What is happening with the parking at Loughton’s Morrisons on Saturdays and Sundays? It is simply impossible to park there during the supermarket peak hours from about noon till 3. I can understand that there are the credit crunch and the financial crisis ravaging around and Morrisons supermarket has all over sudden become very popular with locals but these numbers of visitors should have been anticipated when the parking was built initially for Safeway, which Morrisons have bought several years ago.

Look at what Loughton’s Sainsburys did – they built huge parking lot, which is enough to accommodate all peak hour supermarket shoppers. I don’t know how and who they have fought for that and whether they fought at all but the Sainsburys parking is very useful for Loughton.

Look at Harlow Town Centre – a new ASDA, TK Maxx and other shops have been build there and it became obvious that there wouldn’t be enough parking spaces for the customers if nothing is done about that. So they’ve built the huge two-store parking, which together with other parking facilities in Harlow Town Centre is enough for everyone.

Because of the parking limitations I’ve described above I sometimes avoid shopping at Morrisons. I regret this but what can I do? It’s better to go to Sainsbury and park there and shop there rather than going round the Morrisons parking lot together with other unfortunate motorists looking for a soon-to-become-empty parking spot.

Sometimes I park somewhere in Loughton and browse Morrisons with the basket - not a trolley - thus buying much less that I would have if I had a trolley.

Maybe one day Morrison bosses will figure out what’s going on with the parking on Saturdays and Sundays and somehow will extend the shop’s parking area, but at the moment unfortunately they are loosing their local customers.

The green spaces in Loughton are very important for the Loughton residents. They allow children to be active outside of their homes and in the same time to be monitored by their parants. They allow adults to be active too by doing some jogging and excercises on the fresh air away from the cars and buses. They allow the dog owners to walk their dogs there and to play with them.

The green spaces were wisely put in our town to bring the joy to those who live nearby. This is not concrete London and not even Athens where in some areas for miles around there are no green spaces at all. We love Loughton because of its greenness and areas free from cars and houses.

And now our “much-loved” Epping Forest District Council decided to deprive the Loughton people of their pride and joy because the government don’t have enough houses to give to the immigrants who come to the UK, claim benefits and live in houses that are given to them by the government itself. That is the only reason for Gordon Brown’s government to build millions of new houses around London and that’s why councils are obliged to find the space to build them.

But that’s the subject for another much wider discussion. Here, I want to focus on the protection of green spaces in Loughton. They are mentioned on the Loughton Residents Association website here and are not just some derelict overgrown areas – these are spaces that are well looked-after and used by people. (Click here for the related Loughton Council news.) Maybe except the little wood alongside Oakwood Hill, all of the green spaces in Loughton are there for a reason. And even the wooden area is there to shield the town from the motorway M11.

All the green spaces in town need to be preserved at any cost because they are there for our children and children of our children. How can we do that? That’s a good question. Do what you can: sign the LRA petition, send a letter to Loughton and Epping Forest councils arguing agains the concrete jungles in Loughton, put a banner on your car or in the window of your house, spread the word by telling everyone about the problem.

Indeed, in addition to the reasons for the green spaces, there are plenty of reasons against Loughton expansion and more and more residents. The town’s infrastructure is not capable of supporting more and more cars on the roads. The capacity of schools in Loughton cannot expand forever. The surgeries are full. The supermarkets are overcrowded. Why do Loughton people have to suffer because of the stupid policies carried out by the government of this country in the name of people who oppose these policies?

Say “Yes” to preserve the existing green spaces in Loughton!

Say “No” to more houses in Loughton!

Save Loughton’s authenticity, stop it becoming just another London suburb!