I have been a resident in Rickmansworth for all 54 years of my married life. Obviously I have seen many changes but it is still a place where I am very happy to live. However, what I do not want to do is sit in my comfortable house and deny my, or other people’s, grandchildren the opportunity to live in the area. My heart sank when I heard the NIMBY moans about the green belt and the lack of building land in Three Rivers. Our generation has to get over the fact that we do not have the god given right to keep things as they are just because it suits us.

Most of us got on the housing ladder early and, yes, it was a struggle at first, but life got easier as we got older and we have done very nicely thank you. Our grandchildren have not had this opportunity and many are stuck in rented accommodation at the age of 30 with little chance of saving a deposit. No wonder that the generational divide is widening.

There is a massive housing crisis in this country and we are only going to solve it by building more houses and infrastructure fast. Some of those houses may have to be built on the green belt and we will have to accept that. We must reduce the impact as far as possible by using brown field sites, infilling and the change of use for defunct retail/office premises. By current standards some land in Three Rivers is not well used in that one house was built on a plot that will take two or three today. We need fresh thinking and ideas and positive input into local planning not constant negativity.

If we don’t come up with ideas soon then the Government will step in and this we do not want as the record of national interference locally is appalling

It is just not good enough to say Three Rivers is full so someone else will have to deal with the problem.

David Morgan

Highfield Way, Rickmansworth