Example locally
A site suitable for 24 reasonable sized homes was approved planning for 6, £1 million properties. They hadn't wanted the 24 homes because they didn't like the idea of the extra traffic.
These properties have been on the market for best part of 2 years and only 4 have sold.
Meanwhile there is a quota the local authority has to build. Its based on the number of houses built.
Of course bigger houses (which no one can afford and doesn't match demand) = more threat to the beloved green belt.
Since the area is under the minimum number the government is demanding, pretty much any planning application that comes through is now being automatically green lighted with little that locals can do, because if the council don't allow it, central government can sweep in and turn it over anyway and they are terrified of this.
Thus more of the green belt is at threat because they were whinging about the original 24 houses which were absolutely fine and were a reasonable suggestion all things considered.
The logic of these people defies me.
We were bitched at by them and told we only were only trying to get houses built for ourselves personally. We were advocating for our generation not ourselves but they refused to believe it as they knew better.
Now the whole area is at the complete mercy of years of failing to see the bigger picture.
It's not the only example. There are several other similar examples.
In the end I've given up trying to argue the point. Total waste of time.
But yes, they tell me they 'understand how hard it is because of their own children'.
It's like the Brexiteers who think the law is for other people in waiting Johnson to ignore the Benn Act but want a crack down on crime as David Allen Green put it this morning in a tweet about the rule of law.