Opportunity to invest in the people

From the archive, first published Monday 13th Mar 2006.

YOUNG people often receive a bad press these days. The biggest headlines are invariably devoted to an unrepresentative minority that persistently gives the two fingers to the rest of society.

Nevertheless, we know that the overwhelming majority of youngsters are decent kids doing their best and trying to make sense of a complicated world. In fact, the young people we have in mind are very much like those who make up Warndon Villages Football Club.

Their team is being prevented from setting up pitches because the developers - Persimmon Taylor Woodrow - will not lease the land, even though Worcester City Council says that the local plan does not allow for houses to be built there.

Perhaps the building giants are hedging their bets, reluctant to commit themselves in case the council relents in the face of planning appeals to be lodged at some future date. In the light of this possibility, we would like to put a few points to the company.

The relatively stable atmosphere of Warndon Villages has been created by an intelligent blend of quality housing, use of green space and the name itself, which conjures up a vision of community. Yet this is nothing without the human element - and in the Villages, this spirit is very much alive in the form of highly-focused adults and teenagers.

What better opportunity could there be for a successful firm to put something back into the society it helped to create? Yes, businesses are not charities - but some breadth of vision might be good for everyone.

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