SWAP Press Release
PRESS RELEASE
26 April 2022
SWAP Campaign pitches up to Council AGM
The Fields Association’s SWAP Campaign welcomed Braintree District Councillors to their AGM last night. Protesters against the Ministry of Justice proposal to build two Mega Prisons on Wethersfield Airbase chanted “Trees and Parks not Traffic and Prisons” as councillors made their way in to the Council offices to attend their meeting.
The “Trees and Parks not Traffic and Prisons chant reflected the new banners installed by SWAP at the bottom of Sculpins Lane approaching the proposed prisons entrance.
Several of the Councillors were good enough to come over and chat with the 40 strong SWAP group telling them that they are hearing the concern of residents in the communities around Finchingfield and Wethersfield. None of the Conservative group did so however. There are now 12 parish councils which have joined the Wethersfield Airbase Scrutiny Committee (WASC) to oppose the Mega Prisons and review MoJ consultants’ assessments. WASC has also engaged its own consultants to assess the implications for traffic, heritage, landscape and is producing digital modelling of the prisons in the landscape context using drones.
The SWAP Parliamentary Petition, given a fillip by Chris Packham’s post supporting it on his Facebook page, has now reached over 9,000 signatures. When it gets to 10,000 the Government must provide a response to it. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/603619
For photos and video of the AGM demo please go to https://www.thefieldsassociation.org/media-resources see references to BDC AGM Demo.
Photos of the Sculpins Lane banners can also be viewed there.
Contact: Alan MacKenzie, SWAP Chair
Email: swapchair@outlook.com
