NOTE TO HACKNEY RESIDENTS: If you live in Hackney, please also sign this official petition to Hackney Council, which will trigger a debate at full Council if it receives over 750 signatures from Hackney residents.

We, the undersigned, support vital new facilities for cricket and football teams but urge Hackney Council to site them on the footprint of the existing changing rooms on North Marsh. We object to any and all construction on open green space.

We support new facilities for the cricket and football teams that entail no encroachment on protected common land.

The Council has made a planning application for a large car park on the footprint of the present changing rooms and a pavilion building on presently green space.

This is against the Council’s own transport policy of not providing car parks at its leisure and entertainment venues and against its commitment to reduce car use in the borough. It will decrease the safety of marsh users through traffic hazard, make the marshes more vulnerable to flytipping and will increase air pollution in the borough.

We object to public funds being used to hire a private consultancy firm, FirstPlan, to assist with pushing through these proposals.

The consultation the Council ran was inadequate since it only presented respondents with two options which both entailed building on green space and constructing oversized car parks.

Therefore, as local residents and marsh users, we request the Council halt their plans. We do not wish to see any more green space lost from Hackney Marshes.

You can read in detail about the plans and the reasons for our opposition here: http://saveleytonmarsh.wordpress.com/2014/08/23/hackney-council-apply-to-build-huge-car-park-on-hackney-marshes/