Love thy neighbour - except in a recession. This is the harsh line that the nation's most tenacious NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard) are adopting to combat the threat of development in their area. There may be less house-building as construction companies fail to raise cash, but opposition to existing plans is increasingly of the “hardened” kind, according to research by the Saint Consulting Group, which put the results of its survey down to a belief in “tough love”.

“Opinion is very divided over whether the economic advantages of new developments outweigh the negative impact of new developments”, it adds. Saint says that hardline NIMBYs, who are exercised enough to petition and attend meetings, now account for 21 per cent of all campaigns, compared with 17 per cent in 2008. Almost 30 per cent of the NIMBY brigade, mostly retired people and baby-boomers, actively opposed a development in the past year, according to Saint, compared with 24 per cent in 2008.

Other findings in the study are even more revealing about where charity stops and infringement of personal living space is perceived to begin. Power stations are becoming more unpopular, for example, but wind farms are likely to get the thumbs-up. Meanwhile, unpopular projects in the South West are more likely to be met with strong opposition than those in the North East.

However, the housebuilding industry will be most alarmed to note that the majority of NIMBY campaigns, accounting for 51 per cent, are against private residential housing. This should also concern first-time buyers, as many of these spurned developments were proposed to help them. More worrying for them, perhaps, is that those objecting are likely to be their parents, grandparents and their friends. Tough love indeed.

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