Henry's Songbook

You can have a smoke-free, choke-free veggieburger cup o' tea
Hey man, where's it at, where you're going to put that
Over there I don't care, anywhere but my back yard

You could have a windmill, landfill, jerry rig, a big drill
No hope, isotope, hang it from a big rope
Fallout, no doubt, keep it out of my back yard

Over there I don't care, you can put it anywhere
On a beach, out of reach, I can preach a good speech
Put it down out of town, find a pool, let it drown
Up a tree, in the sea, lock the door and lose the key

You can have a highway, by-way but keep it out of my way
No grass, bypass, burn gas, spend cash
Don't brake, overtake, keep it out of my back yard

Or you can have a bad house, madhouse, people shooting posh grouse
Jolly good, knew you could, all it takes is blue blood
Old folk who can't cope, keep them out of my back yard

You can dig a pit, bury it, push it through an exit
Overflow, don't know, give a push and let it go
Too near, no fear, you can make it disappear
Build a screen, paint it green, put it in a magazine

Even if you can't stand, need a hand, find a heart transplant
Clean Jean, mean green, keep it like it's always been
But protest, unrest, keep it out of my back yard

Or you can have a long chat, fancy that, standing on the doormat
Old slum, welcome, haven't got a crumb, chum
Move them on, have they gone, keep them out of my back yard

Over there I don't care, you can put it anywhere
On a beach, out of reach, I can preach a good speech
Put it down out of town, find a pool and let it drown
Up a tree, in the sea, lock the door and lose the key

You can have a smoke-free, choke-free veggieburger cup o' tea
Hey man, where's it at and where you're going to put that
Over there I don't care, anywhere but my back -
Highway, by-way, anywhere but my back yard

(as sung by Iain MacKintosh)

[1991:] As Secretary of State for the Environment, [Nicholas Ridley] denounced country dwellers who were in favour of land development as long as it didn't happen near them - he called it the NIMBY [Not In My Back Yard!] factor. A little bit of journalistic digging later, and it emerged that Mr Ridley himself had objected when a local farmer tried to build in a field backing on to his eighteenth-century Gloucestershire rectory. (Julian Barnes, Letters From London 48)

[1996:] Brian Bedford told me he wrote the song about the building of a windmill park in Yorkshire, where he lives. Everybody was in favour - clean power, no nuclear waste. Until it was actually built and everybody said how awful it looked. Skyline pollution, they call it. (Intro Iain MacKintosh)

[1999:] A groundswell of local opposition - often from groups with green affiliations - has halted projects designed to generate electricity from waste, wind, biomass and hydroelectric resources. Objectors say such projects are harmful eyesores - although environmental groups are committed to renewable energy. However, the former has won out over the latter. As a result, only 858 megawatts of electricity - less than 2 per cent of Britain's total 65,000 megawatt capacity - is currently provided by green power projects. Yet 10 years ago, the Tory government committed the country to reaching a level of 1,500 megawatts by 2003 as part of its pledge to reduce fossil fuel emissions that cause global warming. Now New Labour is preparing plans to increase our green energy commitment to about 10,000 megawatts by 2010. [...]

The problem is the simple one of the Nimby - support for green goals, but 'not in my back yard'. As a result, proposals for renewable projects have slowly foundered against increasingly sophisticated opposition. For example, between 1991 and 1993, 12 wind farms involving large numbers of generators went before inquiries, and nine won approval. But since 1994, 18 wind-farm inquiries have been held and all but two schemes have been rejected. Much of this failure can be attributed to the rise of the pressure group Country Guardians. Launched in the early Nineties, and aided by Sir Bernard Ingham, the Guardians have won a host of planning victories against windmill projects [...]. Wind power plants disrupt remote places and provide relatively small amounts of electricity. Viewed from a local perspective, the price is not worth paying. [...]

But wind power has not been the only victim of the rise of the Nimby. Plans for a generating plant capable of turning 1,000 tonnes of waste a day into electricity at Wisley in Surrey had to be abandoned two years ago because it would have been built in countryside near the Royal Horticultural Society's gardens. A total of 36,000 people signed a petition against the plan, claiming that the atmosphere of the gardens would have been destroyed by industrial emissions. In vain, planning officials said the plant would have produced virtually no emissions. [...] In addition, proposals to build biomass plants, which would burn straw or wood to generate power, have foundered over local concerns about pollution, while plans to build small hydroelectric plants in Scotland have been opposed by tourism and salmon-fishing groups. [...] Experts say the problem is one of reconciling local concerns with global needs. However, analysts believe only radical measures can now save the cause of green power. (Robin McKie, Observer 11 July)

See also 'Take the Children and Run' (nuclear power) and 'Down Where the Drunkards Roll' (homeless)

Link to Brian's group Artisan