During my cycle rides around Oxford, I pass on most days the attractive thatched house in the centre of Iffley, at the point where the main road starts its descent towards the river.

Over a period of some months I have watched the steady replacement of the deep, all-covering thatch, surely the most famous in Oxford, barring that at The Perch, in Binsey, which has proved preternaturally susceptible in the past to destruction by fire.

The work has been painstakingly carried out by the Oxford-based Rumpelstiltskin Thatching Company, run by master thatcher David Bragg. The finished result is a credit to the company.

Its website proclaims: “A roof turned golden by Rumpelstiltskin has been done with care, consideration and a genuine love of the craft.”

Indeed it has, and obviously so. The product of the workmanship here is beautiful to look at and a true ornament to the village.

But wouldn’t it be a lark if we were now to see this roof cloaked in solar panels? This was a tongue-in-cheek suggestion I made to the owner of the property, an old friend of mine, while the work was progressing. He saw where I was coming from.

We both recognise the absurd planning exemption that permits people to damage the environment in the name of the great god Green.

It is noticeable in my own neighbourhood of Osney, which is subject to strictest planning controls, all suspended over solar panels.

Some roofs on the island are disfigured by overall panelling. Yet the city planners still insist that much less visually intrusive Velux windows are vetoed from front elevations.

We went to appeal when refused consent for a window that safety inspectors insisted was necessary to supply a fire escape from the loft extension.

We lost, and had to spend thousands on internal fire doors.