DURING my 40 years on Low Dinsdale Parish Council, the expansion of the village of Middleton St George was regularly discussed. It was agreed that the village should not cross over the old Roman road which is the recognised parish boundary between Low Dinsdale and Middleton St George.

This agreement held for many years and prevented any developments eastwards towards the airfield.

But now I wonder whether this agreement is sacrosanct, or is it about to be broken?

The older residents of our village are adamant that it has lost its original character altogether. It is being swamped by more residents but without any increase in badly needed facilities.

In the 1930s, we were a small and very friendly village consisting of just 461 homes. But greedy land developers have, in the last 80 years, built at least 895 houses to take the total to 1,356 – an increase of 294 per cent.

My parish council agreed to clean up all the derelict brownfield sites wrongly hoping that small businesses would move in to employ locals. But all we got was houses and more commuters who use the village as a dormitory.

Frank Richardson, Middleton St George.