Recent media coverage about LEGLAG and the so called Leckhampton Forum

There have been some recent articles in the Gloucestershire Echo which I feel have been really unfair to LEGLAG and misrepresented some of the issues being faced in Leckhampton.

A few points that need to be made clear:

·    Curtain and Co are a PR company representing a consortium of developers looking to build a 1,300+ housing estate on Leckhampton fields. They have set up a ‘Leckhampton Forum’ to discuss what should be built there;

·    Local councillors were not asked to attend this Forum when it was set up. I am now (from November) a member of the Forum but only because I have badgered them to attend in my capacity as a local county councillor;

·    I am extremely concerned that no residents living locally to the proposed development seem to have been involved up until my attending;

·    Leckhampton with Warden Hill and Up Hatherley Parish Councils are represented but the development does not directly affect Up Hatherley;

·    Shurdington Parish Council was not invited until very recently after I had said to a representative of Curtain and Co. that I was surprised that they were not involved – one of the fields the developers are eyeing up for development is in Shurdington Parish;

·    Representative of St Peters Church are part of the Forum but they have a potential conflict of interest as the Diocese is a land owner in the area which would benefit financially if the development goes ahead;

·    Local business representatives from Bath Rd and Warden Hill are not represented on the Forum - this is particularly worrying due to the impact on traffic on the Bath Rd and its shopping area should mass housing go ahead;

·    LEGLAG have been called 'pathetic' and criticised for not attending the Forum meetings but they are not invited to attend and are not welcome to attend. They have over 1,100 members, many of whom live locally in the area and should at least be invited