Kirk Hallam Green Squeeze, the environmental group opposing plans to build over a thousand houses in the Erewash Green belt has been given a top award by the prestigious Council For the Preservation of Rural England.
John Ydlibi, Chair of the CPRE in Derbyshire visited Kirk Hallam last week to present a Living Countryside Award to the group in recognition of their efforts to preserve the Derbyshire Countryside.
‘We’ve been fighting to save this outstanding medieval landscape for over three years now’ explained Green Squeeze chairman Paul Harvey. ‘Everyone from the former borough council right up to the former MP have consistently turned a deaf ear to our pleas, so to have our efforts recognised by the CPRE is the best endorsement we could ever have’.
The Green Squeeze team felt there was no better place to be presented with their award than in the heart of the landscape they are so desperate to save. ‘Left to the planners, the very spot where we’re standing surrounded by crops and trees could soon be the centre of a massive housing estate and the famous Road to Nowhere’ explained Paul.
‘John Ydlibi added, ‘Green Squeeze is a fantastic group, they inspire the residents of Erewash to save the Kirk Hallam/Dale Abbey green belt for future generations. Ilkeston is a big town, there’s a lot of housing already and I think it’s over expanding and Green Squeeze are doing a great job of trying to protect the surrounding green space.
Photo: Green Squeeze chairman Paul Harvey receives the CPRE Living Countryside Award from Derbyshire chairman John Ydlibi on behalf of their members.
Left to right, Bev Harrison, Michelle Colliver, Paul Harvey, John Ydlibi, Margaret Bannister, Fay Saxton.
