“Housing need versus development greed” – the local community meets to discuss Winterbourne Fields

More than 100 of the local community met at Dunkirk Village Hall to discuss and show unity against the proposed development. The developers have pushed out lies, claiming that we as a community want the new Winterbourne Fields village built which will dwarf the surroundings and provide huge infrastructural issues. We will not stand for this!

The meeting started with Carol Goatham, a member of our team, introducing the STOP Winterbourne Fields campaign. She talked about the points outlined on this website and why the campaign is so important.

Following this, Carol introduced Rich Lehmann, a councillor of the Boughton and Courtenay ward. He was clear in his opposition to the Winterbourne Fields development. The site was described as not being sustainable due to a lack of buses coming through the area which would require every new resident to travel by car. Sewage and water supply was also discussed as an issue, while also mentioning the potential devastating impact of biodiversity. “I am doing all I can to oppose it.”

Alistair Gould, a fellow councillor from the same ward, spoke next. He is a GP and spoke about how the proposed health centre would need to be double the size to be adequate. NHS have also said it would cost millions on top of this to equip the surgery. He also talked about the lack of sustainable travel options from Winterbourne Fields and the effect dogs and cats will have on the local biodiversity.

The meeting was completed by people asking questions. This was productive and allowed for everyone to better understand the situation and appreciate the actions they can take to oppose the development: donate, object, volunteer and sign the petition. It is important to persevere in order to ensure that decision-makers know we will not stand for developments to continuously be built on local farmland and greenfields.