Archery Ground:
Developers play hardball over amendments

In response to 400 letters of protest at the plans to “turn the wooded Archery Ground into a concrete jungle”, HBC have requested that developers Gladedale withdraw their current application and submit new proposals. But Gladedale are playing hardball, and insisting on each amendment being taken piecemeal. This means that objectors must now respond separately to each of 40-odd points. The campaigners say “It’s a tactic to wear us out.”

It does however provide a bit more time for the campaign to gather more support. Parliamentary candidates Amber Rudd and Nick Perry, and MP Michael Foster, all support the campaign. Mayor Maureen has called it an abomination — and she’s right! STAG has collected residents’ comments in a new video, and other events are planned.

The new Chair of English heritage Baroness Andrews is coming to look, and will be guided around the site by architectural historian Elizabeth Nathaniels, an expert on the origins of Burton St Leonards. As STAG chair Martin Bloomfield says the plans are “unimaginative in a prized conservation area and will mow through ancient trees. The development will totally change the character of this important historic area often referred to as a national gem.”

Read Martin Bloomfield in Hot Mail

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