http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26338761 Village green fears after Supreme Court ruling By Mike SergeantLocal government correspondent, BBC NewsGill Taylor went to the Supreme Court to stop development of Curtis Fields in WeymouthContinue reading the main story Related Stories Supreme Court revokes town green bidSupreme Court to hear town green bid'Village green' bid land plan agreedCampaigners fear some town and village greens could be under threat, after a Supreme Court ruling last month stripped two open spaces of their official status.Curtis Fields in Weymouth, Dorset, and Clayton Fields in West Yorkshire were both taken off the village green list after the court found problems with the way they were registered.The ruling presents no immediate threat to the traditional English greens of popular imagination - many with cricket pitches, oak trees and country pubs.Most of these classic and quintessentially English spaces were registered long before 1970 when the rules changed.However,*the judgement*might affect those greens added more recently.Many wouldn't fit the traditional image of a town green at all. Some are open fields at the back of housing estates, others are scrappy bits of land on the side of railway tracks.'Abusing' legislationContinue reading the main story âStart Quote This was just an open field and has been described as the biggest dogs' toilet in the townâMervyn StewksburyBetterment PropertiesBut if local people can show that they have been using this land continuously over the past 20 years, then they have the opportunity to register the land as an official "green". This offers the highest protection against development.House builders say some campaign groups have been using the process simply to thwart builders."It's not an epidemic but there have been a significant number of groups abusing the legislation merely to stop development on that site," said Andrew Whitaker, of the Home Builders Federation.After intensive lobbying by the house-building industry, the law was changed last year.The regulations were significantly tightened so that an attempt to register a green cannot be considered when somebody has made a planning application, or a local development plan is being produced.Kate Ashbrook, of the Open Spaces Society, says people protecting green spaces are being "squeezed"That was a setback for the Open Spaces Society, which has been trying to protect greens for almost 150 years."We are now being squeezed on both sides," said Kate Ashbrook, who runs the society."The government is squeezing us by saying land under planning threat cannot be registered. But the Supreme Court is also saying that you might be able to de-register a green that's already on the list."The battle over Curtis Fields in Weymouth has been going on for several years.It was registered as a town green in 2001, and then bought by local house-builder Betterment Properties in 2005.Betterment Properties plans to build 180 homes on part of Curtis Fields over the next five or six yearsIts status has been the subject of numerous court cases ending with the Supreme Court ruling which went against local campaigners.Gill Taylor, of the Society for the Protection of Markham and Little Francis, which took the case to the Supreme Court, said: "I was really disappointed not only for our green but for greens across the country and for other pieces of land that are based on a registration, because it makes you wonder what the value of registration is."She says the developer will now be able to decide what happens to the land.Betterment Properties confirmed that it wanted to build 180 houses on part of the area over the next five or six years.The business says it spent more than £1m on the legal case, and is now keen to see an end to years of delay.Mervyn Stewksbury said the Curtis Fields development would benefit the people of Weymouth"This was just an open field and has been described as the biggest dogs' toilet in the town," said Betterment chairman Mervyn Stewksbury."The residents of Weymouth will not lose."Instead of having rough fields with grass two foot high, they will have beautifully cut lawns with large open spaces so I can guarantee at the end people will say, 'Yes this is much better than we had before.'"The recent Supreme Court case may provide some encouragement to house builders in other parts of the country, where village green status is being questioned.But the long legal dispute also shows how hard a community will battle for the right to call its space a "green".
The only winners in these kinds of scenarios are the greedy lawyers who will keep fighting for whichever cause suits them best financially. Somewhat akin to agents in football.
Just would like you all to know, I'm working on the plans for the redevelopment today. I've cleared my desk so that it gets full priority
Ashton Vale is dead. Now that redevelopment has started on Ashton Gate I think it's 100% safe to say that there will be no new stadium. I'm not even mad at the lawyers that take these cases. It's a fairly decent sized account for them, but ultimately they work to find a resolution to these cases. Given the council's support for Lansdown I think that eventually we would have got our new stadium, and I reckon that the club knows this. However, they want a resolution sooner rather than later, and since Ashton Gate can be renovated sooner we went with that. Frankly, I think that the redevelopment is a waste of money, and that eventually Bristol City will need a new stadium, but it's not my money being wasted I guess. According to the council, Bristol City are currently free to do whatever they want to the land, including building the stadium. It'd be silly to actually do it, because there's the chance that we'd spend all that money building something that can't be used, but I reckon a three year legal battle during a stadium build would have probably been worth it.
There is now no urgent need for a large stadium given that we are in division 3. The loss of hotel/leisure/conference/retail/food facilities and all other non match day revenue earning streams that AV would have brought will also hit the club in the finance department. If and when we get back to being a higher Championship club is the only time that anything in excess of a 20,000 stadium might be needed.
You dont know how right you are Tony mate..........I have three of "ours" and now four of "their's" . Even you would fail the taste test here mate!
Perhaps Ashton gate will be left to the egg chasers and in 10 years time the dog toilet arena will open in Ashton Vale and be the home of our club.
