Campaigners battling to prevent a new housing development in a Lichfield village have thanked residents for their efforts so far.
The Streethay Against Development group have been fighting the plan for more than 800 new homes in the area and have now formally submitted objections to the plan.
The group raised money to pay for a planning expert to help their campaign as well as keeping local residents informed of what they could do to help.
And Roger Manning, chairman of Streethay Against Development, admitted he was pleased with the response from villagers. He said:
“Thanks go out to the huge number of Streethay folk who signed and submitted the letters of objection to the proposed development. I also extend my sincere appreciation to the committee members who delivered the objection material and painstakingly explained the process where it was possible and necessary. It has been a first class team effort achieved in a very short time scale.”
The campaigners must now wait until October this year when the Planning Authority will publish the final draft core strategy that will outline proposed growth in housing and land allocations in Lichfield. This will then go forward to an inquiry scheduled to take place in Spring 2010 – an inquiry which Streethay Against Development hope they will be able to play a part in.
Mr Manning added:
“We may have come rather late to the fight, but ingenuity and hard work have enabled us to get right back into the centre of the debate. The fight goes on!”