You might be asking how can all this go on  when the government is so keen on devolving power down to a local level.

If you find the answers let us know.

Certain politicians have said that it would be worse under another government.  We would have 1000 houses on the site.  This cannot be true--this would take overcrowding to the very limit--doubling the size of the village,

How can this possibly be true when governments have put in place planning legislation which specifically requires that major new developments are located near to existing urban centres with good transport links?

For  example

Planning Policy Guidance 1 General policy and Principles

Planning policy guidance 3 - Housing

Planning Policy Guidance 7 - The countryside - environmental quality and social development

Planning Policy Guidance Note 6 -

Planning policy guidance Note 13  - Transport - A Guide to better Practice

Rural England (Briefing note on white paper)
RPG2 Regional Planning Guidance for West Yorkshire

Other useful publications

Research Notes RDR38/S Rural Development and land use planning policies - The Countryside Agency

Our elected representatives appear to be deliberately obstructive in our efforts to object to the development.  The local authority (under instruction from who? - we can only suspect) have made a point of touring the village and taking down objection signs (even those on private land)..

Our MP informed us that the 600+ objection letters to the Council would all "go in the bin".  It's not that he doesn't want to get involved in Allerton Bywater he has gone to great time and trouble to object to a proposed opencast site, which whilst we don't particularly want that either,  pales into insignificance at the side of the millennium village.