Support us from £3/month
We deal with almost 1000 cases a year assisting communities, groups and individuals in protecting their local spaces and paths in all parts of England and Wales. Can you help us by joining as a member?
A lovely green space at Wittersham in south Kent has been protected for all time. We welcome the decision of the Planning Inspectorate to allow the correction of a mistake on the register of town and village greens. One and a half acres at Poplar Farm Field and Pond, Wittersham, Isle of Oxney in Kent is now recorded correctly as being a village green and as such is protected from development and preserved for recreational use by future generations of local people.
Says our case officer Nicola Hodgson: ‘Twenty years ago the society helped Mrs Mavis King to apply to register the land as a village green. Unfortunately a mistake was made on the register as a result of an unlawful agreement between Ashford Borough Council and Kent County Council in 1995 for the exchange of land. The plot was threatened with housing until the mistake was recognised. When the Commons Act 2006, which allows for amendment of the registers, took effect in Kent, the county council was able to apply for the register to be corrected.
‘We are delighted that the inspector has confirmed that a mistake was made and the register must be amended. This may be a small area but it is very lovely and important for local people.’
Says Mavis King: ‘This beautiful area of land, used by generations of families, is now saved for ever. We can breathe a sigh of relief that our efforts have saved a fine old field and farm pond from extinction under concrete.’