The plans for Yarm School's extension onto the Egglescliffe side of the Tees were worse than I had anticipated.  Not only the flood plain area is to be covered by rugby pitches, cricket pitches, rounders courts and athletics tracks but the upper field near the village will also house several rugby pitches of varying sizes for different age groups.  Between the two will be a cricket pavilion.  All this would be fenced off from the public by a wooden post and rail fence with high hedging, closing the Teesdale way off from views over the plain.   A swathe of land which slopes too steeply to be converted into sports pitches would become public parkland/open space.  A 36 space car park would be provided in the "wagon yard" at the foot of Stony Bank behind the new flats.  We were told that this would help to ease the problems of parking in Yarm High St, though why people would choose to park there when currently there is no shortage of space in front of those flats during the day is beyond me.
The link to Yarm would be via a truss & girder bridge which would be accessed from Atlas Wynd and from the school via a secure gate.
The whole would be financed from the sale of 500 large family houses on the current playing field and land beyond it towards Kirklevington.
Unfortunately our Focus leaflet had gone to press and was on the way to deliverers when we got this information so the only way we could let people know was by email.  Anyone who isn't on our email update list and would like to be can be added by contacting me.  Luckily a combination of email, facebook, twitter and word of mouth meant lots of people could get there and make their voices heard.
For those who couldn't be there, the developer's agent has promised to look into the possibility of setting up a website but meanwhile the website of the Protect Yarm - Leven Valley has some pictures of the display boards from the consultation.  If you want to let your Lib Dem councillors know what you think - just email.  We'll respond to all relevant comments.  At the moment all of our correspondence has been from people who object to the proposals.  It may be that there are some people in favour - we need to know so that we can truly represent the residents of Eaglescliffe ward.