Council support for eco-town protestors

3:19pm Thursday 22nd May 2008

ECO-TOWN protestors made a special presentation to Evesham Town Council this week to drum up support and to keep councillors informed about the Long Marston bid.

Clive Moy, head of community liaison for the Better Accessible Responsible Development (BARD) Campaign, and Martin Gittins, chairman of Mickleton Parish Council, spoke strongly of their intention to keep fighting until the bitter end and of how they felt the campaign was going.

They also asked whether they could rely on the support of Evesham Town Council, which was given without hesitation.

Mr Moy said: "Having captured Stratford District Council's support we wanted to show Evesham that we hadn't forgotten about them.

"The councillors showed us a lot of support and it was one of the best public meetings I have been to.

"We would now like to organise an open meeting at the Town Hall to give residents the chance to come and hear BARD's objections to the eco-town and put across their own views.

"These meetings have been very successful when we've held them before in places like Mickleton and Honeybourne."

Mr Gittins, whose parish would be directly affected by the eco-town if the Long Marston development went ahead, used the presentation to highlight some of the BARD campaign's main concerns about the bid.

He claimed that the government intended to crash the proposals through established planning processes, and reminded councillors that Evesham would not escape the effects of a brand new 6,000 home town so close to the Vale.

Cllr Jo Sandalls, who is also chairman of Wychavon District Council, said: "We welcome their visit and would like to thank them for coming.

"The eco-town will effect every district in the area, and we would urge people to support their campaign."

For more information on the BARD campaign visit www.bardcampaign.org.

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