Victory…the first battle at least

Some time ago now, 19^th June to be precise, I received a letter from  Broxtowe Council informing me that the developers had withdrawn their application to desecrate Hempshill Fields.  Great news I thought and like the rest of us, breathed a huge sigh of relief that the nightmare was over and we could relax, safe in the knowledge that we could look forward to enjoying the fields for years to come.

Unfortunately, I overlooked the small print saying that the developers might resubmit their application once they had come up with a plan which overcame our objections.  Just how they hope to come up with a plan which allows them to build houses and at the same time leave the fields as open space I find it hard to imagine, but there we are.

Now it seems that Broxtowe Council is in the process of publishing a new “Core Strategy” which amongst other things aims to identify suitable land for building 6,150 new homes.  So, unless we are careful, it is possible that this new plan might designate Hempshill Fields as a suitable location, despite our objections and the previous strategy.

So, once again, we need to make it clear that not only do we want to keep Hempshill Fields as open space now, we want it for our children too.  The plan is on the council’s website

You can have your say until Monday 23^rd July.

That is only a week away, so we all need to do some thinking and writing as soon as we can.  Once again, if you are unsure exactly what to say, you might want to take a look at the representation submitted by our local MP, Graham Allen, which is shown as a link on the right.  This also outlines how to complete the online forms.