Ode to greenery

SIR - How green is our council — and how green will our valley be?

There are some green fields in the west

Much loved by all us Sidmouth folk

(To us, we thought, the past’s bequest) —

They could be gone, though, at a stroke:

The Government has now decreed

That green fields can be built upon

“To satisfy the housing need”;

So, soon, the green could all be gone

(To satisfy the builders’ greed).

AONBs, we understand,

Are now called “undeveloped land”,

A signal to Persimmon to

Build more houses, block the view.

The council, too, wants to embark

On selling Knowle off with its park.

Before you know it they’ll agree

To cut down every blessed tree;

The rabbits and the badgers will

No longer sport there on the hill;

No longer will the children play,

Nor dogs be walked there every day

And we will lose our right of way.

They’ll fill the place with houses and

Spoil our green and pleasant land.

Michael Temple

The Pippins, Knowle Drive, Sidmouth