’Henge houses? (From Evesham Journal)

’Henge houses?

8:00am Friday 10th August 2012 in Letters

IN reply to John Huggins’ letter of last week. He suggests opponents of the plan to build 200 houses on land which was previously the Abbey Gardens are clutching at straws. He misses the point. Whether Aoef actually saw the Virgin Mary is a matter of opinion. What is beyond doubt is that his ‘sighting’ gave rise to one of the largest and most powerful religious institutions our country had ever seen, Evesham Abbey.

There are more 21st century reasons for opposing this plan. The land is grade 1 agricultural land. The Government says this “quality of land should only be considered for building in exceptional circumstances”.

Another is of course the problem of the Abbey Road bridge. The planning document for the replacement police station produced in 2001 states: “The traffic signal controlled junction at the Waterside/Cheltenham Road crossroads is operating at or near capacity, which needs to be taken into consideration in any proposals.”

With four major new building sites commencing within half a mile of this junction the problem is already due to get worse Finally, Stonehenge and Avebury are also religious sites. Should we build houses on them as well!

Geoff Gent, Evesham