I sometimes think our planning system now runs on what I call the "ducking stool" principle.

In the old days of hunting witches, everyone shouted “witch” and the poor woman was strapped to a chair and dropped under water. If she drowned, then oops, they had got it wrong. If she survived, everyone shouted “witch” again and she was burned at the stake. Either way, she lost.

We have built the same medieval mentality into planning. Developers and public bodies fill in the right forms, tick the right boxes and wrap it all in a framework. far from the public and all acting in an echo chamber. 

If no one objects, the site is earmarked for destruction and the countryside goes under concrete. If people do object, the response is that the council has to follow national policy, the developer has a right of appeal and the inspector will almost certainly rubber stamp it anyway. 

Either way the local community loses and the ducking stool principle does its work. All the while, almost no one is prepared to step off the gravy train and say publicly that this is wrong in principle, not just in detail.

In communications with a councillor, I was told bluntly that “Wychavon Town is a central plank of the South Worcestershire Development Plan, which is currently being examined by the Planning Inspectorate and is in the latter stages of being agreed. (SO NOT IN PLAN YET) The plan has been developing for years. If it is not ratified and South Worcestershire is without a plan, then developers will in theory be in a position to speculatively develop on any available site throughout South Worcestershire, including sites that were proposed for inclusion in the plan and rejected as being unsuitable.” They then finished with, “I cannot support the campaign, mainly because it is a central plank of the plan which has been years in the making.”

That response sums up what we are up against. A mindless attitude that says the machine must keep rolling regardless of how destructive the outcome, simply because it has been in motion for years. The logic is that the framework itself is more important than the countryside it is about to erase!

Once again I throw all of this to the court of public opinion.

This is what we face, mindless, wilful acceptance. Like lemmings crawling to the top of the cliff to throw themselves off, unable to change course because changing course would mean admitting the plan is wrong.

So once again, make your voices heard. Sign the petition, share it, bring this lunacy into the light and make people accountable for what they are prepared to sacrifice.