Have you heard the rumours?

Some people are saying that because the Lichfield District Council planning officers have recommended Bloor’s 250-home Coulter Lane estate for approval, our fight is over. They are saying it’s a done deal.

It is a classic tactic designed to make communities pack up their bags and stay home. But it is completely false.

Officers Recommend. Councillors Decide.

In the planning system, officers write reports based on narrow, desktop guidelines. They don’t live on Church Road. They don’t experience the gridlocked school runs, and they don’t have to worry about finding a GP appointment in Burntwood.

But the Planning Committee is made up of elected local district councillors. They have the legal and democratic power to reject the officer’s recommendation. In fact, they have a duty to reject it when an application directly violates local policy—which Bloor’s scheme absolutely does.

We Have the Shield. We Need the Crowd.

Our strategic policy team has spent months building an unassailable legal and technical defence. When Serena Mears and Steve Gummer speak on Monday, they will be armed with hard, undeniable facts.

The legal arguments are ready. The policies are locked in. But a technical case only goes so far if the decision-makers think the community has lost its fire.

Look at These Photos

Look at the images from our public meetings. That is the heart of Burntwood. We didn’t stand together in a packed hall (and we filled the garden) just to roll over at the final hurdle.

We need that exact same energy in the Council Chamber on Monday night. We need a packed public gallery. We need the committee to see that the decisions they make have a human cost.

This is the defining moment for our town’s green boundaries. Do not look back in five years and wish you’d spent an hour of your Monday night standing up for your home.

The Details:

• Date: Monday, 20th July
• Arrival: 5:15 PM or as close to that as possible.
• Location: LDC Council Chamber, Frog Lane, Lichfield, WS13 6YY

Let’s finish what we started. See you there.