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Friends of Queen Elizabeth Park | Farnborough

Please Write to Leo Docherty MP

Deadline extended to Tuesday 21st July 2020. You still have time to write.

Even though the Planning Inspectorate’s Examination is complete, you still have an opportunity to help ensure that we get the right outcome for the park. The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (currently Alok Sharma) will evaluate Esso’s plans between 9th July 2020 and 9th October 2020, but you can write to your MP, Leo Docherty, and ask him to make representations and ensure that the correct decision is made.

Please write to Leo Docherty MP as soon as you can, ideally by 21st July 2020.

If your letter arrives in the first two weeks of July, it will have the biggest impact. You can still write after that time but the evaluation of Esso’s plans is likely to have progressed further by then.

What to Say

Letters will have a greater influence if they are all different, so we encourage to use your own words if you can. Explain what the park means to you and why it is important that the plans submitted by Esso are bad for the park. We cannot win by simply stating that the pipeline should not go ahead, so please also explain why you think Esso should drill under the park instead of digging a trench through it.

Where to Send Your Letter

We have been contacted by Leo Docherty’s office and we are pleased to say that they are keen to receive your points of view on the pipeline. They have told us that the current Covid-19 restrictions make it difficult to receive post so their preference is that you use email.

Send your letter/email to Leo Docherty directly using this address:

Alternatively you can deliver your letter by hand to his constituency office at 147 Victoria Road, Aldershot, Hampshire GU11 1JW. Please only deliver your letter by hand to this address — if you send it by post then security arrangements are likely to introduce a delay.

Please be sure to include your home address in your email. This is essential and enables your MP can be certain that he is responding only to his constituents’ views.

I Want to Write But I Don’t Have Time!

We understand that writing to your MP can be difficult and time consuming, so here is a template you can use to make things easier. Please replace the sections in square with your own words. There are some suggestions in the section below to give you some ideas about what to write.

You don’t need to write much — even one sentence in each space is enough — what matters is that the letter is uniquely yours.

[……Your Name……]
[……Your address……]

[……Date……]

Leo Docherty MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

Dear Mr. Docherty,

I am writing to you to express my concern about the Southampton to London Pipeline Development Consent Order which Esso have applied for. The section of the project which I am particularly concerned about runs through Queen Elizabeth Park in Farnborough.

The park is important to me because …………………………………..

The plans proposed by Esso are bad for the park because …………………………………..

During the Planning Inspectorate’s examination of Esso’s application, Rushmoor Borough Council and the Neighbours and Users of Queen Elizabeth Park proposed an alternative approach to install the pipeline in the park, using Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD), which would greatly reduce damage and disruption. Rushmoor Borough Council commissioned an independent report which concluded that HDD is feasible but Esso have refused to use this technique.

I think that Esso should use HDD because …………………………………..

Would you please ensure that these views are taken into account during the Government’s review of Esso’s DCO application and do whatever you can to ensure that Esso reduce their impact on our park by drilling beneath it.

Yours sincerely

[……Your signature……]

[……Your name……]

Copy Letter to ClipboardDownload as a Word Document

Some inspirational ideas are listed below. Remember you don’t have to use them all — just one in each section is perfectly fine, but use as many as you like.

Why the Park is Important to You

  • Say what you do in the park and why you enjoy doing it.
  • Say how often you use the park.
  • Describe how the park has been vital to maintaining your mental and physical wellbeing during the lockdown.
  • Explain how much further you would have to travel to do the same things if the park wasn’t there.
  • Describe a personal memory associated with a particular place in the park.

Why Esso’s Plans Are Bad and Damaging to the Park

  • Explain a way in which Esso’s work in the park would make life more difficult for you, particularly if the disruption lasts for two years.
  • Explain why it is important that the temporary play area is built in a sensible place, well away from Esso’s construction work.
  • Say what it would mean to you if trees were lost and the character of the park changed. Mention specific trees if there are any which are particularly important to you.
  • Describe why you think Esso’s methods are wrong, e.g. digging a trench so close to trees.

Why Esso Should Use HDD

  • Describe why you think this is a better method than digging a trench and risking damage to numerous trees.
  • Explain why you think this would be less disruptive to your use of the park.
  • Say why you are disappointed that Esso have refused to use this method.