🛑 OUR COMMUNITY PLAYING FIELD IS UNDER THREAT – PLEASE SIGN & SHARE

To my neighbors and friends,

For decades, the field behind Great Howarth School has been more than just "land." It’s a sanctuary where our children play, families walk their pets, a habitat for local wildlife, and a piece of our history with its WWII shelters and mine heritage.

Right now, this space is being taken from us. Work has already started—without planning permission—to destroy our community basketball court and block the paths we use every day. Even the stone steps we’ve used for years have been ripped out.

This isn't just about a car park; it's about a "Trojan Horse" for 40 homes that will flood our streets with traffic, right outside an SEN school where child safety should be the priority.

We need to act NOW to stop this.

Please sign our petition to:

✅ Remove the field from the SHLAA housing list.

✅ Restore our public footpaths and stone steps.

✅ Protect our WWII heritage and green space for our kids.

✅ Make our roads safer with speed bumps and resident parking.

It only takes 30 seconds to sign, but it could save our field forever.

As a resident deeply concerned about road safety, environmental issues, and the safety of the children in our community, I am calling for urgent action to remove public land from the Rochdale Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA). The proposed development of 40 homes next to a Special Educational Needs (SEN) school threatens our well-being and compromises our community values.

Our local community field is not just a piece of land; it is a sanctuary for our children to play in, a refuge for our local wildlife, and a reminder of our history with its preserved WWII shelters and mine shafts with Adits. This space should serve future generations, offering them a safe environment to grow and learn about our heritage.

Turning the cherished basketball court and playground into a car park is not only illegal but disregards the recreational needs of our community’s children. Protecting these areas is vital to fostering a healthy and safe upbringing instead of prioritizing short-term development goals that can endanger lives, particularly with a SEN school in proximity.

The historical significance of the WWII shelters and mine shafts should not be underestimated. They offer unique learning opportunities and stand as memorials to our past. This civic heritage must be preserved, not torn down for development that benefits a few at the cost of many.

Moreover, the increased traffic due to additional housing poses a growing danger to our roads, making it risky for children and residents who walk or bike around their neighborhood. We need to prioritize road safety and ensure the well-being and security afforded by a more open and less congested community space.

Join me in protecting our community field and heritage. By signing this petition, you help voice the collective concern of our community members, convince local authorities to reconsider the development project, and channel resources into preserving our open spaces for recreation and ecological sustainability. Please sign this petition to safeguard our future, heritage, and community integrity.

🌳Save our wildlife, bats, owls, wild birds, deer, foxes, hedgehogs, newts, frogs, flowers, trees, hedgerows... They all need OUR help NOW.🐰🦊🐁🐇🦌🦇🦡🦉🦅🐞🐝🐛🦋