A message to well wishers from the Handsworth Allotments information Group as the planning committee decsion on the proposal to build on the site grows closer. We still cannot be entirely confident and we still need to be alert to any rumours, hints, gossip which suggests an attempt to do a planning gain deal with Westbury Homes to build on part of the site.
Rumours circulate well outside Birmingham within the allotment network.
Can anyone reading this, if the opportunity arises in other settings, ask pertinent questions and pass on to me what you have learned even if its only an embarrassed silence or upturned glance. Handsworth Allotments Information Group with much support inside and outside the community has done a super job turning round what, back in 1995, seemed a foregone conclusion. It is this element of our campaign which will be the subject of a 8 minute BBC documentary to go out in October. Here we move onto much less familiar territory. What happens after Development Control Committee reject Westbury's application in its totality.