LiveWest have now made public their plans to build 74 houses on Packsaddle fields, despite the fields having recently been granted Asset of Community Value status. You can read about their plans here. Their plans will destroy this cherished green space forever unless we work together to stop them.

LiveWest have opened a 2 week public consultation on their plans, running from 20th March until the end of Monday 3rd April 2023. We are asking our supporters to respond to the consultation by categorically objecting to these plans. Following professional and legal advice, below is our guidance on how best to do this. Please read it in full before responding to LiveWest.

1. How to respond. Please DO NOT submit your response via LiveWest’s website/online portal. We’re sceptical about the options on offer and the language used. Instead, we recommend that you submit a full response via email to alice.jenkins@foundationcommunications.co.uk and cc hello@peopleforpacksaddle.org. LiveWest have been notified that we’re advising residents to respond in this way.
2. Deadline. Please ensure that responses are submitted to Alice by the end of the working day on Monday 3^rd April. We don’t want any ‘disqualified’ because they arrived too late! 
3. The number of responses is critical. If you can, please send more than one per household. If you’re a couple, please send one each. If you have kids old enough, and they’re sufficiently engaged, please encourage them to right one as well – these would be really valuable.
4. Mark your email clearly. In the email’s subject line, please state “FEEDBACK TO LIVEWEST ON THEIR PROPOSALS FOR LAND OFF PACKSADDLE WAY”
5. Don’t hold back! Please be polite, of course, but remember that this is your opportunity to communicate to LiveWest the strength of your feelings. We recommend that your language is direct, uncompromising and heartfelt. You shouldn’t shy away from words and phrases like…….unwelcome, unwanted, harmful, immoral, hands-off, insulting, reprehensible, destruction, environmental vandalism, shameful, uncaring, inconsiderate, shocking disregard, cavalier attitude etc
6. Make it personal! We encourage you to draw on personal experience, to explain your personal connection to the fields, the difference they make to your life, and what the loss of them would mean to you. Talk about your family, your mental wellbeing, your physical health, your interactions with other residents, your place and the place of the fields in our community. Tell them why you care!
7. Refer to ACV and Green Space status. Remind LiveWest that the value of this land to our community has been definitively proven and officially recognised. This is not unused wasteland! Ask them why they think it’s acceptable to ignore these designations and the will of the community. Why do they think it’s acceptable to damage our community and make your life worse?  
8. Climate and conservation. It’s not just people who need the fields. For the sake of climate, biodiversity and sustainability, they should be protected, not bulldozed. Once they’re lost, they’re lost forever!
9. Do not engage with the specifics of their consultation. We recommend a ‘black and white’ approach to your opposition. Don’t get lured into talking about the specifics of their plans – parking spaces, parks, roads, drainage, traffic etc etc. Instead, stick to the key point: they are seeking to take away a treasured community asset and we are intent on protecting it.  
10. Assure them of your will to fight. In closing, we recommend that you stress to LiveWest your preparedness to fight these proposals all the way. They need to understand that our opposition is determined, resolute, immovable. If they choose to persevere, they will be met with resistance on the ground, in the press, and in court. This is not a battle they want to fight.