a pancrack.tv campaign film Community Woodland or 80 more houses ???
LATEST NEWS !
MARCH 2008 :
Middlesbrough Council Bilge poured through letterboxes across the town this week -
read this and weep...
TREES & TOWN PLANNING
"TREES can bring great benefits to us all. The majesty of an oak tree or the elegance of a silver birch enrich our daily lives and their beauty can relieve the dullest of days. And it’s well known that trees are in the frontline of tackling global warming. Trees have the dual benefit of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and they provide shade within built-up areas. Tree cover in an urban area such as Middlesbrough can have a substantial cooling effect and will make the town a much more pleasant place to live in our (almost certainly hotter) future.
BUT 500 SILVER BIRCH
IN MARTON DON'T COUNT !
CALL ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND DEMAND A
SICK BAG NOW !!!
AND
THE QUOTE OF THE YEAR FOR 2007 IS...
"The only reason that
this land hasn't been developed before is that there were pylons
growing out of it"
.
Congratulations!
CLLR.
DAVE BUDD Middlesbrough Council on North East News 3.12.07
WATCH NEW FILM !
THE NEW FILM - DEC 2007 (10 mins)
Like the Marton Road crawl, the stink of hypocrisy from Mayor Mallon and MBC almost choked me... I got involved in Dec 2006 to help get the word out by making a video for YouTube and start broadcasting to the world!
JAN 2008 - THE FRIENDS ARE AWAITING THE PUBLIC INQUIRY RESULT - EXPECTED MARCH.
DEC 3rd - 5th:
REPORT FROM THE PUBLIC INQUIRY, TOWN HALL TOTAL RESPECT TO THE FAB FOUR: CHRIS, JEANETTE, JOHN & JIM for taking on the legal might of Middlesbrough Council's hired guns - George Laurence,QC and assistant PLUS the Middlesbrough Council solicitor Bryn Roberts and assistant PLUS a grey assortment of council officers whispering in their ears.
Chris and the witnesses put forward the case for the site's importance over the years and its growing importance as the trees and population grow. Laurence laid into them with the argument that they live in a bunch of estates built at different times with changing boundaries and is therefore not strictly a 'neighbourhood' making them ineligible for a village green..(the undermining of their community in order to take away something that builds community - how utterly repugnant !!!) He argued that the public didn't use the land for the last 20 years in its entirety because there were crops in the field in the late-80s to early-90s and people could have only used the 2 public footpaths on the site...(perhaps they should have ran amok and trampled the crops?!!) The video formed part of the evidence and Laurence apparently scoffed "not another video to watch" and didn't bother. The inspector, Vivian Chapman QC, did watch it and his decision, expected in February / March, is the one that counts.Let's pray for a miracle said the atheist...
It dawned on me also, how grossly unfair the public inquiry set up is...MBC can hire top legal experts with PUBLIC MONEY TO FIGHT THE PUBLIC IN ORDER TO TAKE AWAY A PUBLIC AMENITY AND THE PUBLIC ARE NOT ALLOWED A PENNY OF PUBLIC MONEY TO HIRE ANYONE TO REPRESENT THEM, unless they are on benefit. And that ladies and gents is just one instance of how the public are kept in their place, in our fair and just society...
I also emailed Mallon and Budd last week and promised if they win, we will be there filming FROM THE FIRST CHAINSAW TO THE LAST BULLDOZER
SO THEIR STINKING HYPOCRISY IS DOCUMENTED ON THE WEB, FOR ALL TIME. They haven't wrote back yet...
6.12.07 : GAZETTE PRINTS MY GAZETTE CRITICISM !
My letter is printed UNCUT, IN BOLD AND WITH A PHOTO! ...but strangely with NO response to my criticism??? If the 'uncut, in bold and photo' is an admission that I had a valid point then why put a question mark after the headline? Or is it a deliberate wind up that could be read as the council being poor not the Gazette ??? I think I will write another letter....
BOTH SIDES OF DAVE ON
BOTH SIDES OF THE PAGE ! in the Evening Gazette 27.11.07...
WE SAY...
