SAY No to Mereham protestors took a 10,000 signature petition to Westminster on Monday. Hazel Blears, Minister for Communities and Local Government, had refused to accept the petition in person – she is due to make a decision on the planning enquiry into

SAY No to Mereham protestors took a 10,000 signature petition to Westminster on Monday.

Hazel Blears, Minister for Communities and Local Government, had refused to accept the petition in person - she is due to make a decision on the planning enquiry into a 5,000 home development in September - so protestors handed the petition to her Westminster department instead.

East Cambridgeshire District councillor, Bill Hunt, local member for Stretham, said: "We often hear that the present Government is keen to hear from the local community about plans and policies which affect them. We have delivered to their doorstep a petition of more than 10,000 names each calling for the Mereham to be stopped in its tracks. Many of those who signed the petition did so because their very way of life would be destroyed if Mereham gets the go-ahead.

"Sustainable growth should not be forced on communities, it should be planned and conceived at a local level and not couched as an eco-town or something equally as random. If local democracy is to actually mean anything, this petition should be the first thing the Secretary of State reads before she comes to make her mind up on Mereham. Lets hope for all our sakes she says 'no' to Mereham too."

13 parish councils, three district councils, Cambridgeshire County Council and Jim Paice MP are among those who signed the petition opposing the development.

Mereham is a proposed development between Stretham and Wilburton put forward by Australian mega-developer Multiplex. Local authorities and refused permission for it to go ahead, leading to a planning enquiry held at the Arkenstall Centre in Haddenham during the winter.

Pic cap: Dr Alan James, Metta Rowberry, Kate Rowberry, Jane Howell, Barbara Grafton, Julie Parr, Bill Hunt and Roger Robbery.

Photo: SUPPLIED.