect the Green Belt
by, for example, refusing the second recent
planning application to redevelop Silchester
Manor because (as the officer's report on that
application confirmed) SBDC can fulfil local
housing needs for the foreseeable future
without building on Green Belt.
Who is being unreasonable here? Is it Taplow
for not wanting to be concreted over when it is
just not necessary? Is it SBDC for seeking a
balance between the need for places to live and
for green spaces that add a little quality to life? Or
is it an influential academic who has glanced
from his ivory tower at Google Earth, taken
offence at patches of green that surround us, put
his favourite bit between the teeth of his
hobbyhorse and ridden roughshod across
inconvenient truths? Let's hope the day will come
when powers-that-be look at real numbers and
decide it is reasonable and right to say 'Enough'.
Nigel Smales