Residents in the St Laurence Road area of Bradford on Avon are mystified and dismayed because their ‘diamonds’ have gone missing or been damaged.
The diamonds are in fact protest signs, put up as part of a campaign to prevent building on a green space close to their houses. The site was most recently a golf course but this business failed just before lockdown. Since then, the people of Bradford on Avon have become accustomed to walking there along the banks of the river Avon and enjoying the traffic-free access to nature.
Many people remember the site as the town dump. During Bradford on Avon’s industrial past factories would dump their waste on the site until regulations prevented this happening. When Wiltshire Council took over management of this health hazard for some years a digger was used to
bury the domestic refuse people brought along. This history has led to the ground being impregnated with various toxic substances.
In recent months a housing developer, Cala Homes, has fenced off the site, preventing walkers, and children who have built fallen branches into play dens, from accessing the area. Cala Homes have also employed research companies to investigate the level of toxicity.
Residents believe that allowing this site to be developed poses a risk to the health of people and local wildlife on land and in the river. They are protesting, asking Wiltshire Council to take the site off the ‘Reserve’ list in Planning.
The ‘diamonds’ were signs that supporters of the campaign against development on this site had put up in their gardens. Someone has been tearing the signs down, and removing them. So far, the people responsible for the theft of the diamonds remain unidentified.
Kate Nottage 7 November 2024
Save The Old Golf Course 