Save our fields!! Allocation 13
I am very distressed about the draft local development plan between Whitlock's End Farm and Dickens Heath Road, Allocation 13.

Having a young family who thrive off outdoor life, enjoying nature and educating our young, as well as healthy living through both exercising and walking, I am deeply concerned for the large amount of development being concentrated in our local countryside and the loss of Green Belt in the Shirley area and the narrow strip of open space that will separate Shirley from Dickens Heath which is also extending towards Shirley. I am a regular dog walker and keen runner and use the local fields and bridal path for all purposes to exercise and walk the dog on a very regular basis, as well as enjoying our weekly family walks from Neville Road to the proposed allocation 13, having our very own green belt land to enjoy, was the very reason why we bought our house.

We have lived in this area for many years and are a regular user of the walkway from Bills Lane crossing into the fields behind Langcomb Road and the Woodlands Estate and know this has been extensively used by many residents in the area for recreation purposes throughout the year. We have a beautiful chocolate Labrador who we socialise on a regular basis in this area with many other dog walkers, who also do the same.

I understand that the council have to find housing sites but feel very strongly that it would be wrong to build on the area of public amenity land and its access corridor that is currently fenced off and request that this area is retained for the benefit of existing and future local residents.

Shirley is already heavily built up and has a low level of open space that is usable and convenient for public recreation and I'm very concerned about how the large number of new homes will add to existing traffic congestion, plus noise pollution that comes with it and a massive increase co2 emissions, of which as a nation we are trying to reduce, not increase. Our doctors and local schools are already filled to capacity, access to these are already tight, how on earth would they be able to cope with a massive influx of people you are proposing to bring to the area? It would only outstretch services even more than what they are currently, which would surely drop standards of care all round.