Sir: In his article 'Danger: people' (8 September), Mr Michael
Watts uses his closing rhetorical ques- tion to impress on us that he wants 'a society in which everyone can live within reasonable access of the open countryside.' Not many of your readers, I suspect, would dissent from this admirable sen- timent; we are a countryside-loving people. Mr Watts also points, in the same context, to the over- riding need for discernment in what we 'produce.' I, for one, agree. But I must comment that his pre- occupation with the population explosion, and what statistically might be, seems to dim his aware- ness of what solutions to the problem of living environment are now being produced. I would not expect him, in little more than a column, to cover the whole matter; just to be accurate about examples he does—even unwittingly—raise.
If, in particular, his mention of 'violation of green belt at Hartley in Kent' is a referencg to the village of New Ash Green being built in that area by my company, he really should have checked his facts. The land concerned is not actually in designated green belt. And planning permission was given for it for reasons of which Mr Watts with his concern for the countryside would whole- heartedly approve. To quote the Prime Minister's comments in connection with New Ash Green, 'we all recognise that this part of Kent has seen a much bigger population increase in the past few years than any other and that the siting of extra houses there has been unplanned. uncoordinated and not in the best interests of planning. What the minister was trying to do was to keep old villages unspoiled and to encourage the concentration of new buildings into model communities.' (Hansard, 8 September 1965.)
While I understand how deeply-felt conviction can give rise to emotional words of protest like 'violation,' I think Mr Watts might like to note, from the evidence, that there are the beginnings of an understanding of our country's environmental problems, and that there are those, my colleagues and I among them, as deeply concerned with pro- viding people with pleasant living conditions as he is; and producing a solution now. We are not ban- dying words about the chemistry of future popula- tion. We are actively providing a better environ- ment for people already 'produced.'
Leslie Bilsby Joint Managing Director, Span Kent Limited, Park- leys, Ham Common, Richmond, Surrey
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