I am against the development of Sharphill Wood and support the views of the Local Plan inspector who considered that the housing allocation should be dispersed amongst the larger villages, in particular, Cotgrave. I am also opposed to the County Council's idea of building on the flood plain near Adbolton.

The Green Party in Nottingham is fully supportive of the campaign to protect Sharphill Wood site and the Green Belt as a whole.

The reason I wasn't at the meeting on 16th March was because I was attending the National Green Party Conference in Scarborough . I had to chair the conference on Saturday and needed to attend the relevant workshops associated with the motions being put during the session of chairing. Some of these were on Thursday afternoon and some early on Friday morning.

When I heard that the vote might be close I tried to reach the meeting in time, but the weather on the Yorkshire Coast was very severe at the time (3 inches of snow on the Tuesday, very icy roads), the train would have taken five hours per journey (work on the line between Scarborough and York) and I would have been unable to get back in time for the workshops on the following morning. Consideration was given to an elderly man (member of Rushcliffe Residents) driving up to Scarborough, taking me to the meeting, driving me back and then returning to Nottingham (as there would be no where for him to stay) but, given the weather conditions, I felt that I was not prepared to risk anyone else's life in order to be present at the meeting.

I asked, before the meeting, that instead of the usual unexplained apology, the chair of the meeting read out my reasons why I wasn't present and point out that I supported the residents of Edwalton in their campaign to protect the Sharphill Wood site from development and that I had even tried to reach the meeting from the Green Party Conference in Scarborough but was unable to do so in time.

I am a member of the Local Plan Working Group. There was a meeting of the group in order to advise the full council meeting on 16th March during the preceding week. At the meeting I had a great deal to say in support of the inspector's recommendations, and in particular, to protect the Sharphill Wood site. At the end of the meeting there was a recorded vote, I was one of the six (as well as all three Liberal Democrats and two of the Conservatives) who voted in support of the inspector. Unfortunately there were nine councillors (8 Conservatives and one Labour) who voted to continue with the plan to develop Sharphill. None of the issues I, or any of the Liberal Democrats, brought up at the meeting were minuted and I was very shocked to see that it appeared that I didn't say anything at all at the meeting!

Yesterday there was another (four and a half hour long) meeting of the Local Plan Working Group to advise the meeting on 15th June. The result of the vote at the end of this meeting was that myself, all 3 Liberal Democrats (Holt, Davidson and Venes) and two Conservatives - Cooper and PW Smith - voted against the development of Sharphill Wood. One Conservative (Mott) abstained and the remaining Conservatives (Mason, Keyworth, Bell , Ellis, Hetherington, Purdue-Horan and DM Robinson) voted for it. This means that the recommendation of the working group (7 for, 6 against and one abstention) is to continue with the development.

The Labour Party Councillor, Susan Tiplady, was not present.

Whether the many arguments I put forward as to why the Sharphill Wood site should not be developed will be in the minutes remains to be seen. You can all rest assured that I will be voting against development of Sharphill at the full council meeting on 15th June.

I am very upset that people have had to email me about this, I was afraid this might happen if an explanation about WHERE I was during the meeting in March was not given. I assure you that I and the Green Party will do all we can to protect Sharphill Wood from development. I ask that you explain the reasons for my absence at the meeting and my support of the campaign should anyone enquire, or of course, let them know my contact details so that I will discuss the issue with them.

Please do not hesitate to contact me again on this or any other concerns you may have, I will do my best to help.

Yours sincerely, Councillor Sue Blount. Green Party.  Lady Bay Ward.

135 Trent Boulevard,