Help us by signing the petition

Following a very positive meeting between our chairman/vice-chairman with MP Edward Timpson on Friday, it has become apparent that whilst our community database of 1,000 plus is encouraging, it is a numbers game and we could really do with increasing our petition total significantly in advance of Wednesday, when our chairman will speak in front of the strategic planning board to emphasise just how strong a community group we have and how we’ll stop at nothing to ensure that the Haddon/Hunt development on the golf course does not succeed.

If you haven’t already done so, please can you take just 30 seconds to sign the petition; and the same for anyone else in your household. If we can get this number well over 1,000 in the coming days, it would certainly go a long way to further promoting us as a community.

Sign the petition

Please note that the email address you supply when signing the petition will be used for future updates, so if your friends and family are also happy for us to keep them inform (and possibly submit objections when the time comes), it would be great for them to sign and bolster our figures too (they can unsubscribe from the email updates at any time).

The Inaugural Haddon Bash Evening – Sunday 5th May 2013

We thought it would be a really good idea to organise the first of hopefully many more to come, CW2 Wychwood community social events.

We would like to offer 7pm until 8pm for you all to informally meet the committee and sub groups working on your behalf, so you can get a better understanding of who we are and we can get to know your concerns and thoughts.

Obviously this will run over and the topic of the evening will no doubt be centred on the threat to our CW2 community, but hopefully a light sprinkling of alcohol, did i say light surely not, will allow us to see a funny side for the evening.

We hope to see you all there and look forward to an evening of building on the community spirit, literally, which has been born of this threat to our lifestyle and surroundings.

During the evening we would also like to start an ironic golf society and would welcome those interested to leave details on a form which will be about during the evening.

The White Lion pub in Weston on Sunday 5th May at 7pm till…

Let’s create some community spirit through adversity.

Chairman’s Statement – 28th April 2013

Chairman’s Statement

As I prepare the statement for my presentation at the Strategic Planning Board on Wednesday I thought I would drop you all a brief progress update.

Firstly, the legal, planning and environmental sub-groups are paying great dividends and there is some good progress being made in all areas. We have some very committed individuals who are professionals in their respective fields, also giving up their free time to work with the committee in order to prepare for the planning stage.

We have formed a social events and fundraising group who are already planning a community get together on May 5th and a family fun day on the 27th May, more details coming very soon.

This week both myself and the groups Vice Chairman Trevor Sandry went to see Edward Timpson MP at his offices and have secured his full support against Haddon’s proposed development. This support involves him writing a letter of objection to Cheshire East, a link to our group on his parliamentary website and public statements opposing the development of 900+ houses on Gorstyhill Golf course.

The fight will continue on Wednesday this week at the Strategic Planning Board meeting to publicly state our objection and your support would be more than welcome – 10.30am at Crewe Alex Football Club.

There is so much going on at the moment, and whilst there may be times where it seems very quiet, just remember we are still working hard to serve the community so stay alert and ready to act once a planning application is submitted or consultation period begins. We are confident that with your support, we can easily gain a few thousand objections that the council simply won’t be able to ignore.

Thank you all for your continued support and together we will win this!
Regards
Andy Bailey – Chairman CW2 Community Group

Didn’t receive this update via email? Make sure you contact us to be added to our mailing list.

Strategic planning meeting on Wednesday 1 May 2013

As communicated in our last update, the council are hosting a strategic planning meeting on Wednesday 1 May 2013 of which some of the committee will attend.

The meeting is to discuss the inclusion of the Wychwood Village development, as well as a number of other key sites all within the area of Weston & Basford, within a public consultation for then consideration within the formal local plan.

The meeting allows for select individuals to speak for or against the developments, of which our very own chairman, Andy Bailey, will be speaking in objection, on behalf of the Wychwood Village / CW2 community (3 minutes).

We also have the support of John Cornell, vice-chairman of the parish council and ex-senior planner who will also speak against all the developments within the parish, including Wychwood Village (3 minutes).

