IF ever a single topic touched or engendered as much passion and anger right now, more housing in Northwich is one.

What a mess, so let’s look at the root cause first – people.

Conundrum or contradiction?

Builder greed, green belt/farm land loss-nature and bird life decimated, swamp the media almost weekly with impassioned pleas to save this wonderful planet but provide a roof over everyone’s head.

Forty million birds alone have disappeared in the last 50 years.

Nothing changes til nothing changes.

Throwing up new houses all over the place without regard for the short and long-term consequences solves nothing.

In fact it exacerbates the problem and does nothing to alleviate the nation’s serious lack of affordable housing for first-time buyers and/ or affordable rentals.

Where is the infrastructure to support this?

Oh the poor people of Barnton and Winnington.

That saga has already been running for over 25 years and could and should have been nailed this time round.

Winnington Village is the prime example.

That was all built on brown land incidentally which builders often crow about it costing too much to develop contaminated sites preferring to steamroller green fields for speed, simplicity and profit.

Make no mistake, builders are not bothered about the aesthetic legacy they leave behind, only what they will pocket at the time.

The Campaign for Rural England states that the country has enough brown belt land available to quench the nation’s housing thirst thus solving the crisis.

That is on sites that already have public amenities on tap and main services ie gas electric and water, many abandoned through demolition or commercial and manufacturing decline.

Liverpool is a great example for revival and regeneration on this basis.

At the same time to restore some equilibrium to the social balance without continuing unabated to gobble up our green heritage at an alarming rate.

Councils must play their part too aided with massive financial help from central government. The days of austerity must be banished to facilitate this.

The country’s poorest and the ‘average’ family income group has suffered far too long and everyone in society deserves a decent roof over their heads.

Homeowners own just five per cent of England and home ownership is on the decline. The gap between rich and poor forever widens in this two-tier state we have created from an out-of-control behemoth.

Just as serious is our silent denial of the ever increasing population which continues unabated at an alarming rate and is the root cause of everything including global warming and pollution.

The nation, indeed the planet needs to wake up very quickly or else.

Warnings abound from Attenborough down including the last US president and notable environment figures and groups nationally that we are running out of time-fast.

A slow suicide of the planet increases tempo annually such there can be no reversal. Wealth balance to accommodate homes and homelessness must not however be ignored before then and some consistent and sustainability with it. Next up will be water shortages and fuel-next winter.

David Yearsley Moulton