Save Oakfield campaign issues rallying call to supporters

The plans were thrown out by Rugby Borough Council but Heart of England has appealed and now the Save Oakfield group is looking to get expert help on board for when the appeal hearing takes place.

In an update to supporters this morning, Thursday, it revelaed it had set up a fundraising page to pay for planning expertise.

The page can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/saveoakfield

Support has already started to come in, with nearly £1,000 raised in just over a day - making it a trending campaign on the fundraising site.

Spokesman Richard Joy said: “To give us the greatest chance of success, we will be activating ‘rule 6’ which means we’ll be taking an active role in the appeal process.

“As you know, we are not experts, so we would like to employ the services of a planning consultant and a planning barrister to handle the case for us. As you can imagine, such services are costly and the ball park figure we’ve been given is £15,000.

“Should this figure be too large to raise there are alternatives for us to pursue, such as self-representation with some guidance and a case review from a planning consultant. The cost would be in the region of £2,000.

“The campaign has been running for two years now, and this is the first time we have asked for financial assistance.

“Anything you can contribute personally to help will be gratefully received. If there are any companies or local organisations that you are aware of who want to support a green, people campaign then please approach them.

“No matter how big or small the donation, every penny helps and gives us access to more professional help in our bid to prevent the Co-op’s appeal being successful.”