Have Your Say

Inspirations of Politics, Parsons and Progress

Rupert Courteney- Evans’ expose of Chipstead’s colourful past makes fascinating reading and puts a rather different gloss on familiar aspects of the village.    His obviously ardent research has certainly paid-off and I am sure that I am not alone in appreciating it.

The antics of our predecessors do tend to make contemporary issues seem tame, but that is no reason to sit back and just let events take their course.   We may not make history quite so sensationally but we should certainly participate actively, under the joint aegis of the C.R.A. and the C.V.P.S., in the monitoring and influencing of projects which might prove to be disruptive.

R.C-E.‘s short agenda of issues presents a splendid basis for debate.   It is very much to be hoped that it will stimulate the public expression of those keen observations which tend now to be voiced confidentially by residents.   There is a fund of interesting opinion to be tapped among so many experienced and thoughtful people, whether decisive or enquiring, which could improve our understanding of the implications of proposals and help to concert village motivation in defending the particular qualities of Chipstead, and of our life here.

The agenda merits deeper consideration but I would offer the following comments as, I hope, hors d’oevres.

For me, the most alarming aspect of “localism” and “The Big Society”, as far as I understand their nature, is the ill-considered notion that planning and other momentous decisions will be entrusted to parish councils, which do not have the status of democratically elected representatives of the whole enfranchised population and are not appointed for their governmental proclivities.

“Sustainable “ housing has an ominous ring about it when read in the context of the green belt.   It smacks of unnatural qualities.   To repair my ignorance of the term. I Googled it.    The definition comprises a couple of thousand words none of which I found comforting.   The term emanates from the U.N., not famous for its elegance of expression, and has been taken up by a posse of other “activists” [the  vocal kind ] who bend it to their purpose.   The U.N. proclaims that: 

“sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

The World Summit declared that it requires the:

“reconciliation of environmental, social and economic demands - the "three pillars" of sustainability”.

 I think that if we hold perpetrators to observing this formula we shall be safe for quite a long time.

 As to the Junior Church project, see above.

The science of Economics would recognise a resolution of the village’s traffic problem:-

When the demand exceeds the supply [the cars exceed the capacity of the roads ] there will be gridlock. Then, the route will lose its attraction.   Until……………..

Sorry, it’s a grim scenario but the best I can offer and, as always with economics, there will be a pendulum effect.

Does anybody have a ray of sunshine to bring to bear?

The survival of Chipstead as a distinct village, its resistance to being melded with the urban sprawl, depends  squarely on us residents.   No-one else will care.

Victor Malyon