Community garden hope to save green space in Shrewsbury from development

The former garden of 30 Havelock Road has been put forward to be listed as ‘asset of community value’ (ACV), and a decision on the application is expected from Shropshire Council next month.

The bid has now received the backing of Shrewsbury Town Council following a plea from Belle Vue councillor Kate Halliday.

Speaking at a town council meeting on Monday, Councillor Halliday said the land was a small but much-loved green haven to those living nearby, as well as being home to wildlife.

She said if it was granted ACV status a group of residents hoped to put forward a bid to buy it to transform it into a community garden.

The land has been the subject of multiple planning applications since 2005 for a detached house to be built on it.

Appeals

Shropshire Council has consistently refused each application, and the Planning Inspectorate has dismissed three separate appeals.

The most recent planning inspector’s report, from December 2020, said the proposals would have an unacceptable impact on the Belle Vue conservation area.

Councillor Halliday said: “There has been quite a long period of time when this plot has remained vacant.

“I believe the owners of the plot of land do not live locally.”

“It’s a really beautiful – small, but beautiful – garden plot.

“It’s become somewhere local children play, where people walk their dogs. I walk past this plot several times a week and there is often someone there.

“It leads onto a large wooded area behind it that used to be a quarry.

Wildlife

“There is all sorts of wildlife there, you see badgers, a wide range of bird species.

“It’s been in daily use for many years and it’s become very important to the local community.”

Councillor Halliday likened the ACV application to a similar campaign in Market Drayton which saw an area of privately-owned land known as Damson Wood Walk successfully listed in November 2020, following an application from residents which gained the support of the town council.

ACV status, if granted, would mean that if the landowner wanted to sell the site they would have to inform the council and allow six weeks for a community organisation to bid to buy it – though they would not be obliged to accept any such offer.

The designation, which would last for five years, would not in itself prevent the site being developed, but it could be a material consideration in the determination of of any future planning applications.

Councillor Halliday said: “What the local residents would like to do if they were successful in bidding and getting this piece of land would be to make it into a community garden, possibly plant a few more trees and have a community orchard.”

Town councillors unanimously agreed to support the ACV application. Shropshire Council will issue a decision on the case by April 20.