Who are FDOG and what do we do?

FDOG (the Furtho Development Objection Group) are a small group of people who are passionate about protecting the rural surroundings of Cosgrove, Old Stratford, and other villages nearby.  We are supported and strengthened by an equally passionate wider group, who help us in many different ways such as delivering leaflets, making placards, manning stalls, etc.

So much has taken place that people joining the cause daily may not realise.  Read through the list to date and let us know if you have more suggestions.

Raising Awareness

• We designed and printed hundreds of flyers for several different areas highlighting the issues that would affect each neighbourhood if this development is permitted. With the help of our wider group, we delivered these to almost every household in Cosgrove, Old Stratford, Stony Stratford, Deanshanger, Wicken, Potterspury, Paulerspury, Yardley Gobion, Grafton Regis, Alderton, Castlethorpe, Hanslope, Haversham, Wolverton Mill, Galley Hill, Beachampton, and Thornton. 

• We have operated stalls at several events including the Riverside Big Lunch in Stony Stratford, the D-Day event in Old Stratford,  a number of Cosgrove village events and the Castlethorpe Duck Race.

• We put up an enormous banner at the Old Stratford roundabout - until WNC made us take it down.

• We put large banners at The Swan public house in Old Stratford, outside a private home on the Stratford Road, and the huge one reappeared on the side of a narrowboat at Cosgrove for the canal festival weekend as well as others on Solomon's Bridge, and over the horse tunnel.

• We have created posters for our supporters to print themselves (available here) and these are displayed on telegraph poles, fences, noticeboards, and in windows in all the nearest villages.

• We have been interviewed by Stony Radio,  Anglia News, Financial Times, BBC News, BBC Radio Northamptonand BBC 3 Counties Radio. We have appeared several times in the local press.

• We write monthly updates for our newsletter and these are also published in The Old Mail,which is distributed in Cosgrove, Potterspury and Yardley Gobion.

• We regularly attend Cosgrove Parish Council and try to attend Old Stratford Parish Council meetings when we can, to hear the latest updates from our Ward Councillor, Ian McCord, and to share our research and findings about the application. 

• We're very active on social media- and are members of a number of local groups online too.

• A wooden scale model of the warehouse, crafted by one of our team, highlights its massive size. Displayed at Stony Stratford library, Parish Council meetings, and local events, it consistently draws significant (and often dismayed) attention.

Encouraging Objections

• We created this website with links to the council's planning portal and we summarised every viable objection that you can make. We have kept the website updated with any changes to the application.

• We are running a social media campaign, which is reaching thousands of people, and encouraging more people to formally object.  At the time of writing, there are over 3,000 objections from the general public.

Correspondence with authorities

• We wrote to every member of West Northamptonshire's Strategic Planning Committee, twice.

• We sent a copy of the FT article to ward councillors for Deanshanger, Newport & Hanslope, Stony Stratford, Wolverton and CMK, and then followed up with an objection letter and the three consultant reports a week later. We also emailed them in July 2023 to tell them about Framptons' exhibition.

• We sent the FT article and all three consultant reports to the local MPs (at that time) Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire), Ben Everett (MK North - incl Wolverton), and Iain Stewart (MK South - incl Stony.)

• We sent the flooding report to Newport Pagnell council in July 2023, and sent the traffic report to Buckingham Town Council in August 2023.

• We wrote to Andrea Leadsom again at the end of July 2023 with questions about the Northampton Gateway pollution study and HGV restrictions on the A508. This letter was copied to Deanshanger ward councillors Ian McCord and Ken Pritchard.

• In July 2023, we sent the traffic assessment to both Local Highways & National Highways, the biodiversity report to WNC Ecology department, and the hydrology report to the Environment Agency.

• We have written to Historic England and West Northants' Conservation Officer about omissions in the historical sites assessments.

• We have also written to:

• The Environment Agency
• RSPB
• The Wildlife Trust
• Campaign to Protect Rural England CPRE
• Amphibian and Reptile Conservation ARC
• Open Spaces Society OSS
• The Scouting Association

• During the consultation for West Northants emerging Local Plan in April and May 2024, we attended Cosgrove, Old Stratford, Deanshanger, Potterspury, Paulerspury and Yardley Gobion Parish Council meetings to learn what their findings were and to share our concerns (further info here).

