Early last December in a piece entitled ‘Look What They’ve Done To My Song’ I had a little rant about the changing face of village life that ended with the news that a planning application had been made to build a practice golf range next door to my house. We filed an official objection partly on the issues of late-night floodlighting, increased traffic and noise from tractors (which they use in the late evening for ball retrieval apparently) but mainly on the very important but seemingly unnoticed point that the land in question is a flood plain and grassing it over is not going to help when it comes to next years spring rains. Living in a house only a foot or so above sea level next door to a flood plain entitles you to worry about things like that if even local authorities and government think that’s it’s fine to build on them.

This week we have learned that the application has been rejected basically on two counts. I quote:

‘… would have an adverse intrusive impact upon character and appearance of the area’.

The photo, taken earlier in the week from my bedroom window, shows the land that was to be used for this venture. Unless you are a true Fen living man where even the sighting of a solitary tree is said to ’spoil the view’, it is hard to imagine a chunk of countryside with less ‘character and appearance’. Character? Must be the mud. Appearance? Must be the, er mud. Let’s be totally honest here. When the scenery was handed out this area got missed in the rush. It is hard to imagine an area less devoid of character and appearance although it does look better when it’s flooded!

The second reason still has me stumped. I understand what’s it’s saying but do not understand the planning-speak that it uses:

‘The proposed vehicular access to the site would have substandard geometry.

A deformed square perhaps or just the wrong sort of triangles.