The trouble with Chris Holmes attacking nimbyism is that he has his own narrow view of the lack of social housing (12 September, page 23). His article was solely about London and the South-east.
People like Holmes who are based in south-eastern England forget to mention that there is a large amount of housing being under-utilised in other parts of the country. If economic investment was not skewed so disproportionately to London and the South-east, we could both preserve the green belt and house poorer people.

I would be more concerned by these attacks on nimbyism if he showed as much concern for the rest of the country. Maybe we could hear calls from Holmes and others for:

  • the abolition of all economic development agencies for the South-east and London

  • the relocation of the the National Housing Federation headquarters to Newcastle and the Housing Corporation to Liverpool

  • the scrapping of any further development of airports in the South-east and the expansion of Britain's regional airports

  • the scrapping of the Wembley football stadium development – the England side could continue to tour the country and the site could be used for social housing

  • the scrapping of London's bid to host the Olympics – it could be replaced by a bid from Manchester, which so successfully hosted the Commonwealth Games.

To demand resources for London and the South-east while ignoring the greater geographic economic injustices is disgraceful. Nimbyism is thus replaced by Oimbyism (Only In My Back yard).

Source

Housing Today

Postscript

John Rossington, Dewsbury