HOW pleased the residents of Broadway must be that the planning application for a housing development in the village has been refused.

The grounds for refusal include the fact that Broadway is a pretty village and an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).

What a pity it is that the planning authority does not take a similar view of other villages in the area. Drive a couple of miles down the road to Honeybourne to witness the destruction of a village by over development.

On the road through the village centre there are three large-scale housing developments in progress within a few hundred yards of each other.

Excavators, bulldozers, cranes, huge advertising hoardings, flagpoles, dozens of 'mud on the road' signs, dust,mess and constant noise.

Honeybourne has far less infrastructure than Broadway, with only one shop, two pubs and one small school, yet it is deemed suitable for this large-scale development and resultant increase in population.

What does Honeybourne gain from all of this, a new village jall as the customary developer "bribe".

Broadway, breath a sigh of relief.

Rob Goodchild

Honeybourne