Hello, Lucy here.

Big, big updates today! Firstly, thank you so much for 600 signs. This is amazing.

Over this past week, I have spoken to a lot of people who will be a big help in our campaign.

A few people contacted the Reading Chronical recently. Due to this, I have been contacted by a journalist. Hopefully, the petition will be featured in the newspaper. Thank you to the residents who took the initiative and did this.

On Friday, Alok Sharma visited my school (for those who aren't aware, I'm in year 10 at the Wren School) and I managed to chat with him briefly about the proposals. Unfortunately, he was in a rush so I did not have that long, but it was reassuring to know that those higher up know about the petition.

Probably the biggest step forward was getting the chance to speak to John Ennis from the Labour Party. He is very much against development on the park. He has told me that his number one concern is that of preserving the park for future generations. His other worries were once having a look at the plans (I have attached a photo below and will link some more in here as change.org does not allow you to post more than 1 photo.)  were that the plans showed that you would have to go trough Barn Close to get access to the new houses. This is completely unrealistic. His suggestion instead is that they go though Southcote Farm Lane. If the building does go ahead, he would want the garage area (as you can see below, only 5 units are actually owned.) gone as it is an eyesore. If we keep the garage buildings and get rid of the park, that is just wrong. He would demolish the garage area and build a football court on the grounds instead. 

I have also learnt that we need 1000 signs for this to be bought up in a council meeting. If you know anyone who has created a petition on paper, please could you email me the number of signs (lucy.burrowes@btinternet.com) so I can add it to our total.

Once again, thank you so much for 600 signs. Keep sharing, keep spreading the awareness.

Lucy Burrowes.