Frayed Britannia, Aylesford

Just went for a short photographic safari today as Storm Darragh was doing it's thing. Luckily, here it's still been very gusty but the blasts have been at about 50 mph rather than the much more dangerous 90 that appear to have hit parts of Wales.
My image is of some flags flapping furiously in the strong wind. I wanted to capture a bit of their movement so used rear curtain flash and I think it worked out quite well! This was taken on Hermitage Lane where the onslaught of housebuilding is, it seems, forever relentless. A new development of homes (hilariously called The Bluebells, named so well after the thing that's just been destroyed!) has started right next to Barming Station. Although there has been a lot of concern about this over abundance in such a concentrated area, and the local council has rejected developments in the past, it now seems as if any proposal will be literally bulldozed through. Virtually any housing project will be approved in our area and there is absolutely nothing local people can do to stop it. This top down approach from the Government is imposing huge housing targets on councils that are going to be impossible to meet but will also mean the destruction of many green spaces and farmland. Around here a lot of the new developments are being built on farmland and not so called brown field sites. They are also often homes of the three, four and five bedroom variety - impossible for first time buyers to afford. Also, they all look the same, vast toytowns of poorly designed and built depressing blandness.
I would say to anyone who hears of a new housing development in their area to watch out because as soon as it is approved your green spaces and farmland will disappear quickly and there will be no stopping it as it seems as if local populations will hold no sway at all. Planning applications and restrictions are usually there for a reason but they are going to hacked to bits with everything favouring the house builders over the local population. Of course, there has to be more house building but do it with the consultation of local communities and by putting infrastructure in first. It's too important otherwise we'll end up with many more Hemitage Lanes.