Our town is under threat from unwanted, unnecessary development that is trampling over the policies and spirit of our Neighbourhood Plan. First there was Mitford Estates at Lancaster Park, and now the County Council, if they get their way, are off to Ashington and leaving us with their 'Master-Disaster-Plan' for County Hall. We already have 3,000+ houses in the pipeline- we do not need 200 more on our Protected Open Space, at the same time putting an end to our hopes for the long-awaited strategic Link Road. We do not want the vibrancy of our town centre destroyed by an out-of-centre retail park with a fast food drive-thru positioned, unbelievably, opposite the site for the new Goosehill School. You couldn't make it up! The Plan was supposed to put a stop to all of this.

We are South Morpeth Coalition- a local residents' action group. We will use the funds to pay for planning consultancy and legal advice to fight these applications and any other threats to the Plan policies –and a small proportion to pay for leaflets, meeting costs, etc.

We need cash urgently! The retail application is live, the housing application is in at Planning for validation, and the one for the school is imminent. Only 21 days to respond! We need you to commit funds right now so we can tell our consultant to get stuck in.

Stick to our Plan and Yes to the school, but No to housing and retail.

We needed a plan. Our Plan needs us!

PS thanks to the dog-walking crew for the nice pic