Important Broadland Planning Meetings

In previous posts we have mentioned that the next few months will be a critical time for the future of Thorpe Woods. Over the last year local people have fought to save these much loved woods, however the owners remain determined to build an estate of over 600 houses over them.

Currently the woods are not included within Broadland District Councils plans for housing development and our in fact identified as green space.

However as a result of the recently adopted Joint Core Strategy the council have placed Thorpe Woods, and the surrounding area within what is called a Development Triangle.

Over the next 3 to 4 months the council will be selecting sites within that triangle for development and identifying sites that should be retained as green spaces. It is essential that Thorpe Woods retains it protection as a green space within these new plans and is not identified as a potential site for development.

This is where you can play an important part in making clear to the council that you want Thorpe Woods to be protected and safeguarded from any threat of development.

The council are about to consult on the Area Action Plan which will identify where within the Triangle future development will be allowed to take place. Next month they will be holding two exhibitions which look at this consultation and possible sites for development, these are taking place at:

Morse Pavilion, Recreation Ground, Laundry Lane, Thorpe St Andrew, NR7 0XP
on Wednesday 28th September between 12.30 and 7.30pm

Thorpe End Village Hall on Thursday 29th September between 12.30 and 7.30pm.

Following on from these the council will be holding a series of workshops which will cover development plans and most importantly the Area Action Plan.These workshops will take place at:

Thorpe End Village Hall on Tuesday 27th October between 6.30 and 9pm

Sprowston Parish Council Offices, Recreation Ground Road NR7 8EW, Sprowston on 24th October between 6.30 and 9pm.

Rackheath Holy Trinity Church Hall on 13th October between 6.30 to 9pm

We will certainly be attending the exhibition and workshops and we would ask all local people and members of the Friends of Thorpe Woodlands to attend if they possibly can.

To book a place on one of the workshops call the council policy unit on 01603 430567 or email policy@broadland.gov.uk.

The campaign to save Thorpe Woods has had many successes, the Friends have several hundred members with new people still joining, our local councillors are supporting us and the press has provided us with a great deal of coverage.

Your support is essential and with it we can save Thorpe woods for future generations.

Petition to save Amazon from law change danger

The Amazon is in serious danger: Brazil is on the verge of gutting its forest protection laws -- unless we act now, vast tracts of our planet’s lungs could be opened up to clear-cutting devastation.

This threat to the Amazon has sparked widespread anger and protests across the country and tensions are rising. In an effort to stifle criticism, armed thugs, allegedly hired by loggers, have murdered environmental advocates. But the movement is fighting back -- this weekend, brave indigenous people are leading massive marches across Brazil to demand action and inside sources say President Dilma is considering vetoing the changes.

79% of Brazilians support a veto of the forest law changes and this internal pressure is leading some in Dilma's administration to back a veto. But we need a global cry of solidarity with the Brazilian people to really force Dilma's hand. Our global petition will be boldly displayed on banners at the front of the massive marches for Amazon protection. Let's urgently build a 1.5-million-strong petition to SAVE THE AMAZON! Sign now and send this on to everyone.

To sign the petition, click the link:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_amazon_a/?vl

Update

The hacking issue seems to have been solved. It was apparently a random phishing attempt by somebody in eastern Europe. Passwords etc have been changed. However, the species list update (as promised a few weeks ago) will still be delayed for some time. This is mainly because quite a lot of work is involved: there is a large number of new species to add, and we are still waiting to positively identify a couple of specimens. Until this work is complete I think it best to keep our powder dry.

Apologies to all blog-followers who are interested in the woods' ecology. But for the forseeable future, I'm afraid you'll just have to make do with last year's very out of date species list. When the situation changes, a post will appear here to let you all know.