CAMPAIGNERS will be submitting more than 1,000 letters of objection to Middlesbrough Council about plans to build a controversial road through green space in Acklam.

The proposed road, which is included in the Stainsby Country Park and Masterplan proposals, will go through Mandale Meadow and residents are concerned about its impact on local wildlife.

At Middlesbrough Council’s executive meeting on June 28, Mayor Andy Preston, and the councillors present, decided to abstain from voting to adopt the Masterplan and defer it until further information could be provided due to concerns about the spine road.

Therefore, campaigners are using this opportunity to make their voices heard about the plans.

Judith Maunder, from environmental group Middlesbrough Greenstuff, has been coordinating a campaign alongside Martyn Walker to send letters of protest to the council about the proposals.

Currently, 881 letters have been submitted to the council with more than 120 waiting to make their way to the Town Hall.

She said: “We are going to step the campaign up now that we have over 800 letters.

“My next step is to get a lot of people on board to cover roads in the area as I want people to be doorknocking.

“I think the word is starting to spread – the more people are finding out about it the more they are telling their friends and relatives.”

One of the key concerns is the impact on the area’s biodiversity if the plans go ahead.

She added: “We have got red-listed species on that meadow. It’s really rich in wildlife, we have everything you can imagine there – deer, foxes, rabbits, hedgehogs and a lot of the wildlife will be killed on the road.

“Where the road is due to cross the beck, the beck will be polluted by the construction and we suspect there are a lot of water voles as we have had them in the past.

“We expect to lose a lot of wildlife, as where the road dissects the beck we have a wide variety of native orchids.

“We have three red-listed species of butterfly in that very same area. If you destroy that area, you destroy that habitat then you wipe out those rare species.”

As well as the spine road, the Stainsby development, which stretches from Mandale roundabout towards Brookfield, will host 1,670 new homes.

There are also plans to plant around 20,000 extra trees, create public orchards, implement cycleways and create new sports pitches.

Originally, there were proposals to build 100 homes in council-owned Stainsby North, known locally as Mandale Meadow,  however, those plans were dropped after opposition from local residents.

The council will lose out on £3.1m and a further £205,000 per year in council tax by not taking this development forward.

North Yorks CPRE, formerly known as the Campaign to Protect Rural England, which has increased its remit to cover Middlesbrough after being contacted by worried Teessiders, has also added its voice to the concerns of local people.

Chairman Jan Arger, said: “It’s a river valley that connects up to the River Tees so it is a wildlife corridor that links the River Tees to the countryside.

“Most importantly, after Covid, people have used it so much more because they haven’t been able to go out to the countryside in the car but they can walk to it from their house.

“So it’s a multipurpose green space. It’s really popular with local people and it has been for many years.

“I grew up on it, others walk their dogs on it, people go for picnics on it, all sorts of things happen on it and it gives people a lot of pleasure.”

The Stainsby Country Park Masterplan states that the road is necessary to provide access to the proposed housing developments in the area and to deal with the forecasted increase in car usage.

A number of options were proposed for the spine road, but the preferred one is to build it as far as possible to the west of the meadow.

A Middlesbrough Council spokesperson said: “While Mandale Meadow is not a designated Local Wildlife Site, any planning application which affects it will require an accompanying ecological assessment.

“This document will need to provide a full evaluation of the biodiversity and ecological value of the site and the impacts that any development may have.

“No date has yet been set for the Stainsby Masterplan to go to the council’s executive.”

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