Opponents of housebuilding claim to care more about the environment than prices
That may help explain the rise of the Greens
![Won’t someone think of the rabbits?](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210717_BRP003_0.jpg)
IN JULY 1998 the Reading Evening Post, a now-defunct paper, ran a story about opposition to housebuilding. Rhodri Hughes, a councillor, was concerned that new flats would overshadow residents’ gardens and that “the loss of trees would change the look of the area”. Last month another local, the Reading Chronicle, ran a similar story about housing in nearby Wokingham. Clive Jones, a Liberal Democrat councillor, is exercised about the ecological crisis, railing that developers are destroying the wildlife and habitats of “muntjac deer, badgers, birds, rabbits”.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Eco-warriors”
Britain July 17th 2021
- England is building more homes than it has for many years
- Opponents of housebuilding claim to care more about the environment than prices
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