Why these 7-year-olds in Beaconsfield held a protest

A dozen year three pupils from Butlers Court School in the town took to the streets with banners and placards outside MP Dominic Grieve’s office and the office of developers Inland Homes on June 7.

The pupils and their parents are opposed to building on Green Belt land and the effect it will have on wildlife, which they fear is adding to the global climate crisis.

They sent letters to Inland Homes CEO Stephen Wicks, telling him: “We are running out of green space”.

Inland Homes wants to build 350 homes on the former MoD site Wilton Park – which is not Green Belt land, but is classified as brownfield – meaning it has been built on before.

It also comes amid ongoing debate about the Chiltern and South Bucks District Councils joint local plan, which got the green light by councillors in May.

The plan is now out to consultation so residents can put their concerns forward – but if it goes ahead, it could see 13 sites released from the Green Belt for housing or employment development across both districts.

Twelve villages could also be entirely removed from the Green Belt, including Hyde Heath, Ley Hill, South Heath and Winchmore Hill.

Land to the south east of Beaconsfield has also been earmarked to provide around 1,600 homes.

Campaigners, the Beaconsfield Society, have spoken out about how they believe the plan is “so damaging to Beaconsfield and beyond”.

After the plan was given the green light, Alison Wheelhouse from the society, said the town had been “let down badly”.

Sharing her concerns, seven-year-old Nia Brown, who wrote handwritten letters to both Mr Wicks and Mr Grieve, told the Bucks Free Press: “It will be very sad if the Green Belt will be used because it will affect lots of wildlife and that won’t be very nice for the animals.

“And I felt very proud that I took part in the protest with my friends at the school because we all care about the land, and it shouldn’t be used.”

Writing to Mr Wicks on May 20 and Mr Grieve on May 22, Nia asked for a meeting, adding: “We are worried about the building work on our Green Belt.

“Where will all the wild animals live? We are running out of green space. All of this is adding to the climate crisis.

“I am sure you are aware of this from the news. Please can we have a meeting to talk about this with you?”

Just over two and a half weeks later, Mr Wicks replied to Nia and said any building work would consider the wildlife that lives on the development.

He wrote: “I hope I can reassure you that we take looking after our environment very seriously and do everything we can to protect it.

“Using brownfield sites means we can limit how many homes need to be built on greenfield sites, including in the Green Belt.

“I agree that making sure the animals in the area continue to have a home is very important.

“To make sure we do this, we have carried out lots of surveys on the types and numbers of plants and animals in the area and assessed what the impact of our work could have.

“Most importantly, we have then put a plan in place to ensure we protect the animals during the building works and create new homes for the animals within the site after the building works have finished.

“We have promised to protect the newts, bats, and badgers along with the nesting and breeding birds that live in the area.

“We will keep as many of the existing trees on site as we can and make sure that there are large numbers of open space.

“The new homes we build will cover about the same area as the buildings already on the site – this is called the footprint of our development.

“I think you might also be interested to know that we aim to generate at least 10 per cent of the energy needed for the new development from renewable sources, rather than from fossil fuels. This will help us reduce our carbon emissions from the site.”