ON the Monday just gone (July 2) there was a public exhibition in Godmanchester as part of the Huntingdonshire District Council consultation process regarding Bearscroft Farm.

I and other Godmanchester town councillors had agreed to distribute leaflets to all the homes in Godmanchester to assist. We did not receive the leaflets until Thursday morning. This meant residents of Godmanchester were given a maximum of only 48 hours notice of the exhibition.

Perhaps I being cynical, but is this part of the plan to get the scheme through by not giving people enough notice? I hope residents of Godmanchester did attend the exhibition in sufficient numbers to give their opinions.

On talking to many of the Godmanchester community, I have heard only one person who supports the scheme. Everyone else is against Bearscroft Farm for a number of key reasons:

– It would ruin the character of Godmanchester by adding nearly 50 per cent to the population

– Create incredible strain on the road infrastructure of Godmanchester with at least 400 extra cars heading to Huntingdon daily over the little bridge

– Robbing some people of their current bus service and creating new bus routes on inadequate roads

– Our town centre already has parking issues around the doctors’ surgery and this will make it even worse, as will getting appointments

– New school for primary children, but no thought about senior school children

There are others issues I could list (A14, A1198, integration with the community, no affordable homes for our children, too many houses) and others could expand the list.

HDC states that it listens to the people, but Bearscroft is not the vision needed for Godmanchester. HDC/CCC have demonstrated with Love’s Farm and St Ives that they don’t care about the current community.

Now they want to get a pat on the back from their masters for getting 750 houses in Godmanchester. Will they worry about ruining our community? Will our community get the financial rewards HDC will get for having 50 per cent more residents?

Alconbury can meet the housing needs of Huntingdonshire, creating a wonderful new community on land with no impact on old communities. HDC just wants to destroy the reason why many of us live in (currently) the lovely town of Godmanchester.

You can still register your views on http://consult.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/portal or contact Mike Huntington, urban design team leader, by telephone on 01480 388404 or e-mail michael.huntington@huntsdc.gov.uk by July 11.

ROGER COXHEAD

Dove House Close

Godmanchester