DAVE BUDD OF MIDDLESBROUGH COUNCIL / ANEC IS A HYPOCRITE WHO MIGHT AS WELL RESIGN FROM ANEC AND CHUCK THE COUNCIL'S 'GREEN SPACES ACTION PLAN' INTO A RECYCLE BIN UNLESS HE DENOUNCES THE MADNESS AT LONGRIDGE.
FOR THE GAZETTE, IN THEIR COMMENT COLUMN (right) TO SING THE PRAISES OF DECISION MAKERS FOR LISTENING TO THE VIEWS OF YOUNGSTERS REGARDING CLIMATE CHANGE / ENVIRONMENT WHILST FAILING TO MENTION THE STORY, FEATURED ON THE PREVIOUS PAGE, OF A FILM FEATURING THE VIEWS OF YOUNGSTERS ON THE TEARING DOWN OF A WOODLAND BY ONE OF THOSE EXACT SAME DECISION MAKERS IS
SHOCKINGLY POOR AT BEST.
WE MUST KEEP THE PRESSURE
ON MALLON AND MBC!
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD
ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN !
IF THEY WIN...
THE PEOPLE LOSE,
NATURE IS TRASHED
AND THE ROADS WILL BE
AN
EVEN BIGGER
NIGHTMARE !
THE FACTS:
LONGRIDGE WOOD is a maturing woodland of 500 trees on Stainton Way, Marton West. It was planted 20 years ago by a woodland charity and links to green belt stretching all the way to Albert Park. It is home to wildlife including deer and bats and is a great amenity for the local community.
RAY MALLON & MIDDLESBROUGH COUNCIL want it destroyed because they claim they need the money (£8.5m) to build another 80 (mainly executive) houses to help reverse the tide of wealthy people choosing to live outside of Middlesbrough.
The Campaign has been fought for over two years by a group of local residents. They are opposed to the plans because they claim the site is invaluable as a green space to flora, fauna and the community. Plus the proposed housing will put yet more traffic on nearby Marton Road.
MIDDLESBROUGH COUNCIL
IN THEIR OWN WORDS...
"Middlesbrough's tree cover, at 1%, is TEN times lower than the national average. The council therefore seeks to conserve, improve and expand the tree population"
"We as the council need to improve the quality of our green space; improve in areas, the provision of our green space; protect our green space; involve people in our green spaces"
'GREEN SPACES, PUBLIC SPACES'
Action Plan 2006 "Middlesbrough emits 800,000 tons of CO2 every year, over half of which comes from houses and road transport. Responding to climate change is the most important environment challenge of the 21st century"
MAYOR RAY MALLON
'Taking the Lead' 2002
and now the bottom line...
"Site 44-Longridge has been identified for housing in the Coulby Newham Master Plan since 1976. The site will provide good quality family housing and be an attractive alternative to sites elsewhere in the Tees Valley and North Yorkshire. This will help to retain economically active households and help to stem population decline"
Kevin Parkes, Senior Planning Officer, Middlesbrough Council, Dec 2006
COMMENT
Ray Mallon and Middlesbrough Council have passionately espoused the importance of enhancing open space, diversity of nature, leisure opportunities, improving health and well-being; community participation; combating anti-social behaviour; reducing emissions and road traffic on Marton Road in particular...the list is endless as it is righteous.
So given this, what they are proposing is incredulous and ultimately begs the question: just how much does the council actually believe in what it spouts and when does the big green talk become action? They are claiming they need the money to build houses to stem the tide of wealthy people leaving Middlesbrough. Isn't it obvious that people are leaving because they want a bit of space and to avoid roads already beyond log-jam? Paul Rabbitts who drafted the 'Green Spaces, Public Places' document in 2006 admitted in a public meeting that the site would be rated a high value community green space were it not for the fact that the site had been earmarked as part of the Coulby Newham plan 25 years ago. The environment has become a bit of a massive priority since the early 80s so why is the council which Mallon claims is 'moving forward' stuck in the dark ages?
The fight isn't over yet and only people power can stop it, please let your elected mayor and elected head of regeneration know what you think.
