Please write to express your views by Friday 23 August
As announced in The Ensign, 14 acres including the allotments near the new
Enstone Leys houses and three other pieces of land are to be sold by the local charity Enstone Relief In Need which owns them. You can read about ERIN by clicking this link. Selling the land probably means housing will be built on the site of the allotments. So we are asking you to write to the Trustees of the charity to express your views. Below is a template you can adapt to create your own letter. Then post it to: The Trustees, Enstone Relief In Need charity, Grey Gables, Cleveley Road, Enstone, Chipping Norton. OX7 4LW by Friday 23 August. Regretably, there is not an email address available, so please post it in time.
The existing Trustees say they find the work of maintaining the land more than they can manage and plan to sell it all and invest the money instead. But this would deprive the village of valuable community spaces and allotments. For many years the charity has found if difficult to find residents to give money to, so it’s difficult to see how selling the land would benefit residents any more.
Enstone Eco are opposing this decision because the land has great potential to be managed to increase the number of wild plants, insects and animals, while at the same time benefiting local residents.
Please let your views be known.
Letter Template
To:
The Trustees
Enstone Relief In Need charity
Grey Gables,
Cleveley Road,
Enstone,
Chipping Norton
OX7 4LW
16th August 2024
Dear Trustees of the ERIN Charity number 264476.
I am a resident of Enstone Parish and heard about your plan to sell all the land owned by ERIN including the allotments in Enstone.
I am writing to you so you know that I oppose this decision.
This is because the plots of land have great potential for being managed in a way which combines increasing biodiversity and the number of wild plants, insects and animals, while at the same time balancing this with benefiting local residents. This is especially true of the allotments and the area which has recently been planted to improve the natural habitat.
If the land is sold on the open market, then it is likely to be used for housing development or monoculture agriculture. In which case the serious decline in our local wildlife will accelerate.
While it is understandable that as Trustees, you find the work of maintaining the land and charity challenging. But surely there are alternatives to selling the land so the charity can continue to benefit local residents in need and at the same time be used to increase the number of native plants and animals.
I look forward to hearing your response to this letter.
Yours sincerely
Insert your name and address
Please find below a response from Susanne Hamilton to our letter.
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