I have just come back from a holiday in Cumbria and the Lake District which was an enjoyable experience.
To go around quaint villages and walk in the Pennines, where much is unspoilt, and see and hear the birds in a peaceful setting, with barely a house in sight, was lovely.
How refreshing it was to see signs pointing to footpaths for walkers and hikers alike to freely roam. Villages were built with local stone and no doubt strict restrictions on planning.
When you return home and look at much of Northern Ireland’s hills, countryside and villages, you realise the planning vandalism that has taken place. There is a housing blight throughout our countryside and hills, our seaside resorts becoming like small cities with apartments and houses being erected even near the shoreline.
Villages like my own have been expanded with nearly 300 new houses, and the local town too with thousands of houses, leaving sewers and roads struggling to cope with thousands of more residents not to mention the strain on doctors’ surgeries, schools etc.
Yes, I know that immigration is putting great strain on our services but this should never be at the expense of our environment. I have written before that stricter planning rules need to be enforced and the right people need to be in charge of enforcement.
When it comes to the environment, I recently spotted algae on the shore of Lough Neagh. I then spotted someone spreading slurry in a field near an estuary running into the lough.
I cannot be sure how many feet were left between the slurry and the water but, for me, not enough! If heavy rain came, there was only one place some of the slurry was ending up.
If our hills, villages, countryside and waterways are to survive, politicians who will be looking for our votes soon need to get their act together and bring in new laws for building, farming, water agencies and waste disposal before the vandalism to our environment is beyond the place of no return.
