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Residents Action Group

Find out more about the Auction of Promises further down this page.

You can view the amazing array of lots in the catalogue.  Click on the link below:

Auction_of_Promises_Catalogue_23.01.2026

Who Are We and Our Aims

On the 18th November 2025, with the knowledge and support of the Parish Council, a small group of passionate and deeply concerned residents met to set up the Ampney Crucis Residents Action Group (ACRAG) in response to the Cotswold District Councils (CDC) draft Section 18 Local Plan which included a proposal for 660 new houses in the village.  Our aim is to increase and support engagement across the community to help everyone concerned put the strongest objections possible forward. The ACRAG constitution can be found here: ACRAG constitution

ACRAG Members are as follows:-

Doug Crook - Chair 07896 671730

Ellen Hopkins - Secretary 07505 416885

Sue Napier - Treasurer

Chris Fleming

Anastasia O'Brien

Charlotte Pink

Sandie Sowler

Kevin Underwood

Dave Hopkins

Andrew Lazenby

Mark Wadland

Supporting Our Community 

We created, printed and distributed over 300 leaflets to Ampney Crucis and the wider communities in Hilcot End, Barnsley and Ampney St Mary that clarified CDCs Material Consideration requirements and what were acceptable formats to submit responses e.g. letters, emails and portal engagement. We did this because many residents had told us they were struggling to use the portal for a variety of reasons and they were anxious to ensure their concerns and evidence were shared in a compliant way.  A copy of the leaflet can be found here: Leaflet And the Resident action guide can be found here: Resident Action Guide 

We also reached out to many local businesses, clubs and associations that would be impacted by this development, organised a drop-in help session at the Village Hall and where requested we made home visits for those that were struggling to access the councils portal and supporting documents.

Fundraising

Early on we recognised the need to commission professional expert reports that would show our genuine concerns had merit and were not just a simple NIMBY response. To that end we set up a GoFundMe page  https://gofund.me/d901f3a96 and a Community Bank Account, here are the details:

Account Name:      Ampney Crucis Residents Action Group

Sort Code:              30-54-66

Account Number: 64771668

Please do consider if you can offer financial support through a donation. Every pound you give helps us to protect our beautiful historic village and the open countryside setting around us.

Engaging Professionals

To strengthen our arguments, and to support the Parish Councils own representation, we carefully researched and sourced well regarded experts that could offer the following:

  • Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment
  • Hydrology Assessment (High Level)
  • Ecology Report (High Level)
  • Highways and Traffic Assessment
  • Heritage Report (Overview)

We commissioned Electoral Calculus and Find Out Now to run a poll in the Cotswolds area asking whether people support new development in the area and what they think of the new local plan, in particular allocating all of the new homes into just 21% of the district. Ampney Crucis was cited as an example where it is facing a staggering 270% increase in its size.  The poll results and our residents concerns were voiced on 9th December in the news bulletin featured on Simon Mayo's Drive Time show on Greatest Hits Radio and we made it into the local press several times, here are  the links to the articles if you would like to read more:-

18th December https://www.punchline-gloucester.com/articles/aanews/cotswold-residents-oppose-councils-local-development-plan·

9th December 2025 https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/cheltenham-news/mapped-cotswold-areas-14665-homes-10689664

By the deadline of January 2nd we had successfully submitted a professionally written representation that was supported by expert reports showing the land area proposed is not suitable for development and indeed fails to meet the requirements set out by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) on many levels.

We now await a response from Cotswold District Council.

What's Next

Your invitation to an evening that promises to be "Lots" of fun!
We are hosting an Auction Of Promises on Thursday 12th February, 7pm at The Crown at Ampney Brook.
We have over 50 Lots of all shapes and sizes including:-
Auctioneer: Mr Peter Bainbridge.
Tickets are £10 a head to include glass of fizz and nibbles.
To book your tickets please contact Ellen Hopkins by email at edmlhopkins@hotmail.co.uk
Full Auction Catalogue can be found here

Thank you 

Finally, the ACRAG Team would like to thank everyone of you that has supported us. It has been a steep learning curve for us and a little overwhelming at times, but your constant kind words, staggering efforts writing letters and emails and incredible financial generosity have made our efforts possible.