The "Pride in Place" funding initiative, intended to improve our community, has unfortunately been undermined by decision-making processes that exclude the very people it is meant to benefit—Greenstead residents. The original £19.6 million award was intended for community-driven projects, reflecting the desires and needs of the local populace. Yet, the current approach by Pam Cox MP, Rev. Sue Howlett, and the Greenstead Labour Party deprives residents of this essential role.

Residents were encouraged to have an expansive public competition to find the best candidate for chair of the board. In reality not one single advert for the chair was released and the role was filled privately.

What residents thought was the only criteria for deciding the boundary that the funding applied to. Residents were never asked, the schools were forgotten about and Heatley Way has intentionally been left out.

Residents were entitled to hold the majority on the board with decision making power being for residents. The chair has filled the board with members explicitly defined in the guidance as not being residents and decided that residents aren't needed.

The process was required to be transparent but the board has decided it will hold meetings behind closed doors. The board's minutes are not being recorded acurately and the process behind key decisions is being kept from residents.

The local council is rubber-stamping spending ahead of residents getting the required 10-year plan in place.
Councillors have already made spending decisions for residents without consulting residents and been shut down.
The MP doesn't even know she's spending the money!

Every decision so far has been made without residents.

By signing this petition, I support the call for the Pride in Place process in Greenstead to be paused, reviewed, made transparent, and placed under genuine resident leadership before further major decisions are made.