Your signature started something bigger than Portishead.

You signed to save one wood. This update is about the rule that put it in danger — because as of this week, that rule is in front of Parliament.

First, the short version of what we found.

The Government's "grey belt" policy was meant to unlock poor-quality Green Belt land — the old car parks, the scrubby corners nobody would miss. Most people would support that. But in Portishead, the label didn't land on a car park. It landed on the green fields beside a wood that has stood since the last ice age — around 10,000 years — and that is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and ancient woodland.

The rules contain a safeguard. Land isn't supposed to be treated as grey belt where the protections for places like SSSIs and ancient woodland give a strong reason to refuse or restrict building. Beside Weston Big Wood, that safeguard was never tested. The question simply wasn't asked.

And here's what kept us up at night once we saw it: the wood is ours, but the rule is national. Nobody is checking how the grey belt label is being applied anywhere — the Government's own figures don't record it. And the proposed new planning rules would remove that safeguard sentence from the rulebook altogether!

Now, the part we most need you to understand.

We can fight Tower Farm. We can fight Black Rock. You've helped us do both, and we believe we can win. But be clear about what winning means. If the Inspectors take these sites out of the plan in November, the fields don't become safe — they stay Green Belt, and Green Belt boundaries go back on the table every time the plan is reviewed. The developer still owns the land. In a few years there will be another plan, another promoter, another map.

The safeguard is what protects the wood that time, and the time after. If it's deleted from the rules, and nobody in government is checking how the grey belt label gets applied, then every local win is only a stay of execution — here, and beside every protected nature site in England that has open countryside next to it.

That is why we've started a petition to Parliament, and why it matters even if we win this round. It's not about this application or this plan. It's about the long-term protection of Weston Big Wood — and every place like it.

So why two petitions? Because they do two different jobs.

The petition you signed — this one — is the local voice. It's how Portishead shows, in one number, that opposition to these allocations is a town and not a handful of objectors. It will be printed out and handed in at 10 Downing Street, it's quoted to councillors and it's the number we'll be pointing at when the Inspectors sit in November. Nothing replaces it. Keep sharing it locally: every Portishead signature makes it harder to dismiss.

The petition to Parliament is the long game. It asks the Government to clarify how grey belt policy applies to land adjoining SSSIs, ancient woodland and other nationally protected nature sites, and to issue guidance so the rule is applied consistently across England. It's on Parliament's own website, and the numbers unlock real obligations: at 10,000 signatures the Government must respond in writing. At 100,000, Parliament considers it for debate. And that written response can be put in front of the Inspectors examining the plan — a Government statement on the exact question at the heart of our case.

One petition defends the wood now. The other protects it for good. We need both, which is why we're asking everyone who signed the first to sign the second.

✍️ Sign the Parliamentary petition: HERE

Three things to know before you click:

You must be a British citizen or UK resident to sign. After signing, Parliament emails you a confirmation link — your signature only counts once you click it, so check your inbox (and your spam folder). And it's one signature per person, so pass it round the household the same way you did the first time.

Then forward this update to anyone you know anywhere in the UK. They don't need to know Weston Big Wood to sign this one. If there's a wood, a heath or a nature reserve near them with green fields beside it, this is their question too!

And keep doing what you've been doing here at home: the local petition keeps growing, the drop-in sessions keep running, and every neighbour who hears "nothing has been decided yet" is a neighbour who might still act.

We started this to save one wood. What we found is a question the whole country needs answered.

Thank you, as ever, for sticking with us.

Tom and Susan
Save Weston Big Wood — Portishead residents

Read the full mission statement here: Mission Statement