Sutton’s dedicated Conservatives councillors have been fighting the Labour proposals to build 10,000 on greenbelt land in the Town.
A petition from the local Conservatives has been put in libraries, shops, community centres, taken door to door and to meetings for local residents to sign. Councillors have also set up stalls in local shopping centres to encourage people to voice their objections to the proposal with residents overwhelmingly opposed to the idea which would see houses built around Mere Green, Whitehouse Common and Walmley.
Thousands of people have signed the petition and many thousands of leaflets had been delivered encouraging people to write in directly with their own views. Most people were concerned with the impact on overly congested roads, school places and Good Hope.
Councillor Roberts (New Hall) said: ‘‘It has been amazing. I have set up a petition stand across the Town and people have dropped whatever they were doing to sign up. People are so cross that the idea could even be considered. Our roads cannot cope, neither could the schools or Good Hope.’’
Councillor Cornish (Four Oaks) took the form door to door and commented how eager people were to help: ‘‘Residents in Four Oaks did not just want to sign the petition – they asked for copies of the petition for their friends and family and offered to deliver some.’’
A spokesman for the local Conservative Association pointed out that many residents, some of them Labour voters were outraged at their own party’s callous idea to build on the greenbelt and had volunteered to help the campaign. The councillors thanked everyone for their help. All the Conservative Councillors in Sutton are united in fighting this and have been very clear that the battle to save our greenbelt from Labour’s disastrous plans will go on!