AONB rendered meaningless by Oakley decision

I AM truly amazed that not one letter or email opposing the decision of Whitehall inspector Matthew Nunn to approve 250 houses on the AONB at Oakley Farm, has featured in your letters’ column in the last five weeks.

Most Battledown residents are up in arms and incredulous of this deeplyflawed verdict, acknowledging the need for new houses per se, but in the right places and certainly not in our AONB or on green belt land.

Whole food-chains will be lost at Oakley including many red-listed wild birds and other taxa (biodiversity).

It is an absolute disgrace - the AONB designation is being rendered meaningless.

I implore you all, that if you think this is wrong, then let us endeavour to do all we can to get this crazy inappropriate development overturned.

We have nothing to lose, except our precious Cotswolds and declining nature. Surely that’s enough, to make us take action?

We are already seeing another threatened wildlife site be potentially lost forever by another or the same inspector (Gilder’s lorry park at Stratton) in a copycat case.

Sadly, such dangerous precedents were widely predicted after the Oakley debacle.

An unsullied Oakley can help the increasing number of people with mental health issues, especially children, through calming birdsong and just being in beautiful nature. Trees produce oxygen and therefore clean air, also absorbing traffic fumes. J. Wilcock Battledown