Fighting Fit: Kirton and Trimley  Community Action Group Events, February 2018

The long view across the field behind Reeve Lodge, with Cavendish Grove on the middle right. The white house just visible in the middle of the picture is at the junction of Grimston and Thorpe Lanes. July 2017

This week I received an email from Becca Atherstone, who is part of the Kirton and Trimley Community Action Group (KATCAG).  Since the public consultation of the First Draft Local Plan, this organisation has sprung into action on behalf of the people of Kirton and Trimley and the wider community, in its opposition to the proposed change of land use in our villages. As many of us are aware, the most significant changes proposed are on the Innocence Farm site, the land behind Reeve Lodge and also the land adjacent to Howlett Way. Becca emailed me to let me know about two events in February.  Although the First Draft was approved on 3^rd January 2018, KATCAG are in good spirits and may be deemed Fighting Fit. Their stated intention is to:

“Save our Countryside and preserve and protect the Felixstowe Peninsula”.

They are confident they can make a real difference, although funding continues to be in the forefront of their minds. Their determination to fight the plans does not dismiss the need for affordable homes for they believe brownfield sites could be used. They recognise the need to preserve good quality farmland and to protect our wildlife heritage. Their expressed wish is to preserve the character of the Domesday villages and the surrounding countryside we occupy. They cannot do this alone. They need Us, the people who live in the villages which will be affected. Therefore, they are about to become highly visible tomorrow, Saturday 2^nd February, when they will “Pop Up!” in a marquee populated by the KATCAG Crew.

This is a forerunner to meeting in Trimley St. Martin’s Memorial Hall on:

12^th February at the Trimley Sports and Social Club at 7.30 – 9pm.

And this is when they will bring Us up to date with the most recent progress and also inform us how vital and critical it is to challenge the ‘Soundness’ of the Local Plan.

This is a welcome opportunity to understand the complexities of the Local Plan which twists and turns all over the place. It is important to attend this meeting, if you can. We need  to be better informed about how to fight the proposed changes to the landscape and community we value .

The land adjacent to Howlett Way, with the A14 behind the belt of trees on the left.

July 2017