Wasted land or a Green Heart?

The Save the Marshes campaign has joined with the Coleford Future group to begin brightening up the town and encouraging debate about why there are so many empty buildings in a historic town centre The derelict site in the centre of the town was once a market garden, a weekly market and the planned site for the New Community Centre. Following the award of planning permission for a Tesco supermarket, and the delay in accepting the conditions of the plannning inspector to ensure proper access to the site, the Tesco project was withdrawn and the area has now been put up for sale and left bare. As the summer beckons the local groups have decided that as this is one of the prominent gateways to the town that a more colourful and appealing welcome should be offered for local people and visitors . As the land is now for sale there are grounds under the localism act that communities can propose other uses of prominent sites. SAVE THE MARSHES are suggesting that the land could be put to a more positive use for tourism and to create a green heart for the town.

A tourism office, Coleford Museum,community garden, pop up market, tourist hostel, bike hire,bookshop, Local produce, crafts, artisan workshops could all be fitted in such a site and provide a new heritage landmark as well as community and visitor resources.

The bleak grey fence that surrounds the site is a poor reflection of the pride that local people share for the town and is not the only site or building that could be improved

  Grey landscape rules not ok! Diana Gash  SAVE THE MARSHES Roger Drury Coleford Future