We also hope to have our Ward councillor Janet Clowes speak for the allocated 5 minutes, subject to availability (due to other meetings she must attend).

The meeting is also open to the public, so we would urge you to attend if possible, giving maximum impact, showing we are organised and putting a clear point across that we will not let this happen!

There is also an opportunity for you to speak as an “objector”; you will need to book your slot with the council by emailing speakingatplanning@cheshireeast.gov.uk.

The meeting is at 10.30am Wednesday 1 May 2013 at Crewe Alexandra Football Club (The Carlsberg Lounge), Gresty Road, Crewe, CW2 6EB.

For more information, visit the agenda on the Cheshire East website, http://moderngov.cheshireeast.gov.uk/ecminutes/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=4976&x=1.

If you are expecting to attend (and/or speak – so we can offer pointers), please let us know by reply so we can keep you updated should plans change.

Letter from Michael Jones re Local Plan

We have received the below letter from Michael Jones, head of Cheshire East, in regards to a possible public consultation of a number of additional sites, including Wychwood Village (letter refers to as “Wychwood Park”). It appears that Cheshire East are wishing to consider the thoughts of the public on these sites essentially to cover off any future legal challenge by the developers should the proposals be rejected.

It is clear that Michael Jones is against these proposals, as are the council, but they must be seen to follow protocol which means our site needs a fair hearing!

Letter from Michael Jones – Local Plan (23-Apr-13) (pdf)

More information on the public consultation can be found in our email update. If you did not receive it, or are not on our mailing list, please contact us.

Donation of gifts for fun day raffle

The fund-raising sub-group had their first meeting yesterday which was incredibly well attended. One of the actions to address was the inclusion of a raffle/tombola to help raise funds on our planned fun-day (Monday 27th May).

If you are able to donate any gifts for prizes in the raffle/tombola, please can you get in touch and we’ll pass the details on to our fund-raising co-ordinator.

Equally, if you are able to offer any other items or services to our cause, which will improve the fun-day planned, please let us know.

There have been loads of great suggestions for the event so far, and details will be forwarded soon; this will be a fantastic day for all the family, raise money and most importantly, build a strong sense of community for the future.

Crewe Guardian – Wychwood Village to fight 900 houses on Gorstyhill Golf Course

Our first appearance in the Crewe Guardian. We are certainly building momentum:

Wychwood Village to fight 900 houses on Gorstyhill Golf Course

We need to ensure the pressure continued, even through the quiet periods whilst we wait for Mr Hunts’/Haddon’s next move.

Usual morning road chaos!

Like most mornings, the roads of Wychwood Village come alive to the sudden onslaught of commuters all using the single spine road to leave the estate; and like most mornings, combining this with the school buses, mum’s and dad’s dropping their kids off, cars parked and the construction traffic waiting for access to the compound, makes for some very frustrating scenes.

So is it practical to have an additional 1800+ vehicles from 900 more homes, as well as incoming primary school, shops, commercial traffic, all sharing the same road in/out? NO CHANCE!!!

Crewe Chronicle – Furious villagers join forces to fight controversial housing proposals

The Crewe Chronicle have released another news story on our fight against the developers:

Furious villagers join forces to fight controversial housing proposals in Crewe

The story gives a reasonably good account of what is currently happening, though we’d like to make everyone aware that we are now almost 1,000 households strong; with over 600 petition signatures.

The news article also appeared in the Wednesday printed edition (17 April 2013)

Have you seen any Newt traps?

Prior to our last meeting, we were informed by a few residents that traps have been seen put down in the sink-ponds to monitor the numbers of great crested newts.

If you know specifically where they are/were, can you please get in touch so we can confirm with Natural England that the survey is meeting the correct standards.

However, if you don’t know, please do not try to locate them yourselves, as you could disturb existing colonies and we don’t want that!