Next week, on February 811, there will be yet another inquiry into an appeal by developers against rulings that prevent them from building on the former allotments at the Spitalcroft, in north east Devizes.

It is being held in the Town Hall, Devizes, starting at 10am on Tuesday. It is open to the public and we urge anyone who feels that it is important not to lose this vital green lung to attend, for at least some part of the inquiry. Even if they do not intend to say anything, it is important to show that the people feel strongly about this issue.

For those who are not familiar with the details, the Spitalcroft has been recorded as garden land for two centuries or more. For the last century, until 1999, it was used for 70 allotment plots, which were very fertile.

The land was owned by St Mary's Church and Poorlands Trust but the allotments were administered by the town council. Since 1992, the trust has been making efforts to sell the land in order to finance its charity responsibilities and this culminated in 1998/9 in the eviction of allotment holders and the bulldozing of their sheds and part of the topsoil. There have been several inquiries, nearly all of which ruled against the developers' plans to build 150 or more homes on the 11 acre site.

There are many arguments against building on this precious piece of land, not least that the Local Plan, that has been hammered out through many public consultations, specifically does not include it for building. The town and district councils are unanimous in their opposition to this area being built on.

There are three points that the Save Our Spitalcroft group will make.

First, it is becoming vital to the town to preserve this green space to relieve the carpet of housing built in recent years and yet to be built.

Second, the traffic that will be generated by all the new housing approved in the Local Plan is going to overload our already straining medieval road layout, affecting the whole town, and we cannot tolerate another 200 cars from an unplanned development.

Third, there is no suitable land to substitute for Spitalcroft as allotments, in spite of efforts by the developers to convince us otherwise.

If we can save the Spitalcroft, not only might it be possible to recover some badly needed allotment land but the less fertile broad strip by the canal would be perfect for a peaceful canal side public park. If we fail, unrelieved housing will eventually stretch from just beyond the Crammer half way to Bishops Cannings.

A Padwick

Chairman

Save Our Spitalcroft Community Action Group