Years ago, when rail privatisation was looming, I took a very senior civil servant out to lunch and we discussed the likely timetable.
“I suppose the key date is the Queen’s Speech,” I suggested. My guest smiled. “No,” he said, “the key date is the Party Conference.”
You may have found yourself wondering about the cut-off date for consultation with the District Council about where to build several thousand new homes over the next 18 years. The consultation “must end”, as they say on TV ads, on Sunday April 27.
Why then? Simple. The council’s detailed proposals must reach Whitehall by the end of May for inclusion in a national master-plan. This then becomes the poolside August holiday reading for Sir Humphrey in the Seychelles, before a minister makes a triumphant announcement to the Party faithful at Manchester on or about September 22.
I think this is deplorably fast. I think we need a lot more time and much more strategic thinking. And I’m not sure about some of the core options suggested by the Council.
For instance, I notice that one of the preferred options suggests building 800 new houses at Old Sarum. Residents of Ford and Laverstock will hate me for saying this, but (as you can see from my photo) it seems to me there’s room for many more than that. OK I know it’s a designated conservation area, but its aviation history only goes back 90 years (it was originally called Ford Farm airfield), and we’ve simply got to find more space.
Apart from silencing the vociferous critics who dislike aircraft (so why choose to live near an airfield, I wonder?), I see three advantages to expanding Old Sarum.
First, Firsdown would no longer have to grow by order of magnitude - Old Sarum is just as handy for housing Porton scientists. Secondly, it would justify reviving the plan for a Northern bypass linking the Southampton Road with the A36 somewhere north of Death Valley. And thirdly, the bigger Salisbury becomes, the more likely it is that the absurd Unitary Authority will be scrapped.
Maybe these ideas are wildly impractical; I don’t know. Maybe others have got some useful thoughts. But it’s a pity that we’ve been given so little time to decide so much.
