Save Our Countryside!

In the wake of at least 525 new houses being approved on large chunks of our village Green Belt earlier this month, Ruddington Green Party is calling for anyone who cares about our countryside to sign a national petition to ‘Cease all new developments on Green Belt and greenfield sites across the country’.

They say it’s “…a small way to respond the the encroachment and environmental damage which is being done locally.” Ruddington’s two Labour Borough Councillors – who were the only two members to vote against the approval of Rushcliffe Borough Council’s Local Plan Part 2 – are also backing the petition. According to CPRE, 460,000 homes are currently planned for Green Belt & Greenfield sites by Councils countrywide – including a total of 3,200 around villages here in Rushcliffe.

There’s widespread discontentment among many Ruddington residents and campaign groups that the years of Council (and Government) ‘consultations’ were ultimately just paying lip service to the views of all who responded. Thousands of objections relating to the proposed housing at Asher Lane and on the flood prone land west of Wilford Road (pictured top) were seemingly ignored – leaving many Ruddingtonians feeling they had just wasted their time and effort.

Interestingly, if enough people sign Glenn Middleton‘s petition, its message will be less easy for the people in power to ignore. Legally the Government must respond to all petitions which achieve more than 10,000 signatures (which is already the case for the current petition). At 100,000 signatures, this petition must be considered for debate in Parliament.

Due to an early General Election being called, you now have only until midnight on Tuesday 5th November 2019, if you wish to sign it, >>HERE<<.

Whilst you’re at it, you may also wish to add your signature to a couple of other current petitions which are pertinent to Ruddington…

1. 

   Ruddington Postmaster Soham Patel is urging village residents to sign a petition to Barclays Bank demanding that it must continue to allow its customers to withdraw cash at post offices. Barclays announced earlier this month that its account holders will not be able to withdraw cash at post offices from January 2020. When it closed Ruddington’s High Street branch in 2015 it promised that customers could use Ruddington Post Office instead – but now seems to have gone back on that pledge. You can find this petition from National Federation of SubPostmasters >>HERE<<.

2. 

   Last but not least, Margaret Burrell has started a petition to The Secretary of State for Environment, which she hopes fellow villagers will sign. It urges the banning of the routine delivery of plastic ‘charity’ collection bags. She urges a more ‘sustainable solution’ than the millions of unwanted plastic bags posted through our doors two or three times each week – many from commercial collectors rather than charities – which end up in landfill. You can find Margaret’s petition >>HERE<<.

Happy signing!