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On 23 June 2026 Darlington Borough Council registered Blackwell Parkland as a village green, ensuring that it is protected for ever and local people have rights of recreation here. This was a culmination of an eight-year campaign by the Parkland Heritage Network, backed by the society.
Campaigners for Blackwell Parkland town green in December 2023. Photo: Mo Meldrum, MOVA.
The Network had joined us and sought our advice on how to save the 17-hectare parkland. We urged the Network to campaign for the land to be protected as a village green. Consequently the network pressed Darlington Council voluntarily to register the land as a green, to avoid any repetition of the earlier threat to develop it.
Eventually, at the Cabinet meeting on 5 May 2026, the council approved the proposal, and now the paperwork has been completed and the green added to the register of common land and town and village greens.
Angela and Michael Green, Parkland Heritage Coordinators responded: ‘We are truly delighted by this result. This is such a special open space. It is of historic significance as the setting of Blackwell Grange Hotel which was formerly an English Mansion built around 1710 and is a Grade II* listed building. Blackwell Parkland is the last remaining Georgian Pleasure Park in the town and important for the nature recovery strategy. We are thrilled that this land will be safeguarded for ever for Darlington residents to enjoy’.
Helen Monger, one of our case officers, added: ‘Darlington Borough Council has set a fine example to other landowners. It is open to all landowners voluntarily to register a town or village green, for the community’s recreation, but few have so far done so. Congratulations to Darlington, not only for securing Blackwell Parkland, but also for being a trail-blazer.’