suburbia

Keep Britain Tidy

There are two words that are rarely heard in government circles These are: happiness and beauty. The two go together. If one lives in beautiful surroundings one tends to have a greater chance of happiness. Why is it that in one of the richest countries in the world many of us live in run down, litter-strewn environments where ugly concrete buildings prevail? The argument is that there is not the money, that employee costs are too great, so that skilled workers cost too much, that money must be spent on schoolsandhospitals and that there is no money left for fripperies such as aesthetics. The Victorians built for glory and many of our towns would look even worse if they hadn't built fine municipal buildings. We still retain Areas Of Natural Beauty, mostly in country areas. Here we see sensitive building, clean streets even lovely red telephone boxes. Some city centres have been renovated and attractive buildings retained, with areas to sit and enjoy the sights. However, most of us live outside the city centres in the suburbs and these are becoming grim, grubby and grey, attractive housing is being 'modernised' and charming features such as our red telephone boxes being retained only in tourist areas.