Save the Moorpool Estate is a nice example of community action using internet tools for very local issues. The following is taken from this circular:

We live in one of the most beautiful parts of Birmingham and one of the first Garden Suburbs in Britain. The Moorpool Estate was started shortly after Bournville, 100 years ago and about the same time as Hampstead Garden Suburb. The Garden Suburbs were intended to provide a healthy and attractive environment for their residents, as well as a ‘green lung’ for the rest of the city. They are characterised by low density housing and above all by green spaces – gardens, allotments, green verges, mature trees and breathing space between houses.

For the first time in its 100-year history, the Moorpool Estate is under threat from developers. Many residents will have been shocked by the sudden letter from the Estate’s owners, Grainger PLC, who wish to insert a large number of dwellings into areas of the Estate. Some residents will be particularly badly affected, but the Moorpool Estate may be spoilt for us all – and Birmingham would be poorer - if these proposals are allowed to proceed unchallenged. Grainger PLC claim to be ‘improving’ the Estate! Yes, it does need maintenance in some areas (like the Valley Site), but maintenance should mean improvement, not increasing the housing density with all the accompanying problems of extra traffic and parking.

Meanwhile the blog is being used to distribute all the information about the development but, more critically, to collect opinions from those involved and affected.

I'd never heard of Moorpool before and it seems I'm not alone as it's "one of the city's best kept secrets" according to this nice piece of history by Steve Beauchampé writing on The Stirrer last year. I can't find any reference to exactly where it is (the campaign pages are written with the assumption you already live there, which is right and proper but not very useful) but I think it's here. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks to Deirdre Alden for the heads up.