In article , wrote:
But aren't local people/councils the best to judge what is right
or wrong for an area as long as the reasons cited are sound
planning reasons and not NIMBYism,

The second tends to be dressed up as the first. And 'local people'
tend to be a vociferous minority who are far from representative
when they claim that 'no one wants ....'. Personally I (unlike most
Conservatives when considering this subject) tend to free market
views: the fact that a developer wants to knock down two houses and
build 8 flats probably indicates that there are a lot of people who
do want said flats. Most of the stuff that the conservationists now
try to preserve was built in an era when developers could build what
they wanted and delivered what would make them a profit. And because
there wasn't a planning system induced artificial shortage quality
was better.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk
Free SEDBUK boiler database browser http://www.sda.co.uk/qsedbuk.htm
[Latest version QSEDBUK 1.10 released 4 April 2005]