Allotments shame

SIR – Am I the Queen of Don t-Get-It? We are urged on all sides to become more self-sufficient. From the Archbishop of Canterbury onwards, we are warned of the unsustainibility of flying in food from abroad. We are warned that we must create food securit

SIR - Am I the Queen of Don't-Get-It? We are urged on all sides to become more self-sufficient.

From the Archbishop of Canterbury onwards, we are warned of the unsustainibility of flying in food from abroad. We are warned that we must create food security here, in the face of future global shortages.We read of the degradation of our urban and rural environments by pollution and overcrowding.

Yet the good ship Harpenden Town Council continues to steam full tilt towards the iceberg of stupidity.

A strip of useful former allotment land with no proper access, with tawny owls (a protected species) nesting in the immediate vicinity, is about to be sold to developers to put so-called affordable housing on it (predominantly three and four-bed houses, judging by the proposals I have seen. Hardly affordable. Well, not by me). Oh, and car parking for 46 cars.

The overall result of this? More light pollution. More noise pollution. More air pollution. More overcrowding. Fewer opportunities to grow our own food to feed our families and community. And no more tawny owls.

CAROL HEDGES

Coldharbour Lane, Harpenden