Silverlands Action Campaign has formed to co-ordinate the response to the proposed Home Office use of the former Nursing College at Silverlands School Of Nursing, Holloway Hill, Chertsey, KT160AE.

Who are we?
The Silverlands Action Campaign is a team of volunteers drawn from the local community. Some members of the group have specialist skills (e.g. legal, IT, marketing or PR), some represent local schools, and others are concerned parents who wish to play an active role in opposing the Silverlands proposal. The group works closely with a number of local Councillors and is in regular contact with Runnymede Borough Council, other local organisations, Surrey Police and our local MP.

There are no formal leaders, although some people have specific roles such as treasurer, dealing with media enquiries, fundraising, etc.

The group is split into two main teams. One team dealing with the planning of events and media coverage. The second team dealing with overall strategy, fund-raising and preparing the legal background for a possible judicial review of any Home Office decision that supports the Silverland development.

There is a core group of people who, dependent on skills and available time, take on various tasks and roles within these groups and many others who help on an as-needed basis or with distribution of newletters, etc.

Almost 200 people have "registered" at the Campaign's website and receive regular updates - mostly via email newsletters which are identical to the paper copies.

What follows is a brief list of what the group will and will not be doing;

We will:
· Provide regularly updated information on all matters relating to the Silverlands proposal. This will normally be via a weekly newsletter and a website at www.silverlandsgroup.org.

· Provide reasonable advice and assistance to anyone who wishes to undertake any legal activity in protest against the Silverlands development.

· Organise and promote regular events to ensure that the Silverlands issue is kept in the public eye. This includes keeping the media fully informed of activities and developments.

· Provide feedback to the local authority and the Home Office based upon your views clearly expressed to us by phone, mail and e-mail.

· Organise fund-raising activities and prepare for a legal challenge to the proposal, should the Home Office persist with their proposals to site the clinic at Silverlands.

We will not:
· Claim to represent the views of everyone in the community. We can only represent our own personal views and those shared with us directly.

· Undertake any action that is in breach of the law.

Our mission, which we believe in passionately, is to protect our children and by extension all children in the vicinity of Silverlands, from what we believe to be a serious threat to their wellbeing. We accept that there are people who could benefit from attending a facility such as that proposed for Silverlands, but cannot and will not accept a government decision to site such a facility in such close proximity to 25 schools caring for 7,000 children.

We have received tremendous encouragement from large numbers of people who share our concerns and support what we are doing.

We would welcome your ideas and suggestions as to how we could be more effective in our communication, events and activities and would welcome any tangible support in areas such as printing, newsletter distribution, legal expertise, event co-ordination etc.

Most importantly we need your support.

Silverlands Action Campaign
28th November, 2001