BARRACKS Lodge Community Association has been constituted to protect and enhance the amenity and environment of the area around Barracks Lodge, Bury, and the adjacent open space - our "village green" as we see it.

We would therefore like to ask council leader Derek Boden to confirm, via this Letters page, that the council will not jeopardise the future of Barracks Lodge.

A large slice of council-owned land is included within Stately Development's planning application boundary and unless the council release this land to Stately, or regrade it themselves to fit in with Stately's plans, then it will be quite impossible for Stately to develop the site as they intend. Stately do not own the lodge embankments and unless they are removed the development site will be surrounded by unstable tall earth cliffs and will be prone to flooding.

On behalf of the council, would Councillor Boden kindly please confirm the following, irrespective of whether or not planning permission is awarded on appeal: 1. That the council will not sell the lodge embankments to developers;

2. That the council will not lease or make other agreements over the lodge embankments with developers;

3. That the council will not participate in any way with the regrading of these embankments;

4. That the council will take legal action to prevent others regrading the embankments without permission.

Will Coun Boden also confirm that if the council did allow the removal of the embankments then that would be contrary to the planning control sub-committee's desire to protect the nature conservation value of the site.

Barracks Lodge is still a valuable wildlife habitat and the Greater Manchester Ecology Unit has now admitted that it should have been made a Site of Biological Importance, and may yet be made one. It is council policy to protect all SBIs.

MICHAEL WELLOCK,

chairman,

Barracks Lodge

Community Association.

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