Last night the Council convened a special Planning Committee at short

notice to force through its plans to build on Lake Farm Country Park and

Botwell Common. The Planning meeting degenerated into near chaos as

information contained in the Council’s reports recommending the

development was comprehensively challenged by local residents and local

Labour councillors.

The Councillors heard that there was no need for a new school to be

built on this green belt land as pupil numbers could be catered for in

the new Guru Nanak Free School to be opened later this year in the samee

ward,. In addition a Governor from the new Rosedale Primary School

repeated the Governors’ and School Headteacher’s offer to expand this

school by a further form to assist in preventing the need to build on

the green belt. It was revealed atht the old Hayes Swimming Pool site

could also accomodate a new 2 form of entry school, thus avoiding the

need to build on Lake Farm and Botwell Common. All this was rejected by

the Conservative councillors on the committee, not one of whom lives in

the Hayes area.

The campaign against this disastrous destruction of our green belt is

now moving on to lobby Boris Johnson to call this planning application

in for him to determine as it flies in the face of his policies to

protect the green belt. I will be joining local residents at 1pm at City

Hall next Tuesday to deliver our letters to him urging him to intervene

to save our park from these local vandal Conservative councillors. Come

and join on Tuesday.