• During the election campaign in July 24 we were contacted by three of the parliamentary candidates and arranged a site visit for each of them; Labour candidate, Cllr Rufia Ashraf, Lib Dem candidate, Stewart Tolley and Conservative candidate, Sarah Bool.

• In August 2024 we met again with Sarah Bool, the newly elected MP for South Northants. As a commercial lawyer, Sarah has professional knowledge of how the planning system works and therefore how best to combat it. Having visited the site during the election campaign last summer, she agrees that there are significant ‘gaps’ in the proposals and is happy to lend her support going forward as an industry expert.

• In August 2024 the planning solicitor who we engaged some time ago completed her review of every aspect of the proposed development and wrorte to the planning department, outlining the many concerns and pitfalls within the proposals. A copy of the full letter can now be found here.

• In October 2024 we wrote to West Northampton Council's Strategic Planning Committee outlining exactly why this development is inappropriate for the area, including evidence of the impact of recent flooding, and urging them to dismiss the proposals. A copy of this correspondence was sent to all Parish Councils in the vicinity, our Ward Councillor, Ian McCord, and MP, Sarah Bool. A copy of it can be found here.

• In October 2024 we were approached by James Soper, prospective council candidate for Deanshanger Ward who was keen to visit the Furtho site and hear our objections to the proposed development. 

Fundraising

• Since June 2023 we have raised just over £9,000 through our crowdfunding campaign, and £4,000 through private donations. With this money we were able to contribute towards Cosgrove Parish Council's review of the flooding risk. We have also commission expert reviews of the developer's environmental, traffic, and hydrology and heritage assessments, as well as engaging legal planning advice.

• Through building relationships with the Parish Councils, we have received financial contributions towards our expert consultant reviews from Castlethorpe, Cosgrove, Grafton Regis, Old Stratford and Stony Stratford. For this, we are truly grateful.

• We have organised two ‘NoWare’ live music events, also launching NoWare Merchandising to help raise further funds. Several members of our wider community in Cosgrove and Stony Stratford have also organised fundraising events including Table Top sales, Curry Nights & Bingo nights, which we have encouraged, supported and promoted. We welcome further events and help from the community in raising funds.

• In July 2024 a local beekeeper very generously offered to donate all of this year’s honey to raise funds for our campaign. He is supporting us because his bees forage on the many wildflowers of the land at Furtho. So far he has raised over £500. 

• In April 2024, we launched our first Stop3000Trucks merchandising to coincide with our very first NoWare music event. We now have 100% cotton t-shirts, sweaters, hoodies and tote bags and quality art prints available to buy. All profits from sales go straight to the Stop3000Trucks fundraising campaign. Order from stop3000trucks.teemill.com to show your support.

Research

• We have consulted experts in traffic modelling, hydrology, environment, planning (strategic and legal), pollution and heritage assets.  We've also met or talked to other protest groups such as STAUNCH, Castlethorpe, Save Weekly Hall Woods, Save Towcester Now, Save St Albans - Fight The Freight, Protect Diseworth, Northampton Gateway, Save Our Spen, Hampden Fields Action Group, Save North St Albans Green Belt, and Save Our Fields.

• We attended WNC's Strategic Planning Committee meeting in July 2023 to understand how it operates, and have attended hearings for the DHL development at Towcester.

• We have read every document on the WNC planning portal, plus many of the 3000 neighbourhood objections. We have read WNC's Local Plan 1 and Local Plan 2, lots of planning legislation, countless articles and research into the logistics industry.  We've used this information to update you on this site and on social media with reasons to object to the development.

• We've researched the background of Frontier and Framptons and read through many of their previous developments.

• We found the archived planning refusal for a garden centre on this land and used those reasons to question WNC about this development.

• We're still looking for documentation about what exactly was buried on the site after the Deanox works closed in the early 1990s.

Anything else?

• We prepared a list of hard hitting questions for Framptons' Q&A session in August 2023, and arranged the protest outside the exhibition in July 2023.

• We've transcribed the whole exhibition and Q&A session. You can read it here.

And we're not finished yet!