Is it just me, or is life becoming more and more complicated?

I was reading a recent exchange of emails regarding the Church’s annual Good Friday walk of witness and was amused to come across a rather sober risk assessment about carrying a wooden cross up the High Street and securing it to the railings outside Holy Trinity Church. I couldn’t help but wonder what might have happened if the Roman authorities had required a rigorous risk assessment of crucifixions 2000 years ago.

I spent half a day reading the Core Strategy of Guildford’s Development Framework – a most worthy 134 page document describing how Guildford might change in the period up to 2026. It’s a very important piece of work and I greatly admire how the Council has managed to weave its way through an extremely complicated set of statutory requirements. But it is a breeding ground for TLA’s (Three Letter Acronyms)! Although we all invited to respond to the document, I do find myself struggling to find an entry point into which I can inject, what seems to me at least, some common sense.

Things such as; if there is a stipulation that all new developments should comprise at least 60% affordable homes – that is small, single living room dwellings with, at best, a tiny garden, “where will the children play?” (quoting Cat Stevens from the 60’s). Also, how can our planning foster a strong community spirit so that we build ‘social capital’ into our town?

There is an understandable tendency to focus on bricks and mortar. But it seems to me that the one thing that can either make us either deliriously happy or inconsolably miserable is relationships. Relationships are inherently risky - difficult to do a risk assessment on! Although we can’t guarantee a healthy community spirit in our future planning we must ensure that we include places where young people can ‘hang out’ safely and receive the support they need to negotiate this ever complex world.