Public meeting on Monday 21st September at St Mary's Church Hall
Save Trees In Gunnersbury (STIG) is a new campaign which, whilst supporting plans to restore listed buildings, is primarily committed to the preservation of green spaces of Gunnersbury Park.
STIG calls on the councils to widen the scope of the study to allow funding from other budgets, and consult more frankly explaining the full impact of each option both on the environment and the local community.
The SAVE TREES IN GUNNERSBURY campaign is kicking off next Monday 21st September with a public meeting to organise leafleting, canvassing and lobbying councillors to vote NO to selling off part of the park for a housing development.
With the readers’ poll in the local Hounslow Chronicle showing 94.3% opposition to parts of Gunnersbury Park being sold to developers, SAVE TREES IN GUNNERSBURY (STIG) plan a quick victory for common sense and civic thinking.
Lucy Collins, Vice President of the newly formed lobby group, said “when all the people who oppose this vandalism tell their councillors not to agree to cutting down 5 and a half acres of woodland in our lovely park, we will be sure of victory!”
The public meeting in South Ealing is next Monday 21st September, 7.30 at St. Mary’s Church Hall, St.Mary’s Road, W5 5RH
Ealing and Hounslow councils commissioned Jura Consultants to come up with ways to redevelop Gunnersbury Park. The “Gunnersbury Park Options Appraisal Report and Consultation” proposes to fund redevelopment by bulldozing more than 5 acres of woodland to build housing.
In detail, the development would
· Destroy over 400 mature deciduous trees and woodland; a valuable lung next to the M4;
· Sell the land to build 96 houses and another block of flats, more than double the density of housing in the rest of the area;
· Close 3 gates to the park, reducing access to local residents;
· Kill the “pitch & putt” area, a much loved amenity considered “detrimental” by planners;
· Build an undefined “sports hub” and offices on green land next to the lake, requiring extra car parking which is not even shown in the plans
The Jura Consultants' report is can be viewed at www.hounslow.gov.uk/gunnersbury and the proposals are also on display at the Gunnersbury Park Museum.
Residents can also express their view by contacting Richard Gill, the Gunnersbury Park Development and Regeneration Manager, Gunnersbury Park Museum, London W3 8LQ and their local councillors.
Paul Butler and Linda Jane James (ex directors of The Small Mansion Arts Centre Charity) stated in their letter in support of STIG to local councillors: "We have a golden opportunity in the Park to engage our young people in its restoration, to provide courses in renovation and skills that they so desperately want and need. We need to think about how the park might be important to them, how it might get them off the streets and help them avoid knife crime and drugs, give them a space that is meaningful to them as well as a place to learn life enhancing skills."
Contact: Giusi, Lucy or Martin on 07719 387 106
email: stig2009contact@googlemail.com
Join: GoogleGroups / Facebook “STIG – Save Trees In Gunnersbury”
View: http://www.stiglondon.co.uk
September 18, 2009
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