I am delighted to say that within 24 hours our petition (www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/canehillcottages) against the destruction of beautiful cottages on the edge of the Cane Hill site in Coulsdon had attracted over 600 signatures. I’m even more delighted to report that yesterday afternoon the developer, Optivo, wrote to me to confirm that owing to overwhelming public pressure they are now withdrawing the planning application!
This shows that these campaigns do work and are worth doing. Thank you so much to the 600 people who signed the petition, and to the nearly 200 people who directly emailed the council. It is good news that the developer has listened, and I hope that they will now simply refurbish the historic cottages (which does need doing). I only wish the council listened to us in the same way, but sadly they do not…..
Many thanks again to everyone who supported the campaign to save the historic cottages – I think that this is the fastest victory ever!