We are delighted to announce that we have won a Countryside Changemaker Award in the recent CPRE Somerset Love Your Countryside Awards.
Members of People for Packsaddle attended the award ceremony on Thursday 11th June to receive the award, which recognises their unstinting efforts to save Packsaddle Community Fields from development.
The Love Your Countryside Awards are decided by a panel of judges from CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England), who noted the huge programme of community mobilisation undertaken to oppose the attempts to build on the fields, which have been enjoyed by the community for more than 50 years.
The judges were also impressed by the innovative ways the community have fundraised and kept the momentum of the campaign going, against considerable odds, and their unwavering and inventive efforts to protect the green space.
“We are honoured and proud to accept this award on behalf of the community, in recognition of everyone’s formidable efforts to protect our beloved Fields, which we’ve been campaigning to save for over four years. The Somerset Council Planning East Committee refused the application to build on them and a Planning Inspector agreed with this decision when the developer, LiveWest, went to Planning Appeal” said Janet Hague, of People For Packsaddle. “Yet, despite also fighting the appeal itself, Somerset Council is now disregarding the Government Inspector’s ruling, has gone against its own barrister’s arguments, and has stopped its constituents from using the fields at taxpayers’ expense, fencing them off with no legal justification for doing so. Their actions are a betrayal of the people who voted for them. This Award is a boost to our campaign. At a time when our own Council is acting against us, it’s brilliant to have this recognition.”
“Many of the people who have been involved in the campaign to save Packsaddle Community Fields have never done anything like this before. It is testament to how important the Fields are to the community that we’ve kept the momentum up for so long. We will continue to do so. The community is committed to saving this patch of paradise”, said local resident and supporter, Beki Arthurs.
Hugh Williams, CPRE Somerset Chair, said, “This is the first year of our new awards and we have been so pleased to have such a good response. The quality and variety of the entries is amazing. There are so many special projects and people working hard to make rural Somerset a better place for nature and people to live and thrive and we are proud to celebrate and congratulate them all. From large housing companies creating energy efficient and affordable homes for rural communities to small groups of volunteers rolling up their sleeves to clear litter from their local green space, all our winners have made a real difference to their local environment.”
CPRE, who are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year, has also launched a new national campaign, ‘On the Edge’, which recognises the importance of the countryside on the edges of the nation’s towns and cities. It aims to help protect and regenerate the countryside around every town and city and has included Packsaddle Community Fields in its ‘Stories from the Edge’ to show how Frome residents are fighting for the countryside on their own doorstep.
CPRE is inviting people across England to stand behind a shared ambition: that every town and city should be surrounded by thriving and protected countryside, for nature, climate and wellbeing. Find out more.
