I must admit that until last week I had no idea that Lytchett Matravers even existed, let alone where it is. Nor for that matter its neighbouring village, Lytchett Minster. And I think that is exactly how the people who live in these Dorset villages a few miles from Poole would like to keep it.
The government has other plans, intending in its Regional Spatial Strategy to include a new town of 2750 houses in the Green belt next to it. This private development was rejected by the regional authority who drew up the draft plans, the local authorities in the region and bodies including Natural England, the Dorset Wildlife Trust, RSPB and CPRE, but somehow found itself in the final version of the draft currently waiting approval by Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
They had a big demonstration in Bournemouth to oppose the plans, and on Thursday some of them came to London to deliver a petition to the Prime Minister in Downing St.
In my lecture in Brasilia I talked about the need for a Green Belt that came about with the growth of car culture, and you can read a little about this in my post Under the Car which looks at my reaction to car culture. In Green Belt Protest Rally on My London Diary you can see my pictures and thoughts on last Thursday’s demo from Dorset. I wrote about another related event earlier in the year here in Time Running Out.