Following yesterdays post about the mushroom farm off Cottage Lane, I changed our canvassing schedule to visit the residents along Cottage Lane to listen to what they had to say.

To start with I think I missed a crucial section of houses near Brighouse Close which might have fallen into a different polling district – there were probably about 20 houses or so that we didn’t get a chance to speak to. Also I wouldn’t treat what is reported here as anything more than hearsay – but they are the opinions that we heard tonight.

To summarise, we only came across one person out of the fifty or so that we spoke to who mentioned the smell of the farm (without being prompted). Most people didn’t mention it as something that as something that was an issue – and those that did were mainly concerned about the increased traffic and possible further development (in what is a pleasant part of the town).

I hope that someone corrects me if I’m wrong here, but it strikes me that the odour problem is slightly out of proportion compared to the traffic issues. Indeed I heard reports of cars being damaged by lorries and of noisy, heavy vehicles travelling in the middle of the night.

In terms of the expansion of places like the farm, I think that one of the roles of a local councillor is to let people know if anything major is coming up in planning. It’s hard because you can’t always know the full impact of a development which looks fine on paper, and similarly one can’t send out every planning application to all those nearby. A balance has to be struck, but the councillor is there to be on the side of the residents and to help on a case by case basis to stop inappropriate over-development.