How accurate is the ‘Waitrose test’?

The Waitrose test

Sir: Like Rod Liddle, I live in the north-east of England — a little further north and nearer to Sunderland (‘Keeping up appearances’, 27 November). The area is not particularly affluent and we do not have a Waitrose.

For the first 30 years of my life there was an enormous slag heap in the area: a legacy of our coal-mining era and an eyesore. There was a deposit of open-cast, accessible coal next to the heap, and an opportunity arose to dig out the coal, deposit the slag heap into the space left, and then landscape the area into a beautiful country park with ponds and trees, suitable for walking, cycling and other pursuits. There was opposition to this at the time by locals — who eventually benefited the most — on the grounds of noise, dust and traffic. This was proven to be unfounded, as all aspects of disruption were well managed.