A Supporters Letter

The Blight that has blighted our lives

I’m sad to write that my waking moments are full of the misery being heaped upon us by Barnsley Council. For nigh on twelve months we have been living under a cloud that darkens a little more each day. The very nature of our existence has come under threat from the Council’s much heralded intentions to give its blessing to the desecration of the green belt near to our home. This threat dominates our conversations at mealtimes and our conversations with neighbours and friends.

As citizens we are appalled that the green belt is under attack, we believe that such assets should be nurtured and secured for future generations. On a personal level, we are dismayed that an enormous industrial site may be built within full view and hearing of where we live, and that as a consequence our property asset will be devalued greatly.

To my mind it feels that the Council is employing stealth and innuendo to achieve its ends, and that it has scant regard for the upset it continues to cause. It seems that an investment of thirty-five years in our property is held cheap by this Council, and to be frank I continue to mull over selling up to escape the menace of the proposal

A couple of weeks ago the Barnsley Chronicle published an excellent article penned by the Leader of the Council. In that article he decried the act of bullying. I agreed with his premise then and I still do; yet under his leadership my wife and I feel bullied horribly by his administration.

When we retired from work we had expected, virtue of our careful planning, to see out our twilight years in peace and quiet without having to think much about anything. I would argue that such an expectation should be a human right; it seems to me that Barnsley Council would not.