As many of you may be aware, through both the reports in the media and in the
HCERA newsletter, the former Liberal Democrat council proposed a plan to develop
a travellers’ transit site at Monks Brook close to the Bassett Green
Conservation area. Many residents from the Collins community have been involved
in the campaign and huge thanks go to Ray George for keeping the website up to
date with the issue. At this point, it is important to reiterate that this is
not the end of the story, we are still fighting to save this beautiful piece of
land. On Monday 17th September an application was sent to Hampshire County
Council and Southampton City Council to designate Monks Brook as a Village
Green. The land here has been used for recreational activities within the
community for many years and we hope that it can continue to be used for this
purpose. We agree the city needs amenities such as the transit site, however, we
believe there are many more appropriate ‘brown field’ sites that could
accommodate the proposal without the loss of an area of semi-rural woodland
which is precious to so many people in the local community.