Country dwellers are only too aware of the sort of incomer who buys up a former agricultural property and then objects because the neighbour keeps noisy chickens or pigs. Recently, I came across a book that speaks up for such people, and explains their mentality; though interestingly, the contentious issue in Anthony Jay’s book is not cocks crowing but building lime.
‘A nimby’ writes Jay in his preface to the book, is any citizen who tries to defend their home and their neighbourhood from plans which would destroy the view, pollute the environment, overload the transport network, upset the ecosystem and knock £50,000 off the value of their house. When it comes to our own backyard, we are all nimbies and every nimby deserves respect for standing up to corporate and government giants ...
