For years I have suspected that one of the biggest, and least visible reasons why so many people fear the idea of spatial change near them is this. People like, well sort off like if not love, the enduring and comforting sense of continuity their local out of doors never changing urban or rural environment provides. Familiarity feels snug. It offers tangible continuity.,As uncertainties in life out there grow, and the ageing process shifts personal instincts away from innovation and doing things differently to a strong preference for the familiar ( I do dislike all the so-called IT improvements) in my opinion this mind-set pre-disposses many if us to instinctively dislike the idea, or the concept of new building nearby. Unknown change is a threat and a challenge. Why bother? It’s easier to say no. Anyway . I want to know why change is needed. And only sense disruption, not the urge to see the new vista.
But there is some evidence the scale of this negative response can be radically recalibrated if the new idea is exciting enough once it is announced. And this ability to create a positive and welcoming response to change is enhanced, if its appeal is broad based and the means of delivery is credible. A one-off office block or an obscure bunch of houses does nothing for most of us. At best we are indifferent. But a new community asset, or a new public park has the opposite effect.
For example the government has decided to approve a special fast track development order to enable Universal Studios’ proposed new theme park on 270 hectacres of land around an old brickfield in Bedfordshire to move ahead more quickly. . What is even more illuminating is the parallel decision by Bedford Borough Council to withdraw its local plan after a government appointed inspector backed the authority’s suggestion it scrap this strategy and start work on a new plan to take account of the planned theme park development. The fact that the park will create 20,000 new jobs with 80% coming from local areas is acknowledged by the council’s chief executive, Laura Church.
Another example may be the vision for Forest City. According to The Times (Hugh Graham, senior property writer, Tuesday 16 December 2025).. it could be Britain’s first new city for more than 50 years ten miles east of Cambridge with 400,000 new affordable homes being promoted by Albion City Development Corporation, uniquely, if the visuals have reliability using traditional materials and London’s mansion block high density, few or no cars building ideas when the Victorians had confidence and before cars took over our cities. Whatever its outcome, it shows some innovative thinking.
Here’s my six-penny worth. The Thames valley desperately needs several hundred thousand new homes too. My 1991 and 2014 ideas for a new city south of Reading seem to have been dashed; by the AWE sponsored no build zone around the nuclear facility at Burghfield near junction 11, M4 motorway. But the homes demand remains. It will grow. So will prices and rents. Let’s look again a the South East Plan 1960 and in particular its Area 8 designation. Why? Because the unique characteristics of local areas rarely change! Each area inherits its local geography: for good and bad. With threats opportunities too. Which is why building to a long term, generation measured vision is common sense.
. Roughly Reading to Basingstoke to Blackwater Valley to Bracknell to Reading again. Buildup all these centres and much of the unprotected white land in between. Instead of new car led estates, there is phase one of a new round London maglev system which links them all. You ask why would residents say yes? I say, ask their local councils to write down their wish list.
Just an idea. Why not?
Ian Campbell
06 January 2026
