I live in a village which is ruled with an iron village by a core of villagers who seem intent on sending us back to the dark ages.
This all started with a planning application for a housing development on a disused field. There was a very loud and vocal group who organised the no campaign and managed to get the application turned down three times (it's now gone to a final appeal).
Following on to this they are using the group to seemingly campaign against any development whatsoever. In the last year they have campaigned against single houses, a development of 6 houses, a planning application to change the use of a garage/cart house to a granny annex and now they are campaigning against an application for a single house on a crappy piece of land used by teenagers to drink on a weekend.
The main person writes a letter and then hands them out at the village hall and to all the old folks, gets them to sign it and then posts them off himself. He acts as proxy for online objections. Most of the reasons are scaremongering about losing our village, if we let them win once we'll be overrun etc.
He's just been round with another campaign to stop the demolishment of a house in the village which is owned by a train company. He wants the village to purchase it and turn it into a museum. It's a bog standard house with seemingly no amenity value at all.
AIBU to be sick and tired of a group of NIMBYs who don't seem to understand that people need houses to live in! It doesn't help that they make up the parish council which objects to any and all planning in the village. They shouldn't be allowed to scaremonger amongst the older members of the community like this.