CAMPAIGNERS fighting to prevent housing on land bordering Tiddesley Wood nature reserve have urged local people to make their voices heard as consultation on a major housing blueprint for Evesham and Pershore gets under way.
A Facebook campaign in the battle to fight the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) proposals to build 450 houses in the fields bordering Tiddesley Wood has already attracted more than 1,000 people.
Members of Protecting Pershore’s Woodland now hope residents will voice their opposition at a consultation event next week.
Despite numerous attempts being rejected by planners to build on the existing dwelling on Orchard Farm, Defford Road over the past 13 years, the site is now earmarked in the SWDP for a residential estate of 450 houses combined with neighbouring fields which run from Holloway along the top of existing developments in Three Springs Road down to Tiddesley Wood creating a total of 552 new homes for Pershore.
Members of the group will be delivering leaflets to every household in Pershore over the next few days and urge residents without internet access to complete the paper form which should be available in the library or Town Hall.
Signs are also being put on properties throughout the town to raise awareness.
Ahead of the consultation, campaigner Trudy Burge said: “It’s interesting the millennium woodland Wychavon created at Stoulton in 2000 also has open fields surrounding it yet none of those have been submitted for consideration.
“Not for one moment I think they should be as open fields are as important to wildlife survival as a woodland itself and Stoulton Community Woodland is a tremendous asset to our district.
“However you have to see the irony a man-made woodland of 20 years is protected yet one that has survived 6,000 years is currently under attack,” she added.
Residents and businesses are being urged to have their say on plans for new housing, employment and retail sites across South Worcestershire outlined in the Preferred Options document the SWDP.
As well as homes close to Tiddesley Wood, the proposals include a new town of 5,000 homes by 2041 at Worcestershire Parkway and a new town at Throckmorton Airfield of 2,000 new homes from 2030.
Pershore residents can have their say on the plans during a roadshow at the Town Hall on Wednesday (November 13) from 2pm to 8pm with Evesham residents having the chance to make their voices heard on Thursday, November 28 from 2pm to 8pm at Evesham Town Hall.
Visit www.swdevelopmentplan.org, e-mail [email protected] or post comments to South Worcestershire Development Plan, Civic Centre, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Pershore, WR10 1PT by 5pm on Monday, December 16.
