Before we start: our sincere thanks to all who have contributed to generously to our fighting fund. The response has exceeded our expectations. We are not there yet, but we are well on our way, and the generosity of you all gives us great confidence.

If you would still like to contribute, you can find details of how to pay here. Or click on the cartoon horse to the left.

So, where were we? Oh yes. Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun …

You may remember, back in the mists of time, in November 2017  , that Spelthorne Council published its Green Belt Assessment. In it, Kempton Park was judged to be a “strongly performing” parcel of Green Belt, which is good news for the overwhelming majority of us who seek to prevent the Kempton Park estate being turned into a small town.

At the same time, the council announced it would be conducting a Stage 2 Green Belt Assessment, in which each parcel of Green Belt would be examined in greater detail, to see whether there were parts of each parcel of Green Belt which could justify being turned over to development.

Then, in June 2018, we were all asked to choose amongst four options for where future development in the Borough should take place: on Brownfield sites; Green Belt sites; in Staines; or a combination of the other three.

Well, in October and November 2019, these two strands – the Stage 2 Green Belt Assessment and the Issues and Options consultation will come together and be made public in what is called the Preferred Options consultation. We have pressed several times for the Stage 2 Green Belt Assessment to be released ahead of time. Our requests were repeatedly turned down; Council planners said it would be released with the Preferred Options consultation “in the summer”. That timing has slipped somewhat, but we look forward to seeing both documents together. We have repeatedly been assured that the Stage 2 Assessment would not affect the Green Belt status of Kempton Park, but it would be even more reassuring to see it confirmed on paper.

That is the next step in this prolonged Review of our Local Plan. But we are getting nearer to the end (hence the need to raise funds to pay for a very good QC to represent residents’ interests in the final stages of this process).

That’s all we have to update you all with at the moment. The moment we learn something more we’ll let you all know.