Resident’s film helps fight development
A man from Ruscombe has created a thought-provoking video raising awareness of the need to preserve the village’s Green Belt.
Having lived in the community for 21 years, Simon Chapman said he has always cherished its greenery and believes that proposals to build 3,500 homes in the area is devastating.
As we revealed two years ago, the council has been exploring a range of options in order to meet its housing targets.
The area has been picked out along with land at Grazeley and Barkham for master planning. At the time they were announced, the council said this would ensure schools, road and community facilities could be provided.
As a result, a pressure group comprising residents from the area has been set up to try and protect the rural environment.
And Mr Chapman is one of the people who wants to keep the village as it is.
He said: “Ruscombe is a beautiful area which we should be fighting to save”.
Mr Chapman’s video features images of the area and diagrams showing what it could look like if building plans are to go ahead.
Since creating the video Mr Chapman has shared his work with the Prime Minister. Mrs May’s office responded with praise for the video’s interesting content.
The piece has also been seen by one of the councillors for Twyford and Ruscombe, John Halsall, who is keen to use the media on his campaign website.
By sharing the video Mr Chapman hopes to encourage members of the local community to stand up to the proposals.
He added: “It seems madness to permanently lose Green Belt to questionable statistics. To lose the land to houses would be a tragedy.”
The video can be seen at https:// youtu.be/cijRkxuOOO4