On nimbyism

There are many words bandied about in modern British politics but one of the most misused, and one of the first we reach for, is ‘nimby’.

Not in my back yard (nimby). Parking for one moment that we don’t have back yards, we’re British and have gardens, the phrase started off with some validity. I’ve used it frequently. We use it to attack those who are theoretically in favour of something, often new housing, but then find reasons to oppose it when it’s in their ‘back yard’. Rosie Pearson, who runs the Essex Suffolk and Nofolk Pylon Group, amongst other campaigning entities, has been called Queen of the nimbys (quite the recognition, Rosie, congrats). I’ve been called a nimby frequently. In fact, it’s happened off the back of this Substack, which I started little over a week ago, when I criticised the approval of the Sunnica solar farm.

It is a word we reach for all too readily. I’ve done it. It’s so easy. I want X, those people don’t want X, therefore they’re nimbys. But, in reality, it’s much more complex. Not least now, in the era of this new Labour government who have committed to two things that will usher in a huge amount of development – reinstating what are ambitious housing targets and creating an earlier target for decarbonising the electricity grid.

Are either of these things inherently bad? Of course not. On the former, we need more houses, and we need to make it easier for young people to get on the housing ladder. The fact we didn’t build enough, and the fact that it’s so hard to get on the housing ladder, is part of the reason why my party has so little support in age groups that don’t proffer Werther’s Originals at social events. Decarbonising the grid five years earlier than was planned under the previous government is more complex and very likely unachievable. I’ll write more about this in my NSIP Newsletter. Conceptually, it’s not a bad thing – clean energy and energy independence, what’s not to like? The problems with both goals are pace, societal consent, a fair deal for communities and wide agreement on what the required change looks like.

Now we’re getting to the nub of the issue. To insert challenges into the debate, such as:

Let’s pause and consider that we are embarking on what is, not to overstate it, in the case of energy infrastructure, a mini-industrial revolution.

And say:

Hang on, this is big, let’s have some over-arching principles and get it right. And getting it right might mean going a little slower

Will see you labelled a nimby.

Calling someone a nimby is the go-to for supporters of the new Labour government, we’re seeing it already. Labour is injecting so much early pace into the debate and to an extent that’s understandable. They’ve been champing at the bit for a while and we Conservatives didn’t do enough, particularly on housing. But what they’re not mentioning is a fair deal, and just transition, for communities that will host new housing or infrastructure, and that’s dangerous.

Imposing development on a resistant British public will make your end goal harder, not easier. I’ll save net zero for another day, but we can already see that the will of those who want to derail it is becoming as strong as the will of those who seek to pursue it. If the new Secretary of State is serious about clean energy, and net zero more generally, he’ll take pause and consider, whatever the end goals, you need to carry people with you. Doing something badly only fans the flames of opposition.  

The emergence of the so-called nimby has not just happened because people don’t like change. It has happened because people feel done to and disempowered. Given a proper case for change, tangible local benefits, opportunities for them and their children and inclusive co-design – the response can be altogether different. Work I’ve been leading on with excellent officer colleagues at Suffolk County Council has been around improving the NSIP regime, ensuring a fair deal for communities and proper consultation. We were making excellent progress but the newfound injection of pace into the system and new goals, however laudable they may be at a headline level, cannot easily happen in tandem with reform of the consenting regime. Reforming the process will, initially, slow it down and the new government do not want that. We won’t give up but, given the progress we were making, it gives me a heavy heart. We are not nimbys, we believe in many of the targets, we just want to get there in the best possible way.

There is a similar story to tell on housing and town centre planning. In my hometown of Bury St Edmunds, the Bury Society was formed because they resisted the redevelopment of the historic St John’s Street in 1971. They have been a voice of relative reason and bastions of good design ever since. Doing things well and preserving what is special about an area is not nimbyism. Over a drink with my good friend Ross, a talented and exceptional architect, we talk about where urban design and modern house building has gone wrong. We look longingly at Georgian terraces and crescents, houses of scale and density, lovingly built that expand urban centres in a gentle, but hugely efficient, way. Would there be as much resistance to this as there is to ‘executive homes’ sprawling over green fields on, at best, quarter acre plots? I doubt it. I’ll return to these conversations with Ross and the future of our town centres more as I write these pieces.

Saying, ‘slow down, let’s get this right’, is not nimbyism and we need to stop throwing the word around so freely. We sit on the precipice of much needed growth. So, for heaven’s sake, let’s do it properly. The new Labour government is launching out of the starting blocks, but they don’t know and love our countryside and market towns as we Conservatives do. When we try to slow them down and improve something, we do it not because we don’t want growth but because in delivering growth, some things are worth protecting. The challenge for my wider party is, for too long, we’ve done too little and avoided talking about what growth should look like. That work must start now.