Sign our Petition

“To Councillor David Hawkins, Cabinet Member for Development & Major Projects, B&NES Council:

We the undersigned are concerned about the proposed plans to build 1500 houses as an urban extension to Bath, which threaten to absorb Newton St Looe, Englishcombe, Middle Wood, Varnham Wood and Southstoke.

Local planning procedures, such as the provisions laid out in the RSS, are obscure and difficult to understand. We do not consider that we have been given enough information and therefore opportuinity to respond to these plans.

The countryside acts as the ‘lungs’ for those who live in towns and cities. Building over green fields destroys havens for wildlife, reduces biodiversity and reduces space for producing local food.

Building on the countryside encourages more car use, traffic congestion and resulting pollution.

Without the countryside, our towns and villages blend into a continuous urban sprawl that leads to the breakdown of communities and accompanying problems, such as increased crime.

Building on the countryside should be a last resort. Once it’s gone it can never be retrieved.

We strongly urge you:

• to reconsider these plans by reassessing the number of houses we really need and by making sure that alternatives, such as building on urban brownfield sites, are properly explored
• that every effort is made to properly inform local people of planning processes that affect them
• to make sure that local decisions are decided on a local basis”

Your details will remain completely confidential and will only be used to communicate information about the campaign. They will not be passed on to any third party.