Death, contribution, change and time.

Attending a neighbour's funeral today has me thinking about death, contributions people make, what changes and how time can get distorted. Nothing like big topics for a Monday morning! It's my belief that people live on in the hearts and minds of those who loved or appreciated them. I think Luciano Pavarotti who died last week will be with us in spirit for a very long time to come, he gave us something so very special and in his singing made a wonderful contribution to humanity.

But I will also remember Ron over the road with affection, for his good humour, courage and friendship. He too loved music. At 87, to me he's always been here since we moved to this area nearly 20 years ago. I heard much more about him at his funeral today - packed out with people - than I knew before. I heard he was born in the next village but one, attended the methodist church, played the violin, supported Luton at football, was a family man and enjoyed big family picnics, holidays in Scotland, his allotment and growing dahlias. We heard more about his working life in the area too and chillingly that he was among the first to go into Belsen after it was liberated, where he worked in a military hospital. He lived a full life and he too made his contribution to humanity in many ways and I've been very glad to have him and his family as neighbours.

I'm struck by the way the world appears to change when people die and time seems distorted. Death is inevitable but when people are alive it feels like they will always be there, even though I know at a rational level they won't. An important reminder not to take them or life itself for granted. Today I've been celebrating Ron's life with his family and friends. May he rest in peace.

Never again without paying for a Centre Parcs experience?

This was taken at Warren woods a couple of years ago - wonderful old beech hedgerow that has grown up to reach the sky. In future we won't get access to this place without paying out to go on a Centre Parcs holiday....which we won't be doing.

Centre Parcs taking over Warren Wood

Warren wood is known to us for the splendid Moneypot Hill which has one of the most interesting landscapes and lovely views in our area. It's not a real hill of course as Bedfordshire is pretty flat but it's a wonderful vantage point on a clear day. In future we won't have access to this area but will instead have a new path alongside the main road. We'll also have to put up with more noise and light pollution, unreasonable levels of traffic and much more activity generally in what's already a busy, noisy county where it never really gets dark, between the M1 and the A1. Why? Because of a new Centre Parcs holiday village that has finally got the OK to go onto Green Belt land because our Government has over-ruled local planning decisions. There are allegedly 'special circumstances' and economic and employment gains top the list but ecological considerations are allegedly also taken into account.

Aside of losing one of my favourite walking areas what concerns me are the values implicit here - that someone at national level who doesn't give a damn about rural Bedfordshire knows better than planners and communities at local level. That "It will attract a greater number of visitors to local sites and amenities in and around Bedfordshire." is automatically perceived as a good thing. To me it's consistent with Government's plans for economic growth rather than sustainable development. There's such a lot of papering over of the many potential adverse impacts ....swamping of local villages which will have smaller communities than this village, dominating the area with a Centre Parcs culture which has no sensitivity to local history and culture, taking over the whole wood not a part of it as with other Centre Parcs villages, the huge potential impact of increased traffic and new traffic infrastructure in an area that's already being significantly disrupted in this way. Extra employment? Yes - but according to newspaper coverage at the time of the appeal that won't necessarily be of local people or even people currently in the UK. It's also setting a precedent for building on green belt land and limiting public access to the countryside.

There are also unacknowledged opportunity costs - just because the woodland is a bit run down at present does not mean that it can't be managed more effectively for biodiversity and for public use in future rather than fenced off for extra weekend travel and tourism. Like with road building, I'm convinced that the result of providing this kind of amenity will encourourage extra trips rather than replace people's holidays abroad.

No doubt Centre Parcs and the Woburn Estates are well connected at Westminster whereas local people aren't. It's been a common pattern in our County for years that local planning decisions get over-ruled at national level. It smacks of arrogance and corruption to me not balanced judgement.

The invisible women

Hilary Spurling's review of Virginia Nicholson's book 'Singled out - how two million women survived without men after the first world war." in Sunday's Observer has stayed with me this week. Shocking to hear that the Daily Mail in 1921 commented that 'the superfluous women are a disaster to the human race'. At that time these women could not count on marriage or starting their own families, as so few men returned from the war. Nor could they count on reasonable employment or a career, as the men returning reclaimed jobs done by women in their absence. Of course it's in context of so many dying through war or flu so perhaps many were just glad to be alive? Difficult to know now. It sounds like a sad sad time for so many men and women and makes me think what a lot we take for granted today. Sobering to think these events took place less than a century ago.