Village Voice Jun/July 2018 Issue 186

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YOUR LETTERS
Dear VV,
I think there are two follow-up points that arise
from your last edition relating to the P&TG
Residents’ Society and the P&TG Football club
planning application.
The first revolves around the P&TG Residents
Society’s membership criteria, prompted by my
item on the Penn and Tylers Green Blog. Like many
people, I am a member of various organisations. In
order to be a member of these groups I pay a fee,
something I am happy to do because I generally
support their aims. If anything controversial arises
- for instance when the National Trust had to
decide whether to allow hunting across its land
- then members’ opinions are sought either by a
ballot and/or an online survey.
Locally, both the High Wycombe Society and the
Beaconsfield Society - organisations with very
similar aims to the P & TGRS - charge a small annual
fee for people who make a conscious decision to
become members.
It means is that when these organisations give
evidence to public inquiries or council committees,
they do so with authority, knowing they have the
active support of their membership.
Our Residents’ Society however has a different
approach; a unique one so far as I can see. Here you
don’t have to do anything to become a member.
You only need to live in Penn or Tylers Green.
Consequently that can lead to rather perverse
situations - and the football club planning
application is a classic example - where the Society
addresses a planning committee opposing an
application knowing that many of its members -
perhaps even a majority - disagree with its
position. Furthermore, there’s no evidence the
Society sought to ascertain its members’ views on
the controversial football club issue before
reaching its verdict.
I believe the Society needs find a way to adapt if
it wants to credibly represent its members in
future. I think the best way is to change its
membership criteria by charging a small annual
subscription, thus ensuring its members
consciously opt in and thereby support its
contentions.
Village Voice June/July 2018
The second point revolves around the Society’s
thinking behind its opposition to the football
club’s application. Its opinion, of course, is a
perfectly legitimate one. The Green Belt does need
special attention and the Chilterns Area of
Outstanding Beauty needs special protection (not
a view shared by the Government in its approval of
HS2 unfortunately), but the grounds are shifting.
Within the next few years there will be
thousands of new homes built within a five mile
radius of Penn and Tylers Green. Many people may
not like it, but it’s a fact.
The battles to save areas like the Gomm Valley
and Ashwells from further development have been
fought and, to a large extent, now lost. The Society
played a crucial role in fighting those battles and I
think was successful in delaying inevitable
development for at least 20 or 30 years, and
preventing over-development, which is no mean
achievement. Those volunteers who have
sacrificed many hours and donated their skills in
meetings and gatherings deserve the community’s
heartfelt thanks and utmost respect. There is still,
of course, an important role for the Society and
other groups to play in trying to ensure any
negative impacts are kept to a minimum.
However, I think there has to be an acceptance
that times are changing. The new developments
are a game-changer. The existing population as
well as the newcomers need recreational facilities
on their doorstep or else we will become a sterile
and restless community. We can’t maintain the
status quo. Some sacrifices will have to be made.
Erecting half a dozen new technology, highly
focused, telescopic floodlights, operating a
maximum nine hours a week during the winter
months, is a small sacrifice to make to ensure the
largest and most successful sporting facility in the
community continues to thrive and prosper. The
lights won’t break the Green Belt. They won’t
devastate the AONB. They won’t negatively impact
on the value of surrounding properties.
OK, maybe the club might come back in a few
years time wanting to build a super stadium, an
adjoining hotel and a multi-storey car park. Who
knows? But let’s cross that extremely unlikely
bridge when we come to it. For now, I believe the
council - and, with respect, the Society’s decisionmakers
- need to acknowledge the realities of a
new situation. Peter Brown, The Chase Tylers Green
Letters Continued overleaf
8
www.pennandtylersgreen.org.uk
9