When I moved from London to Fareham, a small market town in Hampshire, I truly felt that I'd arrived in the countryside. Fast forward twenty years and Fareham has become almost unrecognisable, the centre of the town now houses a large carbuncle, namely, Tesco, the former market square is a sprawling car park, independent shops have been gobbled up by corporate chains and the main street is strewn with discarded polystyrene cups and globs of sputum.
The surrounding countryside has gradually been absorbed into a featureless urban sprawl with an impending 6000 new houses being built ten minutes to the north of my house and a 1500 housing development planned five minutes to the south, not to mention the intense garden grab building, I can safely say I no longer feel that I live in the countryside.
The number of new homes being approved on greenbelt land in England has increased five-fold in the last five years according to figures obtained by the BBC. Green belts were created to prevent urban sprawls and were only to be built on in 'exceptional circumstances,' yet there is continuing evidence of proposed development within highly protected landscapes!
The UK is now one of the most unequal developed nations in the world according to new reports, warning us that such disparity stunts economic growth and damages the fabric of society. Estimates suggest that 250,000 homes need to be built each year to solve the housing crisis in the UK, but what good are these homes without infrastructure? Annual census figures show the primary school population has risen to such high levels that over-sized classes have become the norm. The impact on local travel, the long waiting lists at our local GPs, the annihilation of our wildlife, the destruction of village communities, the demise of the British pub industry, the lack of care services within the community, none of which affect those at the wealthier end of the spectrum, concerns me and should concern you.
Before anyone reading this jumps on the political bandwagon, let me make myself clear, I love my country and am under no illusion that any of our political parties have any vested interest other than feathering their own nests, there is nothing virtuous about politics anymore, it's all about career politicians and hypocritical champagne socialists. The uninitiated cop out is to blame the opposing government, it's a bat and ball game of armchair opinions/politics. None of this rabid disagreement is helping my beloved country, I have long since stopped believing the panacea of progressive politics, quite often people will stand by their political party because they don't want to make the situation better (especially if it's coming from an opposing party) they prefer to be angry and miserable, validated by the chip on their shoulder.
I visited the ancient Sussex village of Alfriston recently and was amazed by the amount of American tourists, after all, this village is completely off the radar, tucked away and off the beaten track. Yet this is the England we are still admired for, the quintessential England that is disappearing before our very eyes.
This isn't a political blog, neither is it just a recipe blog, I started out quite simply sharing recipes in the hope I could encourage people to cook. However, intense factory farming, processed food, corporate chains, the rising diabetes epidemic, food waste and food poverty, to name but a few serious issues connected with food, has taken this blog on a slightly different journey. I wish I could just rustle up a few fairy cakes and quiches and be fluffy, but that's not what I'm about.
Alfriston, beloved by so many Americans, is a haven for country lovers. There are several tea rooms serving delicious cream teas, that most quintessential of English customs.
'Human settlements are like living organisms. They must grow, and they will change. But we can decide on the nature of that growth - on the quality and the character of it - and where it ought to go. We don't have to scatter the building blocks of our civic life all over the countryside, destroying our towns and ruining farmland.'
- James Howard Kunster.
'As a little girl living in the English countryside, I used to go running around in the woods, creating my own fairy tale.'
- Lily Collins.
Love Donna xxxxxxxxx
No comments:
Post a Comment