FIRST-TIME visitors to Birmingham frequently express their surprise at how green it is.
They arrive expecting the concrete wasteland of popular myth and instead find canopies of trees and acres of parkland.
We Brummies, of course, treasure our open spaces, which please the eye and lift the spirit.
But one of the city's greenest places, Harborne’s historic Moorpool estate, is under threat of development.
Its owner Grainger Plc has drawn up plans to build 35 new homes there, some of pockets of land currently used as allotments.
Grainger has compromised to try to make the proposals more acceptable for residents, but there is still disquiet that this scheme would erode the estate's character.
New homes are undoubtedly needed to cope with increasing demand for housing.
But Birmingham's planners need to look long and hard at Grainger's blueprint to make sure one of this city's leafy gems is not harmed beyond repair.
We need our areas of greenery.