24th June 2011, 04:49 PM
Development without control will be a cancer on the landscape. Planning without constraint will lead to a landscape littered with ugly buildings not fit for purpose like those which sprung up in the post-war years in inner cities. Remember the concrete tower blocks which saw the rag to riches stories of many in the construction industry and the enforced misery of many, admittedly not all, the people who lived within this sky touching 'prisons'. I was talking to an American student on a university excavation two days ago and he told me that the wonderful thing about this country was our understanding of the importance of our heritage and the laws which protected the countryside. In Utah where he lived he told me that 'developers money' talked loud in the palnning departments where no regard is held for the environment, one minute there is a mountain the next it has been levelled and a shopping mall built. Maybe this is not quite the scenario set for this country but under Cllr. Melton's vision for the future I can envisage a situation where developers and not elected members control planning matters!