Edward Fox sways Purbeck planning committee

Like many councillors a lot of my time is taken up with correspondence over planning objections. I have become used to such phrases as:

The need to preserve and enhance the character and appearance of the conservation area.

It is as familar to me as, for instance:

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.

The Daily Mail today reports on The Day of the Nimby, an "awarding winning performance" by actor Edward Fox which persuaded councillors on Purbeck's planning committee to designate some land for housing rather than a supermarket.

He said:

Can it be right, does it make any sense at all, to disturb this wondrous spot with its host of magical views with a new development of brick, concrete and corrugated iron?

Wareham is historically a genuinely ancient town and its existence stretches far back into very early times.

It has retained a rustic distinctiveness and its own singular charm and character right up to the present day – in spite of all the hungry predations upon its style and character by endlessly advancing commercialism.

This supermarket would swiftly kill stone-dead the small, sensible, purposeful, first-class small enterprises which have in all my acquaintance thrived within the town, giving superb service and helping to create the proper atmosphere of a rustic, English, small market town.

Is there anything more lovely or more charming or more healthful and wholesome anywhere in the world?

It seems to my thinking that the travelling visitor arrives at Wareham from locations which are now dominated by the supermarket culture.

In coming to Wareham one of the main desires which those visitors have need of is to get away from that supermarket culture – and to discover a way of life within a town which is quieter, more calm, less frenetic, less rushed, much slower paced – and most particularly much more friendly and personal. I would urge you, councillors, to disregard these plans in their entirety.’

What an old pro.