We have enjoyed excellent support from our current MP, Roger Berry, whose Kingswood constituency currently covers Grove Wood. However, Grove Wood is about to move in to Bristol East, so we have contacted every candidate asking them to:1) Publicly support our campaign to ensure Grove Wood becomes a nature reserve and is in safe public ownership as soon as possible
2) Agree to urge Bristol City Council to do all it can to ensure the current landowner does not do any further damage to the woodland if you are elected
3) Support our call for Grove Wood to become a Town Green, protecting it for public enjoyment for all time
4) Support our efforts to ensure the rare wildlife that lives in Grove Wood is not disturbed by the landowner's damaging actions
5) Sign up to the Woodland Trust's manifesto about trees and woodland to show your wider committment to the natural world. Visit: http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/campaigns/woods-for-people/general-election-2010/Pages/our-manifesto-full.aspx
We will post replies from the various candidates here in the order they arrive. So far, we have received replies from the Green, Conservative and Labour candidates. We leave it to you to decide whether their responses are satisfactory and whether it will affect who you vote for.
6 comments:
Glenn Vowles, the Green candidate has said:
" agree with all the points raised by the Snuff Mills Action Group email and have signed up to: publicly support the campaign to ensure Grove Wood becomes a nature reserve and is in safe public ownership as soon as possible; urge Bristol City Council to do all it can to ensure the current landowner does not do any further damage to the woodland if I'm elected; support the call for Grove Wood to become a Town Green, protecting it for public enjoyment for all time; support efforts to ensure the rare wildlife that lives in Grove Wood is not disturbed by the landowner's damaging actions.
I have a while back signed up to the Woodland Trust's manifesto about trees and woodland to show my wider committment to the natural world (by clicking on the labels at the end of this blog post you can see what I've said and done about related issues too).
Many thanks to all involved in the Snuff Mills Action Group and to all its supporters for their excellent and ongoing work. I'll do all I can to help them before and after the election."
Adeela Shafi the Conservative candidate said:
Thank you for your email.
Having spent much of my childhood at Snuff Mills, I do have a particular fond memories of it.
I very much support all the efforts that you are making to preserve and protect Grove Wood - indeed I am very grateful for the work put in by the Snuff Mills Action Group to ensure that current and future generations can continue to enjoy the green spaces.
Kerry McCarthy the Labour candidate wrote:
"The Snuff Mills Action Group is doing a great job protecting Grove Wood from the hands of the developers. It is really important that we continue to fight for the protection of these woods so that they can be enjoyed by future generations.
I know many local people want to see Grove Woods publicly owned and should I be fortunate to be elected to represent the people of Bristol East again, I will continue to campaign for the protection of these woods.
Woods and green spaces are so important to the well-being of our community. If we are going to seriously tackle the challenges of climate change and wildlife loss, as well as improve public health, we need to protect our woods and plant more trees.
Because I want future generations to be able to enjoy our woods and green spaces, I am supporting the Woodland Trust’s Manifesto. Our trees and natural habitats need to be protected and not exploited. I will do my best to ensure more trees are planted and existing forests are protected through sustainable management.
People should be able to enjoy their local woods and green spaces. I will continue to work with the Snuff Mills Action Group to ensure that local people can continue to enjoy the woods for many more years to come. This is why I am backing calls to make Grove Woods public property.
With your support I will continue to champion the growth and protection of our woods and ensure that valuable environments like Grove Wood are protected.
Mike Popham, Liberal Demoscrat candidate and prospective MP for Bristol East said "I am fully committed to helping ensure Grove Wood becomes a nature reserve and is in safe public ownership as soon as possible. I am sure that my Liberal Democrat Cabinet colleagues will urge Bristol City Council to do all it can to ensure the current landowner does not do any further damage to the woodland, and support the call for it to become a Town Green. We really must support the rare wildlife that lives there and protect it from the landowner's damaging actions. If elected on 6th May I will engage with the Action Group urgently to review how things stand, and start work with the City Council, Landowner and residents to turn this already fast moving campaign into a complete success, as involved residents would judge.
We have tried to contact the other candidates for Bristol East, but without success.
The constituency has candidates from
BNP, English Democrats, TUSC and UKIP. None of these parties are reknowned for their interest in issues such as Grove Wood and the positions of their Bristol East candidates on this issue remain unknown.
Kerry McCarthy was successful in the election and is now the MP for Grove Wood. Grove Wood has moved in to Bristol East from Kingswood.
Kerry has already attended one event to protect Grove Wood and we look forward to working with her as our new MP.
Grove Wood's former MP, Roger Berry, did not hold his Kingswood seat. Roger has been a great champion for Grove Wood and has met the Group more than three times in the last two years and provided some really helpful advice and support behind the scenes. We wish to acknowledge his support of the Group while he was MP for Kingswood. We wish him well.
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