TWO local campaign groups have joined forces to call on councillors to hand 14 hectares of land at Gib Hill on the Nelson-Colne boundary to them to run as a community-based trust.
Get Knotted from Colne and RAGE - Residents Against Gib Hill Exploitation - have linked up following the application by Persimmon Homes to build 204 houses on the Colne side of the boundary.
And there have been fears for several years that Pendle Council wants to sell off the land at Gib Hill to developers. Campaigners believe that part of the land should be preserved as a wildlife habitat.
Protestors lobbied councillors at committee meetings in Nelson and Colne and called for reports on the possibility of a Community Land Trust being set up for the Gib Hill area.
Glen Cardwell, chairman of Get Knotted, said: “A Community Land Trust would enable residents to take control of the land and transform it to meet local needs.”
And RAGE spokesman Azhar Ali said: “This is the only green lung between the two towns and it is important that it is preserved for future generations.
“If councillors support this proposal, they will forever stop the rumours about it and allow the local community to develop it.”
A revised application from Persimmon Homes reducing the number of planned homes by six goes before councillors on December 6th.
Get Knotted is calling on as many people as possible to attend the meeting at Colne Town Hall to voice their opposition.
Members of Get Knotted met last week as part of their campaign against plans to build 212 homes on green fields on the edge of Colne adjacent to Gib Hill fields in Nelson, where possible housing development is also being resisted.
On their “Get Knotted Colne” Facebook page, Get Knotted say they feel a traffic survey done by Persimmon “was not a true reflection of the volume of vehicles... on our already congested roads”.
Results of Get Knotted’s survey are currently being compiled.