Residents campaigning to protect a local green space from development joined a National Day of Action for Nature, Parks and Green Spaces with a community coffee morning.
People for Pack-saddle hosted the event on the public footpath beside Packsaddle Fields on 18th April to highlight the importance of the site.
The group was one of more than 100 groups across the country taking part in a show of unity for the natural world.
A spokesperson for People for Packsaddle said, “The national event aimed to send a message to politicians that nature, parks and green spaces should not be destroyed by development of any kind and that a deregulation agenda, which puts short-term development ahead of the living landscapes on which health, wellbeing, and the future of wildlife depend, is unacceptable.”
The group has been fighting to save fields on Frome’s northern edge from being developed into 74 houses and a specialist school for children with disabilities. In March, Somerset Council fenced off the fields to the public following legal pressure from housing association LiveWest after its plans to build homes on the site were refused.
A People for Packsaddle spokes-person added, “The fields have been a free, safe resource that the local community has used for daily exercise, community connection and connection with nature for over 50 years, supporting both physical and mental wellbeing. At least it was, until Somerset Council blocked access to an area used without challenge for five decades, under pressure from their chosen development partner, LiveWest. The national community day of action for nature, parks and green spaces is an opportunity for us to show what we feel about this important local resource.”
