FIGHTING FOR THE WILDLIFE AND OUR WAY OF LIFE.

 

HOW I SEE IT.

Becca Atherstone

 

WHY OUR VILLAGES ARE PRECIOUS

 

The Trimleys and Kirton are logged in the Domesday Book more than once. What was the Domesday Book?

 

For those of us who have forgotten some of our history lessons…Put simply…after William the Conqueror invaded in 1066 he demanded a record be made of land and villages so that he knew the country and it’s worth. Our settlements have been around for centuries before that date.

 

In history, Trimley is recorded as being a pretty violent place in mediaeval times! Villagers were passionate about where they lived.

 

I THINK WE STILL ARE!!!

 

Once again we are sticking up for what we know and love. If Trinity College Cambridge has their way Kirton and Trimley St Martin could be obliterated off the map as VILLAGES.

 

How vital is the Countryside? It is the lung of Felixstowe. It keeps us healthy. It oxygenates us, it deals with carbon dioxide.

 

If we cover the fields in concrete, housing estates, a giant logistics/lorry park, and traffic. It will stifle nature. Our lungs will clog up. Animals will die.

 

We will be joined up to Ipswich, an urbanised disaster.

There are only TWO roads into Felixstowe.

 

The overwhelming proposed planning will mean vehicle deadlock in once peaceful villages.

 

Those of us further down the High Road, who have no off road parking, will face a traffic chain nightmare.

 

The beautiful wildlife that we see now will become a distant dream.

I have myself seen a terrified deer run into the High Road from where the new Academy and housing is….I slammed on my brakes, so did the driver coming in the opposite direction. The deer fell to its knees in panic, got up, and raced into the field where the burnt out stables sit. Where it went from there…who knows? Onto the A14? We are destroying their habitats. Their once safe area is being grabbed by development.

 

Air quality, light pollution, noise pollution will rule our lives. Wildlife will be decimated. Habitats, theirs….and ours, will be destroyed.

 

We are fortunate to see endangered species in our gardens, but for how much longer?

 

In 1950 there were 36 million hedgehogs, now there are just under a million, declining day by day.

 

This is due to development without the proper understanding of the wildlife and the habitats around us. Turtledoves are rare, we used to see those in our garden. Not any more. The numbers of the small tortoiseshell butterfly dropped by 77 percent in the 10 years leading up to 2013.

 

In fact, a massive two-thirds of species in the UK has declined in the last 50 years!

 

This is not natural, it CAN be stopped.

 

Why can’t planners see this? Why don’t Councillors represent their villager's views?

 

Why are all these ‘plans’ just barely on the radar for the majority of us?

 

It is our chance to do something about this…we need to protect the Felixstowe Peninsula, we need to keep this part of Suffolk special.

 

WE NEED THE COUNTRYSIDE

 

WE NEED THE FIELDS TO GROW FOOD

 

WE NEED TO SAVE THE WILDLIFE

 

WE NEED A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT FOR ALL