Dry St – GAG2011

Dry Street Pastures: A Community Asset

miriam_secretary — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 17:11:18 +0000

Today we have asked Basildon Council to list Dry Street pastures as a community asset. After all it is called a Local wildlife Site and it’s designation was supported by local organisations including Basildon Council and required rigorous scientific surveys to qualify. Community groups are allowed under the Localism Act of 2011 to nominate an asset to the local authority to be listed and potentially have the right to buy. Many local communities have been through the procedure of listing a local much loved building, pub or park and some have gone on to bid for the asset. We have no plans to buy Dry Street Pastures, it would be far too expensive, merely protect the valuable wildlife site. We will keep you updated.

Many thanks to those supporters who were contacted urgently yesterday afternoon to provide support for our application. We needed 21 names and addresses of local supporters who were on the electoral role and were happy to have their names put forward. We will require more help on a similar application next week to ask for other well known local institutions to be listed as community assets. If you would like to help please email us using the contact form.

In December we also approached the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee. They had released a damming report on environmental pollution in our towns and highlighted the growing health problems caused by poor air quality. We asked them to look into the actions of the Homes and Communities Agency who own thousands of acres of greenfield sites and are developing them.

We are also intending to approach the Homes and Communities Agency through the Department for Communities and Local Government. Please sign our petition to show the HCA how local people feel. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/71624

Over 100 Supporters Hear How Legal case is Progressing

miriam_secretary — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 16:59:46 +0000

Download the presentation here

Over 100 GAG2011 supporters packed into Lee Chapel South Community Hall on 2nd February to hear details of GAG2011’s legal challenge to the development on DryStreet Pastures and Nethermayne. Chair Dermot Kavanagh thanked everyone for attending. He also thanked the fundraising team for raising £3,000 since September and the legal team for their endevours. Miriam Heppell the secretary then went on to make a presentation about the planning time scale, the process of judicial review, our case and how people can help with the campaign. Geoff Williams, Danny Lovey and Rod Cole then took questions from the floor. Supporters were very generous with their donations pledging financial support and our bucket collection raised £460.

Formal Consent for Planning

miriam_secretary — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 11:38:53 +0000

Many of you will have received confirmation that the Nethermayne/Dry St plan has now been approved. This is the formal confirmation of the outline planning permission that was passed on the 6th June 2013. This now means GAG can now begin the legal challenge. Although we consulted a barrister in September we couldn’t actually do anything until the formal consent happened. We now have 6 weeks from 13th December, with no allowance for Xmas and New Year holidays, to lodge a request for judicial review. We will hold a public meeting in the new Year when we have more information on the timescale involved. We will also be planning more fundraisers and asking for donations.

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Thank you for all your support. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.