We are disappointed to let you know that the site of the much-loved former community garden on Cobden View Road has received planning permission to build 13 Flats and 3 Shops

Sadly, local Labour councillors made promises they just couldn’t keep. Incredibly, local Labour councillors claimed last year to have saved it from development, yet this month the Labour-led council pushed ahead with plans to bulldoze the area and build 13 Flats and 3 shops.

The lack of a local plan which has been delayed since 2013 when the Labour had a large majority of councillors and could have protected our urban green spaces like this meant there were few planning grounds for refusal.

Ex Councillor Mohammed Mahroof and Councillor Tim Huggan worked with residents to seek all avenues to oppose the applications but unfortunately Labour’s failure to produce a viable local plan when the council had now MP Olivia Blake as the deputy leader of the Council meant it was always going to be an uphill struggle to save this urban green space.