We could lose our countryside in a generation - CPRE.

[feargal 21]

Originally posted by Tony

To correct earlier statements, in Sheffield, there is NO greenbelt development. Strong policies are in place and they are adhered to... unless the land belongs to the Council.

 

Is that right Tony? It sounds like the council could say "we'll build where we like, but you can't"! Surely greenbelt should be treated the same whoever it belongs to. It's the 'green' part that's important, not who owns it!!

[Hippy 10]

The CPRE is mainly middle class... as our so many other groups interested in this sort of thing. i.e. National Trust and so on.

 

So here is the problem. How do you get other groups engaged in protection of the countryside? It's very very difficult. Many inner city kids just aren't interested in the countryside so couldn't care less if it's all paved over.

[algy 11]

Originally posted by nick2

We couldn't lose all our countryside because a lot of it (round Sheffield anyway) isn't suitable for building on, who is going to want to live at the top of Mam Tor ?

People did 3000 years ago, and they only had wattle and daub huts:thumbsup:

[Cyclone 10]

Originally posted by algy

People did 3000 years ago, and they only had wattle and daub huts:thumbsup:

 

I bet they couldn't get broadband though.

[algy 11]

Originally posted by feargal

Is that right Tony? It sounds like the council could say "we'll build where we like, but you can't"! Surely greenbelt should be treated the same whoever it belongs to. It's the 'green' part that's important, not who owns it!!

There's a planning application in at the moment for a 72 foot high phone mast on Council land in the Porter Valley, well into the greenbelt. Interestingly the CPRE are not opposing it. I'll watch with interest.

[bigredbox 10]

I used to keep my horses on a big field at Birley, alas it is now becoming a very large housing estate.

It makes me so angry, that this once beautiful countryside is disappearing very quickly.

 

I chuckle to myself though because I'll bet no-one told these townies that the nice new carboard box's are actually built ontop of the old mine workings.

These big housing companies, such as barrets, redrow offer the owner of the land BIG BUCKS, something like quarter of a million per acre, so if your a farmer working non profit making land then I can see the choice being extremely easy.

 

I really dislike townies, like they'll walk into your local country pub and think they own the place. Then they choose to buy a country house then either rent it out as a holiday cottage or complain about the wildlife.....GRRRRRR

Just my opinion, no offence meant but when childhood memories of sun and open fields start disappearing it really gets to me.

[Tony 10]

On the whole I would maintain that there is no need for groups such as the CPRE.

 

We have a planning system that takes care of rural development. The CPRE merely takes it upon itself to meddle for self interest of those involved within it.

 

In Sheffield we have a similar group who meddle in urban planning, called SCAG - Sheffield Conservation Advisory Group. They are also a self appointed group who fail to declare personal interests whilst within the umbrella organisation.

 

CPRE - Ramblers.... SCAG - People who like old buildings.

 

Such groups are wholly self appointed yet purport to speak on your and my behalf, and there is now a trend for them to extend their range of interest well outside their original remit. So, the CPRE comment on urban buildings, SCAG comment on non conservation projects.

 

Farmers it seems don't have much of a voice on the things that affect their daily life and work. Perhaps they should have gone to a better school or live in Broomhill eh?

[timo 10]

Hippy,

I repeat what I asked Tony initially. What is wrong with an organisation or lobby group being predominantly 'middle class'? For various sociological reasons, the middle classes are generally better educated, more affluent and possibly more capable than their working class counterparts. At least they give a damn about the future of the countryside, even if the idealistic 'roses around cottage doors', sanitised views of the more 'metropolitan' types tend to grate a little. I see no problem with the class composition of the CPRE, just the anti-farmer bias of a minority of its members.

 

The idea that anything predominantly 'middle class' is unhealthy, and even dangerous is unfortunately catching on in 'dumbed down' , Cromwell Blair's 'new', 'young' Britain. Recently, a 'Keep the Pound' type lobby group were singled out by the anti-fascist magazine, International Searchlight. Did they march in paramilitary uniforms demanding repatriation for all 'non-whites'? No, they were 'predominantly white and middle class', and the halfwit who wrote the article considered the group 'sinister' because he could not see a black or brown face or a representative of the glorious 'workers' amongst the marchers...

 

As you say, inner city types probably care little for the countryside. Some have probably never even seen a field. Why waste time with them? So many good charities, pressure groups and justice campaigns depend upon the generosity of the 'middle classes'. Don't knock them. They are not a 'problem'. We do not 'need' to get other socio-economic groups involved. From what I have seen of the inner cities of the large English cities, I would not wish the degraded inhabitants upon the countryside. In some areas, 'mainstream' values and norms have completely broken down, and we have transient, semi- criminal populations in a state of anomie. Of course they are not rushing to join the CPRE, and thank goodness for that. Of course, someone, somewhere will point to some inner-city version of David Bellamy. He would be in a minority, that is all.

[Hippy 10]

The point I was making really was not so much about inner city kids but about young people in general.

 

It seems to me that young people in all walks of life are losing touch with the countryside. The CPRE and others are aging groups. Now whether you agree or not with what the CPRE champion, it's the future that concerns me.

[timo 10]

Hippy,

Don't worry too much about the young. As the late, great Auberon Waugh once said, 'nobody is really any good until they are about 40'. The middle-aged, middle-classes have all the dosh. The young haven't got a bean, being in debt with student loans up to their eyeballs, unable to get on the property ladder etc. Of course, it is not all about money. Many of the young will be too busy listening to Radiohead, engaging in sexual congress and skateboarding [even all three simultaneously] to take an interest in matters like conservation. When they grow older, they might ponder the eternal verities and ask themselves what sorts of things do they really care about? Hopefully, when mellow, reflective and mature enough, they will form a new generation of conservationists. Give them time, they are young, callow and preoccupied with immediate self-gratification for the moment.

[Hippy 10]

hahahaha...... I think you may well have a point there.

[Albert T Smith 10]

Unfortunately the CPRE has a political agenda that is about garnering power for itself as a lobby group. Sorry, but the CPRE is nothing more than a self serving middle class quango IMO.

 

To correct earlier statements, in Sheffield, there is NO greenbelt development. Strong policies are in place and they are adhered to... unless the land belongs to the Council.

 

The CPRE also now finds it necessary to comment on planning of city centre developments. Surely this has nothing to do with them.

 

As for the CPRE, guess where they have their offices? Right in the middle of Broomhill. Hardly supportive of countryside jobs and the rural economy.

 

As far as they are concerned, the countryside is a place to keep for the enjoyment of ramblers and other such city folk. Stuff the farmers!

 

The office for the CPRE is at Encliffe Crescent. This is because its founder the then Mrs Gallimore lived there and after she re-married and became Mrs Haythornethwaite the offices were left as a bequest. I believe.

 

I'm a member of the CPRE. I was born on the Manor Estate prior to graduating to the New Parson Cross Estate. Would anyone clearly state why I'm of Middle Class standard!!

 

Let this be obsolutely clear had it not been for Mrs Gallimore using her position to ask wealthy benifactors to buy areas of land such as Blackamoor, Longshaw, Leam, Ravenstor to mention a few. We would not have a Peak District National Park today it would have long been built upon. The ribbon houseing developements with intermitant gaps would exist all the way from Sheffield to Manchester.

I trust and hope that my statement is checked for being factual.