To: Justine Soutter

Save Stubbs Wood

Update: 19/02/16 - We Did it!

The local parish council has announced that the deal is done to take over the ownership of the woods from KCC and so the woods are now secure in public ownership for the forseeable future.

I'd like to put on record my thanks to Sundridge and Ide Hill Parish Coucil for its support and bravery in taking on a new asset whilst embracing innovative ideas around managing the additional cost.

Check out Sundridge and Ide Hill Parish council site http://www.sundridgewithidehillpc.kentparishes.gov.uk/ for updates and if your interested to join, donate, or offer help to manage the woods.

My Dog and I thank you all for your support. we are so grateful to you for getting involved and helping to produce such a fantastic outcome. I hope you come and vist the woods soon (even though they are rather muddy at the moment)

Well done.

Stu Blakemore

I do not want kent County Council to Sell Stubbs Wood to private owners.

This historic and ancient woodland MUST remain in public ownership, free for all to use, each and every inch of this lovely wood.

I formally object to its sale.

Why is this important?

This is a well-used and loved local amenity constantly utilized by children, pet owners, ramblers, cyclists and even just people walking to the village shop.

I have lived here for 15 years and have seen these woods used daily by many locals and also by ramblers, dog walkers, cyclists and horse riders who come from miles around to enjoy the wonderful views of Kent. Children play on their bikes, off the public footpaths, they even have a name for an area where they ride which has an undulating landscape, they call it "The Bumps". In the summer they play late into the evening and we often join them with marshmallows and drinks.

If you want to avoid the road and the risk of getting run over, Stubbs Woods is a pleasant walk from Goathurst Common to the Ide Hill Village Shop. Many of us wander these paths to collect our Sunday paper.

Last summer the residents of Goathurst Common and Mackerels Plain fought a planning application by one of the major landowners to develop another part of our area of outstanding natural beauty into an industrial farm complex. A petition raised to oppose that garnered 700 signatures. This was enough to persuade the local council to oppose the plan and it was eventually withdrawn citing the public opposition as the reason. So petitions work, I hope we can get a similar response to save our spectacular, ancient and well used public space.

How it will be delivered

We will deliver this petition the day before the 22nd April deadline. I may choose to deliver in person if that helps our cause.

If you'd like to email a personal objection to the privatisation plans, please email [email protected]

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Links

38 Degrees South East

Updates

2016-02-19 12:47:55 +0000

Petition is successful with 2,080 signatures

2016-02-19 10:54:23 +0000

WE DID IT!
The local parish council have announced that the deal is done and the woods will now be in their public ownership. A huge thanks from me and the Dog. Well done everyone

Stu

2014-05-07 13:11:14 +0100

A lot has happened since i handed in the petition. The bluebells are now in full swing so I strongly recommend a visit as they look and smell amazing.We have formed a formal group to protect the woods, and we are looking at a number of ways to convince KCC that public ownership is the better choice, as some of these are legal based i cant go into them but sufice it to say we are looking at every angle. I have not had any formal communication from KCC but am being given lots of info via third parties that they have listened to our voice and are looking at alternatives to sale.

It is disappointing to have not had any kind of response from our local KCC Councillor, despite the fact that I emailed him a copy of the petition and asked for his view. Maybe you might want to drop him a line too and ask why he is being so quiet on the subject. his email is [email protected]

2014-04-23 08:49:40 +0100

Yesterday I printed off the 50 pages of your signatures combined them with the 300 collected over on site and delivered them to Kent county council ahead of the end of the official consultation period. Nearly 1500 names opposing the sale is an impressive show of public support and I really hope that it will be hard to ignore. Once again, thank you all for your support so far.

I have also emailed the petition to the local KCC and SDC councillors as well as our local MP.

The next stage is for those of us who have found each other through this ad hoc campaign to organise ourselves and start to build an alternative plan to offer KCC. We are meeting in The Cock at Ide Hill on Friday at 9.45am.

By the way, the bluebells are amazing at the moment. Come visit.

Stu

2014-04-17 11:04:44 +0100

1,000 signatures reached

2014-04-15 16:30:52 +0100

Thanks to all who came to the parish council meeting last night and argued so eloquently in favour of open access and public ownership of Stubbs Wood. What a shame that no one from KCC felt it worth attending. I hope that nearly a thousand signatures might eventually bring them to the table. Thank you so much for your support and please keep promoting this petition and encouraging more signatures, every new signature strengthens our case. We also have approximately 200 signatures on paper.

2014-04-11 19:36:35 +0100

500 signatures reached

2014-04-11 14:18:03 +0100

Wow! thank you to everyone so far, its fantastic that we have passed the 300 mark already. Please keep up the pressure and tell everyone about the campaign. As well as lodging our protest we are also exploring ways to protect the woods. We are reaching out to people like the woodlands trust and the National Trust. we are also asking for the KCC to talk to us about working out a solution but they dont seem keen to come to meeting. The more signatures we get here the more pressure we can apply to bring them to a table. Rest assured, We will do whatever we can to keep these woods public.

Stu Blakemore

2014-04-10 22:46:26 +0100

100 signatures reached

2014-04-10 15:35:24 +0100

50 signatures reached

2014-04-10 12:28:36 +0100

25 signatures reached

2014-04-10 00:01:56 +0100

10 signatures reached

2014-04-09 20:25:20 +0100

The Petition begins. After Gaynors great efforts yesterday I still struggle to get the website up but in the meantime here is a simple way to log your objection. Feel free to also write to our MP, the infamous Micheal Fallon at [email protected]

And our local Councillor would also love to hear from you - [email protected]