Accusations of bullying and harassment have been levied against our campaign and our members. As a result, we’ve written some rules for members to follow, which are at the bottom of this post. We also strongly suggest anyone who has been the victim of bullying or harassment report it to the police. We agree that matters have become hostile over the last few months, and campaign members and supporters of Velindre – all volunteers – have become frustrated at times. This has led to conflict and heated conversation in the comments section. We strongly disagree that such comments amount to bullying or harassment. Yes, the discussion has been poor at times. Yes, both sides have struggled with misinformation and inaccuracies because the planning application is literally hundreds of documents, and no actual plan has even been released for the design of the centre yet. Often these issues are being boiled down to a single comment. A nuanced discussion of the issue is almost impossible on social media. But disagreement and conflict do not amount to harassment or bullying.
We contend that supporters levying these accusations have not been perfect in their discourse, and have left many of our supporters feeling targeted and harassed too. We strongly deny any legitimate supporters of the campaign would harass staff or patients of Velindre. These accusations are untrue and grossly misrepresent the campaign and our aims. We have always emphasised working together to find a solution that works for everyone for the new Velindre Cancer Centre. We have worked with staff, clinicians, patients, and family members to ensure we are as respectable as possible in our discussion.If anyone is a victim of harassment, we extend our apologies and invite a conversation with you to identify what happened and who is responsible.
Anyone who is using intimidation to spread our message is not a legitimate member of the campaign and is certainly not involved in running this page.We would welcome a process of discussion and reconciliation to move forward together. We have always said we want to work together to find a solution that would let us save nature AND have excellent cancer care in South Wales. Our research indicates this was never considered by planners.
We have always been an intersectional campaign run by volunteers directly for members of the community who never had an opportunity to speak up in 2017. We have always been clear that community consultation is one of the most important aspects of the planning process, and our exclusion in 2017 means this is now our last chance to democratically voice our concerns. We welcome the formation of the group of supporters. We hope by looking at the planning applications and doing further research supporters will also begin to recognise the significant problems with the plans as they are. We accept we don’t always get it right. We hope you can be patient with us as we are all volunteers using our free time to stand for the meadows and our local community. We strongly believe we can save the meadows AND have excellent cancer care in South Wales. It is simply a lie that we don’t have enough space and we have to choose between them. We hope that our work can help secure the best cancer care for the people of South Wales, and ensure the nVCC is the best form it can be. We accept it is a difficult and emotive conversation and is always looking to improve our communication and discussions. We ask community members opposing our campaign to do the same.
We have all been affected by cancer in one way or another. Members of our group have been through hell because of it. Many of them and their families have also been treated at Velindre, and have praised the incredible staff.We want to be clear no one is targeting the staff or patients at Velindre. We extend our heartfelt apologies if staff or patients have been hurt by the campaign, or if the campaign has caused you any distress. We would like to hear from you publicly or in confidence to find out how we can do better.
Finally, we will mention a few rules we believe can help prevent accusations from emerging in future. If any discussion breaches the rules we will take it down. If anyone is causing any issues please raise them with this page or the group admins.
Be kind, courteous, respectful. Don’t engage in personal attacks.
Don’t directly message anyone you are speaking to in the comments.
Don’t share screenshots of messages from individuals publicly without covering their name and photo. This could instigate further targeting of this individual and make you a harasser.
Don’t spend to much time on here. Facebook comments never changed anyone’s mind.
Tess and the Team
Save the Northern MeadowsYes to Velindre, No to meadows development.