CHILDREN, adults and dogs rallied round to stop the building of 56 houses on ‘well-loved and well-used’ open space in Luton on Tuesday.
The council plans to give the Butely Road land to Catalyst Housing Group for 999 years so they can build the houses, of which 13 will be desperately needed council homes.
Resident of 26 years Martin Stiff said: “We appreciate the need for social housing, but this project will only create 13 homes and dramatically reduce our quality of life.”
The residents have set up a petition, which has 300 signatures so far, and a website. They say reports from the council are “contradictory”.
The planning statement says the plans must “have no unacceptable adverse impact upon the surrounding residential environment and amenity of residents” and “not unduly reduce the range, quantity and quality of open spaces available”.
The statement says the remaining land will be “enhanced by additional planting and landscaping”.
Mr Stiff said: “There will be no improvements for us at all. It’s going to increase traffic, the people in the new houses will be able to see right into our homes from their windows and it leaves us with a strip of land which is hardly enough for children to play on.”
The area was given to the residents by Wimpey for recreational use in 1972.
Rowena Fitzgerald, who has lived in Butely Road for 36 years, said: “It’s such an important part of our community and to have it taken away from us would be devastating. They say they are going to put a ‘wildflower garden’ in the space they leave us with. Go and speak to those boys out there. How are they going to play football in a ‘wildflower garden’?
The planning statement says other green spaces in the vicinity are available.
But she added: “The council are trying to push this through and it seems like they hoped they would be able to beat us with their complicated policies. But they didn’t realise what they were up against.”
Objections to the plans must be sent to the council by close of play tomorrow. Visit http://stop-ickley-close-development.tk/