PEOPLE for Packsaddle (PfP), a community group opposed to the development of fields north of Packsaddle Way, have written to the new Somerset Council to urge them to review the decision made by the previous council to sell off the fields for housing.
Somerset County Council announced last year that they planned to sell the site and enter into an agreement with housing association, Live West. The developer announced last month that they would be proceeding with plans, and that a planning application for 74 houses, which includes a children’s residential facility for Somerset, is expected to be submitted this spring.
As the new Somerset Council came into being on Saturday 1st April, PfP have now sent a letter to the chief executive of Somerset Council, Duncan Sharkey, to persuade the council to review the decision made by the previous Somerset County Council.
The group say that the plans go against the new Somerset Council’s four priorities to create a greener, healthier, fairer, and flourishing Somerset.
The letter reads, “We recently read with interest the new Somerset Council’s four priorities. How deeply disappointing and dispiriting it is, then, before the council has even come into official existence, to see these promises so brazenly, shamefully set aside.
“The decision to build on Packsaddle community fields will result in an act of willful environmental destruction which conflicts with council policy and runs counter to just about everything one reads or hears about the importance of green spaces, from trusted national organisations, the medical profession (who are increasingly prescribing time in green space), important environmental groups, and a vast array of academics.
“The decision to sell Packsaddle community fields for housing development demonstrates an unconscionable disregard for climate, conservation, and community. Specifically, we ask how the decision is commensurate with Somerset County Council’s climate and ecological emergency policies, or the council’s first two priorities of a, ‘greener, more sustainable somerset’ and a ‘healthy and caring Somerset’?
“We are shocked, appalled and bewildered by Somerset County Council’s decision. To treat constituents in this fashion is reprehensible and inexcusable. Our appeal to you is very straightforward: this decision must be urgently and comprehensively reviewed.”
The group say that the fields at Packsaddle have been extensively used as a crucial recreational resource for the last 50 years, and that it has been, and that it remains, “absolutely vital to the wellbeing of local residents and to community cohesion”.
The fields are a designated Asset of Community Value, supported by over 100 testimonies from residents, and the fields are on the register for listed green spaces, as well as lying outside the Mendip District Council development boundary. The group say that the fields have a huge ecological value, and that it is home to mature trees and ancient walls that have historical value.
The group has also asked Duncan Sharkey why there was no public consultation prior to the decision to sell off the land, and why Somerset County Council cleared the field last year, which they say undermined the ongoing LiveWest ecological survey.
You can stay up to date with PfP and view the letter in full by visiting their page on Facebook or by visiting their website at: www.peopleforpacksaddle.org
Pictured: Pictured: The area of Packsaddle Fields that could be developed on.
