We are a volunteer group of concerned local residents, who set up the RAW campaign after feeling very strongly that action was needed to protect our green fields and local landscape against more unsightly warehouses, together with the huge impact such development will have on infrastructure, environment and ecology. It is a well known fact that there is an over supply of warehouse space sitting empty in and around the North Northamptonshire area, so you may ask why more?

Without community action the plan is likely to be approved with little consultation or scrutiny.

The proposal is motivated by money and profit, pure and simple, for a large company based in another part of the country, and with no genuine consideration of the long-term impact for residents of the local area.

In the promotional material and mountain of documentation attached to its application, Harworth has made several claims regarding the benefits to the local community that are utterly implausible and defy common sense.

They think that if they use enough buzzwords and make unvalidated claims like “3,000 jobs”, “enhancing biodiversity” and “investment in local infrastructure“ it will distract from the reality of yet more concrete buildings, damage to countryside and green spaces, and huge increases in traffic, exacerbating existing issues and overburdened roads, which are already under strain.

Harworth are counting on a disengaged local community, a hamstrung local council seeking to attract local investment at any cost, and a government with an agenda to aggressively rubber stamp new development. They have the resources to entangle the local apparatus in a protracted battle that will divert time, resources and attention from other important local issues. They have done this before.

If approved, the damage will be irreversible. And it will be the local community that has to live with the long-term effects, not Harworth. Do we want to leave this legacy for our children, and future generations?

This is David vs. Goliath. This is why we strongly object to this proposed warehouse development near Rothwell. And this is why we need your help.