A resident writes about latest proposed development

Following recent articles on the proposed development behind Tollgate and Moorsfield, a local resident has written to say:

"I went to the parish council meeting too and the review and the coverage of points on AudlemOnline is good but I want to add a point regards to the discussion of increasing 'sustainability' as a buzz word used by the representatives of D. Brookshaw.

"A member of the parish council had challenged the two representatives of the developer by saying that Audlem was already sustainable which was good to hear as the way the representatives had talked you'd think they were inventing sustainability in Audlem.

"But I just wanted to add to the discussion further (as we had to sit silently in the meeting) and say that if they increase housing numbers in the village to the extent suggested, the houses would not be supporting people in the village, rather they would be housing people who travel out of the village to work (and therefore shop) and as another attendee said he has seen how in certain parts of Ireland increasing this level of development caused what were sustainable villages to actually become ghost towns as a result.

"Another thing I thought I'd mention is that when I was on my walk along the canal on 22nd October, the Canal and River Trust had sent a person to fundraise on the canal. The lady gave me the spin on how they need to raise money by signing people up for membership subscriptions to the charity and I asked her if she knew about how the company she was representing was working with development companies (I.e. BLOC) in planning applications that in local residents view was counter to protecting the beauty of the canal side.

"She wasn't aware and said she felt she should go away and check it out as she understood that this would be a contentious issue and I'm guessing would realise that people may feel less sympathetic to any fund raising efforts if they felt bits of the village and canalside were being sold and developed as a result of the charity's help.

"I had said to initially she might contact AudlemOnline to publicise her fund raising efforts as she told me she had been sent down to scope out a good area to fundraise but she didn't seem to have done her research about the village and about what was going on and said she didn't know this stretch of the canal. I suggested she look at AudlemOnline for her information too!"

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