I WAS shocked to read that planning permission had been granted on a green field site at the top of Rough Hill Drive before a proper ecological survey had been done at the correct time of year (Advertiser, October 1).

The new report is now complete and has found it a rich wildlife haven including rare species of bats, slowworms and grass snakes.

Cynical I may seem, but factual it is. How dare we destroy the lungs of Redditch, especially when pollution is set to rise and traffic congestion increase.

Our rare species are under threat and what do we do about it? Nothing.

After all, what is the use of complaining? We do, however, moan and grumble to each other about the stink in the mornings, the noise of the traffic and the concrete jungle which has become home.

However, we never stand up and exercise our democratic right to justice by making our objections known effectively. Is it because we are British and we just do not complain?

We rarely wake up to what is happening around us until it is too late.

After all, we have a right to live in a three or four-bedroom house somewhere, preferably in a nice area with great views.

We eventually move into our brand new, shiny houses and find that we cannot open the windows due to noise and the stench of diesel pumping out of heavy lorries rumbling up the roads which surround us, and we still moan and grumble.

Our children have nowhere to play and if they do venture out their asthma gets worse, as does their general health.

The gardens we were promised are too small and the smell and noise is too bad to sit out anyway.

We, as a species, persecute the wildlife which seeks sanctuary in our gardens, once their home. We poison, snare and shoot the nuisance that eats and destroys our manicured postage stamps we call lawns and herbaceous borders.

We blame the pests for doing it to our property, never us for living in what was once their home. What is the point of recycling rubbish and building eco-friendly homes if we destroy that which we laughingly profess to protect?

When we have raped and pillaged our lands so that the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe is contaminated and the biodiversity decimated beyond redemption and there is no more green land to escape to, we will ask who is to blame. Look in the mirror and see the fool who encouraged it by being quiet and allowing it to happen.

Denette France

Towbury Close

Oakenshaw South