‘Quick, let’s slip one in the menu,’ said the builder, taking a leaflet from my handbag after we had paid the bill at the pavement café where we had just had lunch.
As he did that, I put one inside the menu on the next table, which was empty, and the table beyond that. As we walked down the high street, I slipped a bunch into one of those property magazine holders outside an estate agents. Then we passed a community noticeboard on a wall. The builder slid a leaflet through a gap in the glass door.
‘Good one,’ I said. Then I put a stack of them on a cashpoint machine.
This week, I have mostly been distributing leaflets emblazoned with the legend Say No To A New Town At Wisley. Call me picky, but I don’t think Guildford Borough Council should just drop 2,175 new houses on 300 acres of picturesque green belt land in Surrey, ruining one of the most popular areas for walking and outdoor recreation near London.
I don’t like the idea that the shadowy consortium of investors who own the land are based offshore in the Cayman Islands and stand to make nearly a billion pounds worth of profit, tax free. I’m all for low taxes, I just don’t think a billion pounds made from ruining the green belt should be the one thing that we leave completely untaxed, while we’re busy squeezing ordinary families until their pips squeak.
So I’m campaigning to stop it. Cameron is always telling us we should do more of this Big Society ‘get involved’ stuff he invented. So I thought I would give it a whirl by getting involved in the campaign to save Wisley.
The most annoying thing about campaigning against development is not the reaction of the developers, which is entirely predictable.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in