Not SO
Sir: In his article 'Developments' (9 June) Patrick Marnham says that the planning regulations 'have succeeded in preventing the British countryside from responding to the economic and social realities of the age' and that 'large parts of it still resemble the country which sheltered and supported the vastly different population of 1850'. , Sadly, it appears that Mr Marnham must go about with his eyes half closed. Vast areas of lowland England have been drastically altered in appearance by the destruction of hedges and trees, the filling-in of ponds and the ploughing-up of old grasslands. The landscape in these areas now presents a very different appearance to that which existed in 1850. The planning regulations have curbed building to a large extent, but they have not prevented the farmers making wholesale changes to the rural landscape. Most of those changes reflect economic realities which farmers face and Mr Marnham apparently does not know exist.
The changes wrought by the farmers are, in fact, even more significant than those which he fears the builders will bring about, because they affect not only the appearance of the landscape but also the ability of people from city and suburb to enjoy it. If Mr Marnham will try taking a walk across one of the new 'prairies' of East Anglia, he will find out What I mean. George Heygate Willow Grange, Halesworth, Suffolk
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