...........

SRRA will team up once again with Earl's Court and Olympia Group staff on Sunday 14 September for its third "clean-up operation" of the Olympia Car Park Woodland, which is currently under threat from the proposed St. George development.

All volunteers are welcome (strongly encouraged, says SRRA) to give a hand; the weather should be fine, but come to the site with sturdy shoes and gardening gloves. SRRA will make sure coffee and biscuits are available!

The operation will start at 10am; if you can only make it later, do so. Access the woodland through the main entrance of the Car Park, Maclise Road; then walk on for 200 yards or so, and we'll be there.

SRRA urges residents to help since in the present circumstances it is vital that this operation is just as much of a success as the previous ones.

The first clean-up operation was on the 8th of December last year. More than 11 skipfuls of rubbish were removed from the site.

For the second one, on the 13th April, another two skips were filled with a remarkable variety of items this morning - including a metal bed, complete with springs, shopping baskets, and a motor-scooter, which had been decaying there for quite a while...

According to SRRA, a great deal of the mess that's been removed from the site since the beginning of the year has been dumped by residents and - especially - by inconsiderate builders who have just left behind them bricks, concrete blocks, paint pots, scaffolding, metal bars etc. after they'd completed their work.


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"Now more than ever, we need your help"
SRRA needs to raise money

Letter by Philippe Auclair, Denis Carroll,
Joint Chairs, SRRA

"As you know, the Public Inquiry which will effectively decide upon the future of the 'Former Motorail Site' starts tomorrow Wednesday 3rd September at Hammersmith Town Hall, King Street, Hammersmith.

SRRA has campaigned for nearly a year against St. George's proposal to build 251 residential units - and 171 car ports - on this site, which is a designated Site of Nature Conservation Importance and fulfils a vital role in the operations of the borough's single largest private employer, the Earls Court and Olympia Group. Thanks to the constant support of our members, we have been able to inform our local community through the distribution of flyers, public meetings and our own website (www.srra.com, which has now registered over 200,000 hits) ; we have lobbied the local authorities, liaised with other voluntary organisations and residents' associations, met with our MP, councillors and GLA representative on a regular basis, kept the local media informed of all new developments, researched the history of the site, and devised a sustainable plan for its future, which involves the creation of an Urban Nature Reserve, with the support of a number of local schools & voluntary organisations . We have also commissioned two ecological surveys of the site, and appointed a qualified planning consultant to help us present our case at the Inquiry. All this, thanks to people like you.

According to a survey which is being conducted in our neighbourhood, close to 95% of local residents approve of our action.

These are spectacular results for an Association which is yet to celebrate its first anniversary.

But this will count for nothing if we cannot make our voice heard when it really matters - at the Public Inquiry.

Local authorities have their own resources; so does St. George, which is part of the single biggest development group in the UK - Berkeley Homes plc. SRRA does not. We rely entirely on the voluntary contributions of local residents and businesses; that is the price we pay for our independence; and, indeed, one of the reasons why we have earned the respect of many over the course of the last ten months.

Now more than ever, we need your help. We need to raise as much money as possible to pay for the fees of our consultants, to keep the local community informed, to maintain our website, to print our flyers - to keep working for our community.

Every penny raised so far has been used to fight our campaign against the St. George proposal. Every penny raised will be used in the same way. We aim to raise another £2,500 over the next four weeks to cover the costs to be incurred during the forthcoming Public Inquiry, including all consultancy and legal fees.

We need your support; so, please, be as generous as you can be. No matter how large or small your contribution is, it will make a difference; not just to our Association, but to our community. We are convinced we are fighting a just cause. We need the means to fight it.

All donations should be sent by cheque (written out to: S.R.R.A.) to: SRRA, Basement Flat, 142 Sinclair Road, London, W14 0NL.

Thank you for your support.

Philippe Auclair, Denis Carroll,
Joint Chairs, SRRA"