Nobody's mentioned NIMBY by Brian Bedford yet.

No offence to Becks intended. Not every objection to development can be classed as nimbyism, and I know too little on this one to have a strong opinion.

However, I live in Germany where blocks of flats are fairly common. I don't think they're worse than much of Britain's terraced (and often not very well built) housing. I'd rather live in my flat in an 8-storey building, looking out on a hedgerow, than in a detached house in a densely built-up area.