After years of hard campaigning, congratulations to the Save Middlewick Ranges campaign for persuading Colchester City Council to propose the removal of the site from its Local Plan. This is a huge step forward and a huge achievement.
In many ways, the Save Middlewick Ranges campaign is a sister campaign to Save Old Park as there are many similarities between the two sites. For example:
• Both are former MoD training sites
• Both have remained largely untouched by agriculture and ploughing
• Both have important areas of acid grassland (with a range of rare plants and invertebrates associated with this rare habitat)
• Both have significant populations of the endangered nightingale
• Both have dense urban settlements close by
• And both have been subject to development threats.
Fortunately, the future is now looking much brighter for Middlewick. Let’s make sure that the future looks bright for Old Park too.