7 SEPTEMBER 1985, Page 5

GREENISH BLUE

ALL three parties seem suddenly to have woken up to the fact that there are votes in conservation. The Conservatives have re- sponded by publishing Greening the Tories: new policies on the environment by Andrew Sullivan (Centre for Policy Studies, £3.90). This is truly Conservative, for it argues that care for the countryside, for gardens, for towns and old buildings combined with a sense of history is the essence of England and that 'environment' is not an intellec- tual abstraction but is something tangible, central and basic to Conservatism. Mr Sullivan argues cogently that economic growth and conservation are not mutually exclusive but intimately related; that not new restrictions but sensible tax conces- sions and wider property ownership are the best ways to protect the countryside and to encourage urban regeneration and general good housekeeping; that our decaying `housing stock' limits the freedom of indi- viduals to move where they will. We must hope that Government ministers can find time to read and digest this wise document, for, whether deservedly or no, the Con- servative Party has lost the moral high ground on these issues — as the Alliance is well aware. It could be regained, especially as the extreme Left in, say, Liverpool, has become so cynically philistine. But it will be difficult to convince voters of this while Conservatives are associated with irre- sponsible property speculators (whom Mr Sullivan rightly distinguishes from re- sponsible property owners) and the imposi- tion of VAT on repairs but not on new building, while the Green Belt seems threatened, while we have a Prime Minis- ter who says publicly that conservation has gone too far. If anything, Mr Sullivan underestimates the extent to which ordinary people — especially those with children are worried about matters like lead in petrol and nuclear waste as well as such things as schools.