APPEAR ON TV
Here is the background on why it happened.
From our back garden we overlook Green Belt land :
At certain times there are even cows in the field :
The owner of the land, Redmiles, applied to the Council to build 370 houses on the field and an adjoining one that stretched right down to the A61 road.
The council agreed subject to the proposal being made known. It was only by luck that our next door neighbour, Glyn Jones, spotted the proposal on the Internet. He told me and with the help of his wife, Viv and another high profile resident, Robert Hardcastle we formulated a plan of action.
Information on how to fight the destruction of the Green Belt land was circulated to everyone in the immediate area. Many objections were sent to the Council.
Our main weapon was to be a petition of signatures. Most of these signatures were obtained by us standing outside the supermarket in Dronfield Civic Centre. We managed to collect 3,547 objections.
Our fight was highlighted in all the local papers :
Our campaign went on for months and at the time around Guy Fawkes Night we presented our petition to the Council accompanied by a large rocket I had made. Hence the headline in the left hand paper. Our visit to the Council offices was backed up by the local Dronfield celebrity, the 1950's singer, DAVE BERRY.
The Dronfield Advertiser, (right photo) shows Richard Hardcastle and me being interviewed. This interview was filmed and we appeared on Look North that evening.
Finally, there was a meeting between Council representatives, the solicitor for Redmiles ( the builders) and an arbiter from London. I attended the meeting and felt our case stood up well.
The verdict eventually was given and we had won - at least for another 10 years when the builder can apply again.
And apply he has done, with a vengeance, February 2017! This time it is not just the fields mentioned here. There are other large areas of Green Belt land, including a golf course in danger of being concreted over.
I'm 77 now, I have Parkinson's and have just come out of hospital. My wife's still in hospital after suffering a stroke last December.
I am still going to pick up the cudgel and fight to the best of my ability to save Dronfield's Green Belt land; not just for me but for all the residents of Dronfield and their generations to come. Please join the Resident's Group and help our fight to retain our Green Belt. If it's lost, it's lost forever.