THE Throop SANG has been approved. This is not only a major local tragedy for the ecology and wildlife of a conserved area in the green belt, but also for the people who come to Throop to enjoy the peace, quiet and unspoilt nature of this special area.

The recent hype that BCP Parks have promulgated about Throop being a nature park is just not true. In future visitors will find that the area has become an overrun and overused urban park devoid of any natural environment.

Look what’s happened at Kingfisher Barn and the nature reserve.

Conservative-led BCP Council have been absolutely desperate to get planning permission for the vanity £100m Winter Gardens development which cannot go ahead unless planning permission is granted to the Throop SANG – and all so the developers they suck up to can make shedloads of money.

Does anyone actually believe that these central Bournemouth luxury apartments will have anything to do with alleviating local housing need?

What has happened today will affect every resident in Bournemouth as BCP Council now has carte blanche to develop all the car parks in the town centre with impunity.

So next time anyone gets angry about the lack of parking in Bournemouth because BCP has built over public car parks, just remember that your lack of parking spaces has only been made possible by the sacrifice of Throop.

Being August, many of the regular planning committee councillors are absent or on holiday, the Conservative party took advantage and overwhelmed the planning committee with its own ‘yes’ councillors to achieve the votes to get the planning permission they crave.

These actions are highly questionable.

As I watched the Zoomed planning committee unfold I was struck by the BCP tag line along the screen – passionate about our communities, integrity, respect, pride – and how these aspirational words bore absolutely no reality to the way the meeting unfolded.

SARAH FISHER

Throop, Bournemouth