Trees to be axed

According to the planning application, there are 172 trees in the proposed development area and a massive 72 of them will be axed. Of the 90 mature trees on site, 22 will go. It is bad enough to lose so many trees that have taken hundreds of years to go, but why are trees to be felled that don't appear to be where buildings or roads are planned? Here are some examples along Day House Lane:

Willow?

A group of eight trees is to be removed (opposite the house called the Oaks) for no apparent reason.

Vote for Coate

A Vote for Coate campaign is being launched by the Save Coate coalition in order to find out where candidates stand on the Coate development proposals and to make this a major issue for the 5 May elections. The full list of candidates for the wards of Swindon Borough Council along with their addresses (no e-mail addresses supplied) has just been put up at the following url as a downloadable pdf file:

http://swindon.gov.uk/statementofpersonsnominated2011borough.pdf

We shall be writing to them all and any responses will be put up on a dedicated website http://voteforcoate.org/

You can help. If you see any election campaign material that refers to the Coate development proposals, please let us know. We will set up a contact e-mail address for this purpose. If you live in Swindon, please would you write to all of the candidates in your ward and get their views. Again, let us know how they reply.

Say NO to Swindon Core Strategy to allow 900 houses at Coate

The Swindon Core Strategy is now out for public consultation until 6pm on 16 June 2011. Despite all our previous efforts, Swindon Council has increased the housing allowance for Coate and Badbury Wick to 900. The industrial/warehouse/office site is still huge (15 hectares) and will be part of a "new landmark gateway to Swindon from the M4". What picture does that conjure up for protecting this precious landscape? The proposal map is reproduced below - click on the picture to see it in full.

You can download a response form to policy NC3 by clicking here and using the suggested text to make your own comments. There is a freepost address given on the form for submitting your responses.

Please write and ask anyone who cares about Jefferies Land to do the same.