The fight to protect 56-hectares of green belt in a Shropshire village has received cross-party political support in the run-up to the General Election in July.
All six candidates contesting The Wrekin constituency have thrown their support behind the Albrighton Village Action Group (AVAG) and its campaign to fight the
development being proposed by Boningale Homes.
Mark Pritchard (Conservative), Roh Yakobi (Labour), Anthony Lowe (Liberal Democrats), Richard Nicholas Leppington (Reform UK), Pat McCarthy (Green Party) and Chris Shipley (Independent) have all voiced concerns about the outrageous green belt grab that will increase the historic village of Albrighton by nearly 62%.
AVAG, which is set-up and run by a group of local volunteers, believes this unanimous support has come at the ideal time, with the planning application expected to be released on the Shropshire Council planning website for the public to raise their objections in the coming weeks.
More than 3600 people have signed the petition against the Boningale development to date, with 300 attending a sold-out public meeting and more than 100 residents writing to support the Shropshire Local Plan – a key strategy that sets out allocated housing development land and protects green spaces in the county.
“We are about to enter a really critical phase with the official planning application now submitted, so it is reassuring to see unanimous political opposition against the Boningale Homes proposal,” explained Claire Lakin, spokesperson for the Albrighton Village Action Group.
“This is a development that will destroy 56 hectares of precious green belt forever, increase traffic levels massively, put even greater strain on stretched local services and, ultimately, turn our village into a town.”
She went on to add: “Local people have already voiced their opinion in rejecting this scheme by signing the petition and attending the public meeting, but now is the time for concerned residents to make their voices heard even louder. When the official planning application is released for public comment, we’ll need everyone who is against it to submit an objection and we will be running drop-in sessions to help people do this.”
AVAG has enlisted legal support to help it oppose Boningale Homes proposals and has launched a fundraising rallying cry to generate up to £20,000.
More than £6,300 has already been pledged and a series of fundraisers are due to be announced to boost this total, including some special events at the Village Fayre on July 13th. Donations are urgently needed and can be made at albrightongreenbelt.co.uk