A yoga class ends at the Greenfields Recreation Area in Shrewsbury, while people walk their dogs nearby and children play before school. It’s a quiet scene … but far from the park there is a fierce battle between the residents and the council and now it is heading to the Supreme Court.
In 2017, part of the park was sold by Shrewsbury City Council to a high-end housing developer, but without consulting the community or even advertising the proposed sale, although there is a legal requirement to do so.
“It’s like someone coming in and selling part of your garden to build it, and not checking to see if it’s theirs to sell it, or asking you about it,” said Marion Curtis, part of the Greenfields campaign. Community Group, composed of 300 inhabitants. “It really pissed me off.”
A Supreme Court hearing in December could also affect local authorities across the country. The councils are compensating for the lack of government funding – and trying to meet the demand for new homes – by selling construction pockets of land to the public. This is happening at an alarming rate: it is estimated that nearly half of Britain’s public land has been sold off since the 1970s, and that more than 4,000 public places and buildings are sold each year in England alone.
Marion Curtis of the Greenfields Community Group. Photo: Fabio De Paola / The Observer
The Greenfields land was first bought by local authorities in 1926 for £ 1,000 and is held in trust for public use. By asking for freedom of information, Peter Day, who runs the campaign, was able to obtain the park’s acts.
Documents seen by the Observer show that the area in question was part of a wider park – not “neighboring land” as the council describes the area. It was transferred to Shrewsbury City Council in 2010 during the reorganization of local authorities.
During World War II, the area was used for the Dig For Victory campaign and turned into temporary plots. After that, the area was simply never reincarnated back into the main park and was left to run wild.
In 2019, a judicial review found that the local government “did not take reasonable steps” to determine before the sale whether the site was part of the recreation area, which “very likely” was. However, Ms Justice Lang concluded that public rights to the site could not be imposed on the developer.
In 2020, the external auditor PKF Littlejohn Ltd found “serious management gaps” in the sale of public space. Amanda Spencer, a deputy city council official, said Shrewsbury City Council takes the issue very seriously. The council set up an independent inquiry, led by Michael Redfern QC, into the sale of the land.
Published last month, the report makes the council awkward to read. Redfern found “powerful and irrefutable” evidence that the sold-out area has always been part of the park. He said the city council “raised the drawbridge and bunkers down”, refusing to engage with residents and seeking refuge in the mistaken belief that the area is not part of the park beyond any period that could possibly be considered reasonable. “.
“We can’t comment in detail until we look closely at his findings,” Spencer said. A public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.
Day says it was a “David and Goliath” struggle to get to this point, but the campaign is already bigger than them. “Every month I receive emails from groups all over the country starting similar battles who want to know how we got there,” he said.
“Our case can set a national precedent, one way or another. Either we lose and the local authorities see that it is good to sell parks or parts of parks – or, if we win, the councils may reconsider plans to sell such pockets of public land. This is at stake. It’s not just about our local community anymore. “
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