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Dear Rt Hon Priti Patel MP, I am shocked by the lack of action by this Government to act on our ecological and climate emergency despite declaring a climate emergency and as our Secretary of State, I am disappointed that you are not taking more drastic action to save the Middlewick Ranges from development. While the Middlewick Ranges is an ‘asset’ to the MOD, it doesn’t excuse the fact that this space is a valuable habitat for a significant amount of rare and native wildlife, a vital Greenspace and buffer for the residence of South Colchester and a critical asset in our fight against climate change. I urge you to fight with us to make it a protected site and prevent development on it. Regardless of its ownership, the facts speak for themselves, it contains enough diversity to be classed as an SSSI, it is the largest remaining green space in Colchester and development on it will impact Colchester in terms of air quality, health and wellbeing, biodiversity, economic and safety. As our Secretary of State, I believe you can do more to protect Colchester’s largest remaining Greenspace. I respect that the Government places a strong emphasis on localism and decentralisation, and the general approach of the Secretary of State is, therefore, not to interfere with the decision-making process of democratically elected local councils on planning matters. Yet, this is a sale by the Ministry Of Defence - our national governmental body. In February, Prime Minister Boris Johnson launched COP26 declaring that: 'Only by repairing the damage to the natural world and restoring the balance between humanity and nature - which is now so grotesquely out of kilter - that we can address the problem of climate change.' Sir David Attenborough was also invited to speak and said it was so encouraging to know that the present Government has declared this year as the 'year of action'. The sale and subsequent development of the Middlewick Ranges must be stopped and rethought. I believe you have enough power to urge our PM to stop this sale. Please respond to this request. Thank you.

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