Nimby neighbours' war with wounded soldiers' families

Soldiers who may have lost limbs or suffered severe trauma spend months rebuilding their lives at Headley Court military rehabilitation centre.

But when an Armed Forces charity decided to buy a £ 1.7million six-bedroom house nearby so visiting relatives would have somewhere to stay, the well-heeled neighbours in Ashtead, Surrey, launched their own offensive.

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The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association, which has applied to the local council to to make some alterations at the property, including installing a wheelchair ramp, had been hoping for no objections.

After all, Headley Court had been part of the area for more than 60 years.

But residents apparently do mind. They have flooded the council with almost 100 letters of protest, raising every conceivable objection to the new property being used to house families visiting soldiers.

They claimed 'additional noise' and 'huge amount of additional traffic' would ruin the peace of the private lane and warned that the value of their multi-million-pound properties would plummet.

The families 'would not be welcome', they said, and their arrival could 'destroy the character' of the area.

One resident even objected on security grounds, claiming the house could become a terrorist target, while another suggested wheelchairs would present a fire hazard.

Planners at Mole Valley District Council will consider the case on August 1 but last night serving soldiers made their views clear.

One Army officer recently returned from Iraq told the Mail: "They make me sick. It's just staggeringly selfish.

"Perhaps these people would care to come out to the field hospital in Basra and tell some young soldier having his leg amputated after a [bomb] attack exactly why his family isn't worthy to rub shoulders with this bunch in their Surrey village.

"Who do they think they are? Do they have the slightest clue about the sacrifices-young soldiers make on their behalf every day? Shame on them."

SSAFA spokesman Athol Hendry said: "These people should be ashamed of themselves. This level of hostility is incredibly disappointing and frankly astonishing.

"If you've just got back from risking your life in Iraq, you've lost two legs and you learn your young family are not welcome near the hospital where you're being treated - what kind of a message is that?"

When the Mail tried to speak to residents, none would be quoted.

Residents' association chairman Malcolm Webb, a 58-year-old oil executive, denied residents were 'nimbys'.

"This is just the wrong place and the wrong property," he said. "Some are concerned - in these awful days when these ghastly terrorists go after the softest targets - about the security situation."