Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2012/January 2013 | Page 75

COUNTRY LIFE

Countryliving
When and when not to be a NIMBY
Generally a NIMBY is someone who objects to

it seeks to protect. If you drove through a village

something going on in their neighbourhood; the

studded with signs saying ‘No Dirty Power

acronym stands for Not In My Back Yard.

Station in Little Snoring’ you might well be

NIMBYs do not object per se – just that they

the generating company was scrubbing its

years there has been quite a lot of NIMBYism

emissions or landscaping the site.

and not just on the Island, particularly where

NIMBYism can however be a good thing; it

wind turbines and asphalt plants have been

fires up both sides of the argument and ensures

concerned.

that all alternatives are looked at in details so

Often quite effective campaigns have been

Sam Biles
looks at how
protesting can
help or hinder

put off buying a house there, however much

object to it happening near them. In recent

large scale developers must ensure that they

fought and causes taken up by the media which

have all their facts right and that they have in

have served to highlight the relevant issues

detail assessed all the implications of what

and encourage a public debate about the

they are doing. It also engenders a sense of

rights particular situations. This is nothing new,

community and purpose that can be lacking in

some readers will remember that the shores of

modern life - a villager from Devon won’t protest

Newtown Creek were once identified as a likely

about an airport in Kent; it is up to those in Kent

site for a nuclear power station along with those

to do their best to protect their environment.

at Selafield, Sizewell, and Hinckley Point.
NIMBYism can however cause problems for

Some projects are there for the greater good.
Most people accept that we need airports,

those who protest, it can be argued that the

power stations, motorways and factories and

protesting itself can blight the very communities

there must come a point whereby, provided
all necessary mitigating steps have been
taken, these projects are allowed to go ahead
without undue delay in the ‘best’ locations to
ensure that the country is not strangled by
over-cumbersome and expensive planning
processes that do nothing but delay an
inevitable decision.

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