... for now.
I got back from the District Planning Committee meeting at 23:40 tonight (well yesterday now) and I left early!!
After about 60 people turned up in the rain holding banners outside the council offices we all squeezed in to the council chamber.
Pages Field was the first application to be discussed. 3 local residents spoke against it after hearing Pat Kingsnorth (Town Clerk), Barry Wardle (Assistant Clerk) and "the town's" consultant speak in favour.
After all the objections were raised, I too spoke, but only briefly, as the resident's had already spoken perfectly on the issue and had raised all the important points.
After much discussion amongst the District Councillors the application to grant outline planning permission on Pages Field was rejected!
Reading between the lines, I don't think the Council will appeal, although the committe reminded everyone present that it was an option, and it was also suggested by certain members that if the council did decide to try the same trick on other pieces of green space in the town, they could expect a similar outcome.
In late September, early October 2005, I produced a leaflet for all the residents in this ward. In it I promised to help save Pages Field. 5 months later and the promise has been kept.
However, I strongly believe that while what I did helped, it was YOU the residents that got this result. So many people pulled together to make this happen. The argument was researched, well presented and crucially well supported. If it wasn't for the massive shows of support by normal residents, I could well be writing a very different articles now.
Community can be forgotten a lot with the pressures of life but I sincerely hope the community spirit that was shown over the past months continues. There will always be another fight that has to fought and as long as I am a Town Councillor I will support community groups to stand up for what they believe to be right.
It may be the market (see below) or it may be Pages Park (see this weeks papers or my blog over the next few days) but together people can get what they want.
Sorry, it went a bit corny at the end but I saw more than a few tears of joy when the decision was made so I'm not the only one getting emotional.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
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1 comment:
The local residents of the surrounding areas of Pages Field are, in the most part, responsible for the decision taken by the District Council but let us not forget the big part you played in this. Your help and advise was invaluable and I for one can't thank you enough.
June Walker
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