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There are a LOT of acronyms in planning. PDL, SAD, OAN, SHELAA for starters. The best of the bunch (sorry) has to be BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything). The one that has come to irritate me beyond anything else has to be the one everyone knows - NIMBY. 1/
According to this article, the acronym dates back to 1980.
https://geography.exeter.ac.uk/beyond_nimbyism/deliverables/bn_wp1_3.pdf Whilst it orginally referred to refers to people âwho recognise that a facility is needed but are opposed to its siting within their localityâ, 2/
https://geography.exeter.ac.uk/beyond_nimbyism/deliverables/bn_wp1_3.pdf Whilst it orginally referred to refers to people âwho recognise that a facility is needed but are opposed to its siting within their localityâ, 2/
it now seems to have become a general pejorative all-encompassing label for anyone who objects to anything for any reason and in any location. In Irreplaceable: The Fight to Save Our Wild Places, @JulianHoffman writes beautifully and movingly of place - 3/
âIt helps shape who we are, impressing itself on us with all the force of a sea-storm, or as subtly as the unfurling of oak leaves by luminous degrees in spring..â He recounts interviews with passionate defenders of the threatened places they know and love, e.g. Hoo Peninsula. 4/
It intrigues me how one personâs passionate defender of a beloved place is another personâs NIMBY, or worse, a NIMBY who cannot possibly have any motivation other than the price of their house. 5/
For many advocates of HS 2, anyone who opposes it is a NIMBY, whether it will go through their back garden or they live miles away. Surely if there are good arguments in favour (increased capacity, reduced demand for flights).. 6/
these should carry enough weight that people who live far from the route donât need to be so dismissive of the pain felt by those along it. 7/
As Sean Spiers writes in How to Build Houses AND Save the Countryside, âI do not now why someone fighting to keep a school or hospital open is a community hero but someone fighting to protect a much-loved area of open space is condemned as a NIMBY⊠8/
We need more houses, but we also need more people willing to stand up for the places they care about.â Thereâs a disused factory a mile or so from my house, and an application has been made to build houses there. 9/
Itâs not one of those brownfield sites that have become biodiversity hotspots like Canvey Wick - it is just buildings and tarmac, with no public access. Itâs also relatively close to the town centre and train station, so would seem like a good location for new housing. 10/
But many local people arenât happy about it. Are they NIMBYs? Perhaps. But itâs easier to dismiss them as such than to address their valid concerns about the three-week wait for a GP appointment and oversubscribed schools. 11/
Do we want to live in a world where people have no interest in or appreciation for where they live? A community in which people do not care what happens in their local area is not much of a community. 12/
The lockdown brought home the value of having green and open spaces at close proximity; birdwatchers have long enthused about the value of getting to know a local patch, there's been a flurry of articles and books on the healing and restorative power of nature, 13/
and staying local means a lower carbon footprint. Maybe itâs time for a new acronym: NIEBY - Nature in Everyoneâs Back Yard. END
Sorry @ShaunSpiers1 I misspelled your name when quoting your book.
