On Wednesday 8th November we met with the planning consultant who has been working on the proposed development on the Wenny site for many years. He kindly took time to explain the current state of progress in some detail, but stressed that the process is already too far along to consider major divergence from the Broad Concept plan which has been agreed with Fenland District Council.  However, he is receptive to suggestions from us for how the green space within the allocation of land is to be used and designed. He also said that a further public consultation process would take place before the final plans were submitted.  We’re still digesting this information, and will give a fuller update in due course. The campaign is still very much on!

The website went live today and we’re starting to distribute the petition which is also available to download from our resources page. Please spread the word!

The officers explained the planning process in detail, and advised that that our letters need to address the full planning application, and not the Broad Concept plan. As soon as the formal planning application is submitted, we have a window of just 21 days to register objections. (It’s likely to be submitted shortly.)

So, we’ve removed the resource pack for now, and we’ll make a new guide letter as soon as the consulting period opens. We should be able to re-use existing letters then, but we need to save them up until the right time.

We delivered the first six objection letters to Fenland District Council, writing separately to the Head of Planning services and the Planning committee.

The Save Wenny Road Meadow campaign was launched with two successful drop-in sessions held at Chatteris library in early October. Dozens of people called in to find out more about the campaign. We shared the developer’s Broad Concept plan, and explained our campain strategies, and handed out resource packs, which give guidance on how to write an objection letter.

Representatives of the group spoke at the Chatteris Past, Present and Future (the Civic Society) and were pleased with their enthusiam for our campaign.

Representatives of the group spoke at the Chatteris Town Council meeting to request support for our campaign. The Town Council said that we must deal directly with Fenland District council, as that was where the planning decisions would be made.

Extract from Town Council minutes for Sept 2017:

Wenny Road: Another resident said she was part of the recently formed group ‘Save Wenny Road Meadow’. The group was concerned about the loss of meadowland which would result if the Wenny Road development of 350 homes went ahead. She acknowledged that development of the land was included in the Fenland Local Plan adopted in 2014. She explained the group was concerned about the loss of the field situated along Wenny Road, about a quarter of the development site, which she claimed was unique in Chatteris due to the richness of the wildlife and very special for many residents. Under a national policy it could be registered as a green space. The resident argued that the decision to build on the land had been taken without proper consultation and many residents did not realise it could be adopted as green space. Even though it was privately owned it could be secured through a lottery grant. The resident asked if the Town Council would be interested in working with the people of Chatteris to protect the meadowland for future generations before it was too late. Another campaigner urged councillors to visit the site as it was unique and accessible to the town. It was also pointed out there were TPOs on some of the trees. The Mayor explained that the development had been in the planning process for some time and the plans were currently with Fenland District Council and any representation should, therefore, go to FDC. He pointed out there had been a big public consultation on the scheme (many of those present at the meeting suggested most people were unaware of the consultation). He also pointed out the developers were protecting certain parts of the site due to ridge and furrow, trees, etc., and the original plans were for many more homes on the site. Cllr Newell said the site was not meadowland, it was agricultural land; Cllr Smith said the Town Council had plans for a green space in another area and Cllr Hay advised that any plan would have to go to FDC’s planning committee if there were more than six objections.