MR Fair Play (Echo, Aug 22), should consider changing his name. The Oxford Dictionary defines fair play as "reasonable treatment or behaviour". The Newbottle community has received neither reasonable treatment nor reasonable behaviour at the hands of his friend the developer, nor Sunderland Council.

A planning application for a scheme of this scale should not have been rushed through the planning process in three months, design mistakes were bound to be made (and they have been).

It was also inevitable that when this scheme's design faced scrutiny by an Environmental Impact Assessment, the developer's Environmental Statement would be found wanting. The issues relating to "noise" creates more than 50 differences which together seriously adversely impact residential amenity.

The issues relating to "transport" and the developers plan to operate a maximum of only 12 pitches (yes, only 12 of the 20 pitches will operate). Even 60 per cent utilisation means that Newbottle Village should be avoided at all costs at 10.55 on a Saturday morning.

Why? Well Newbottle Village becomes gridlocked because 118 car spaces are full and another set of cars are seeking admission. (Do the maths for 20 pitches in operation and remember there is no car parking provision for referees, officials or spectators.)

There are a further 11 elements to the issue which contain information (or not) which collectively will cause this scheme to fail.

Remember that this developer has already benefited from the construction of 500 houses in Newbottle. Mr Fairplay alluded to this when he stated, "everywhere is just houses".

The 7,000 trees in the Great North Forest at Newbottle and the wildlife habitats will be fought for, "tooth and nail" by the collective actions of 96 per cent of the Newbottle Community and their allies.
TWAG continues to seek donations to help in the battle to save The Great North Forest and the wildlife habitats. Pledges to
tw.actiongroup@btinternet.com
Trees & Wildlife Action Group (TWAG)

Thousand words
ON August 22 you featured a letter from "Fair Play" of Newbottle.
You always feature a picture on your letters page. They say a picture tells a thousand words.
Why would anyone in their right mind want to trade the natural beauty of Newbottle Woods. Please see the "Before" picture.
With the prospect of? well, please see the "After" picture.
Public money should be used to improve the environment, not destroy what public money has provided in the first instance.
Newbottle Wood is of national significance as part a the community forest initiative, one of only 12 in the UK. The wildlife habitats in Newbottle Wood are of county significance.
Friends of the Earth,
Wearside Local Group

More folk objected
WITH reference the anonymous comments of "Fair Play" on the so-called "Forgotten Village" of Newbottle, the quoted figures of 230 objectors to the current Planning Application for football pitches on the site of Newbottle Wood, part of the Great North community forest, is in fact almost a quarter of the actual figure.
More than 90 per cent of both Newbottle and Sunderland residents oppose the development, with many no doubt aware too that it could open the planning flood gates to a future over-saturation of housing (and thus trafffic) in this currently nature-rich, open green space
The issue of deficiencies in school clubs and leisure centre provision is an entirely unconnected issue to that of inappropriate large scale development.The City is neither short of pitches nor the village of playing fields. Even the very children "Fair Play" claims to speak for have recognised it's possible to be "pro-footy" but oppose the wanton destruction of 7,000 trees and the wildlife it supports.
Andy Brown,
Former Newbottle resident,
Leeds

Open your eyes
Mr "FAIR PLAY" from Newbottle is indeed deluded and in a minority (Echo, Aug 22). It's not surprising that he seeks anonymity, when 96 per cent of Newbottle folk wish to save the 7,000 trees in The Great North Forest planted by "the public purse", along with the wildlife habitats of more than 100 species.
He must walk around Newbottle Village with his eyes closed if he has not seen Newbottle's recently constructed adventure playground. He also seems, not to have seen the playing fields on the Recreation Ground or at Hawthorn Street.
The problem for Mr Fair Play's scheme is that our school children are switched on to their environment and 96 per cent of boys (and the girls) also wish to save the trees and the wildlife.
The £1million of public money must be spent on a "brownfield" site which can be improved by becoming playing fields – there are plenty to choose from.
Mrs M Bennett,
Newbottle

Never forgotten
I AM disgusted that "Fair Play" dares to suggest Newbottle is a forgotten village. Nobody in this village has forgotten that for decades we overlooked the former Lambton Coke Works. Nor will we forget the views (or the smell) created by the Biffa landfill site.
Nor are we ever likely to forget those who were responsible for trying to steal The Great North Forest from right under our nose. No, Fair Play, we'll keep our "silk purse" and you can take your "sow's ear" of a scheme to a more appropriate site that will benefit by becoming playing fields.
Disgusted Tony,
Newbottle

More trees please
HAS anyone noticed just how wet August has been? Official figures featured in news coverage nationally. The August rainfall was not of the showery type. At times the rainfall was monsoon-like causing chaos for everyone.
The 7,000 trees to be felled at Newbottle to make way for football pitches were planted by schoolchildren using taxpayers' money. The trees not only provide a valuable public amenity but each thirsty tree gobbles up vast quantities of water. With the trees gone, the natural water table would rise and the result would be greater flooding to Blind Lane and Sedgeletch Road .
In addition, each tree consumes one tonne of "green house gases", stores carbon and releases healthy oxygen into the atmosphere that we can all breathe. The scientists agree that greenhouse gases contribute to climate change which leads us back to where I started – wetter Augusts!
More Trees Please Louise, Newbottle