The word ‘Nimby’ has been absorbed into the English language in the last twenty years or so to describe people who object to development in their local area. The New Oxford Dictionary describes the term, an acronym of ‘not in my back yard’, as ‘a person who objects to the siting of something unpleasant or hazardous in their own neighbourhood’.
It is a pejorative term, and a useful tool for those who don’t care about the siting of unpleasant and hazardous developments in other people’s neighbourhoods. It is used by apologists for the Newhaven incinerator, which will have severe health implications on the people of Lewes. It is used by those who have a vested interest in the development of a huge residential and commercial quarter in the North Street area, with few-to-no concerns about the effect this might have on the day-to-day life of the town. It would have been used, if it had been around at the time, to describe the Friends of Lewes, who in the sixties objected to a major road - eventually the A27 - being built right through the centre of town, past the castle and through the Paddock, which would have effectively split Lewes into two halves.
A government White Paper is looking to knock the word out of current usage, at least as far as major government projects are concerned. A shake-up in planning laws is aiming to speed up the planning process by removing the right to challenge projects at public inquiry, and forming an unelected Infrastructure Planning Commission to have the final say on such matters.
We recognise the need for the development of this town and others in an ever-changing world. But we believe that the local community must have a part in the decision-making process. We still have the right to respond to the government’s proposals before this becomes law. It’s our back yard, after all, and we should fight for the right of saying what goes up in it.