You have no Plan B!

So, if you are a school governor, or a campaigner in one of the many planning applications in Britain today, this is how it is for many of us. Like Arthur Dent, we look out the window and find the bulldozers on the lawn. Protesting against the imminent destruction of all we hold dear, our Mr Prosser tells us that we can appeal (because our views are important to him), but advises us that we need to show that we have a “Plan B” if we expect to have any chance of success.

Of course at home we have no Plan B. We have no scheme for the future development of our home; for the more efficient use of the space it contains; for the re-development of the back garden; for taking in lodgers so that the occupancy rate of the spare bedroom is improved; for re-lagging the loft or replacing the roof or installing solar panels so that the place is more energy efficient. That’s because we have been using the place as it is for a number of years and by and large we’re happy with it. Of course we know that things could be improved, and maybe we would get around to developing a strategic plan for the future if we knew we had the money and the time to do it. But we probably wouldn’t. How would we feel if that supposed lack of future planning and development left us unprotected against any one who wanted to take our home away from us, demolish it, or move us somewhere else?

Today’s Mr Prossers, the box-tickers and bean-counters who have turned their attention to many rural schools, small hospitals, post offices, and will soon turn their attention to doctors surgeries, have come up with the very latest and most frustrating weapon yet in their bid to shut us down in favour of their latest Plan A. Leaving things alone is not an option once you have come to their attention. They can challenge us to produce a Plan B. And if we can’t, because we feel that the school /hospital /post office meets local needs and we feel no need to change it, then when we argue and appeal we are defenseless against some council committee, some adjudicator, some government minister, saying “What? No Plan B? Case dismissed!”