A recent flyer distributed by UKIP in the Nethermayne Ward addresses the development of Dry Street Pastures. The leaflet is arrogant, totally misleading and reflects a failure to grasp the facts of the case.

The outline planning permission was granted by a Conservative majority but cannot be challenged or revoked by any political group. The only challenge can come from a court of law with a judgement that the decision was unsound. No political party can overturn the decision and to suggest they can is misleading.

The challenge to the scrutiny committee by Linda Allport – Hodge was actually about St Martin’s Square and the change of use. Given that the application for the process had been incorrectly completed by UKIP the chair of the meeting had no choice but to declare there was no case to answer.

It is deeply insulting for the local community and particularly for the GAG2011 committee to read in the leaflet, and I quote ‘You see, its (sic) all well and good being very vocal against any proposal but it takes guts, determination and sheer hard work to go head to head with the Tories’

Well, let me tell you Stephen Hodge that some people in our community have worked for 25 years to save this piece of land from previous development plans. Many others have given their time and energy since 2010 to challenge the latest bid to develop Dry Street Pastures. The community are more than vocal, we are a force to be reckoned with and we will continue to challenge the development plans through the proper channels.

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.

The GAG2011 Facebook page now has 25 supporters which has enabled it to get a custom address. Now it is easy to tell you friends on Facebook about GAG2011 – just ask them to go to www.facebook.com/gag2011 and they can keep track of what’s happening.

Keep spreading the word!

Gag2011