Styvechale residents lose bid to protect land...

A bid to have a community field in Coventry registered as a protected village green has been blocked.



Councillors refused an application for the land next to Grange Farm Primary School in Styvechale, after residents feared it could be used by the school after recent plans for it to double in size.

Styvechale Grange Residents’ Association submitted the application to the council’s planning committee which rejected it on legal advice.

It is the latest legal battle in Coventry which has seen residents attempt to protect a treasured green space over fears about expanding schools.

A hotly-contested village green bid is currently under way for Charterhouse Fields, off London Road.

Charterhouse Fields were handed to neighbouring Blue Coat School by the council on a 125-year lease last month as part of its bid for academy status. Residents fear public access could be restricted.

Coun John McNicholas (Lab, Lower Stoke) asked officers if the land in Hexworthy Avenue could be legally “stolen” by the primary school if it became an academy.

Coun McNicholas said: “We’ve had a lot of land go and we’re going through academies acts (to create more independent primary schools). Could this land be taken?”

Officers insisted Grange Farm School was already protected after being acquired under the Open Spaces Act 1906, meaning the fields can be used by local residents “and for no other purpose”.

Plans to build a new two-storey building at the school were unveiled earlier this year as part of a £2million revamp. It will enable the school increase its number of pupils to 420.



Giving evidence, residents’ representative Karamjit Singh said: “The school objected on the grounds that it was keen to explore the use of the site as part of its expansion. Even if you refuse this village green application, the manner in which it was acquired means that the council has ongoing legal responsibilities here.”

To have land registered as a village green it needs to have been used by the community for 20 years – without a legal right to do so. The use of the land must have taken place “without force, stealth or permission”.

Mr Singh insisted the village green application was about forcing the council to reaffirm the status of the fields – for use by the community.

“There could be a land grab attempt here in the future,” he added. “This land is held ‘in trust’ by the council. If it was deemed to not comply with its obligation how could we hold it to account?”

A big chunk of Spon End known as the "Spon Causeway" was also stolen when Spon Street School was expanded in the 1970s to become Spon Gate School.

Coventry residents demand verdict on Charterhouse Fields future



RESIDENTS are demanding to know what the future holds for a treasured green space in Coventry.

Almost a year after submitting an application for Charterhouse Fields to get village green status, campaigners say they have heard nothing.

Charterhouse Residents' Association insists it only wants to enshrine decades of public access in to law for the fields, off London Road.

The community space is also used by neighbouring Blue Coat School, which was handed control of 60 per cent of the land from Coventry City Council last year.

This sparked protests by residents and threats to camp out on the fields.

The Terry Road school is fiercely opposed to making the fields a registered village green, claiming it could prevent it using the land for sports.

“It’s nearly a year and now and nothing’s been heard back,” said Dave Griffiths, chairman of Charterhouse Residents Association.

“All I ever get is people asking me what’s happening with the fields, but we just don’t know.

“We’ve been left hanging.”

The city council told the Telegraph it is still consulting with Blue Coat School and legal advisers.

Former St Michael’s councillor Dave Nellist – who lost his seat in the May elections – submitted the village green application last June.

It would prevent building work, encroachment and access restrictions being placed on the fields.

The Residents Association claim it would protect public access in the decades to come – in a way the current lease does not.

Residents are suspicious that the delays are because the government is currently considering plans to change village green legislation.

Changes could make it harder to successfully apply for village green status in the UK over fears they are preventing much-needed affordable housing developments.

It follows the Penfold Review, which recommended changes “to ease non-planning impediments to development”.

Speaking in the House of Lords on Thursday, government minister Earl Attlee said a decision on law changes was expected this summer.

Dave added: “We believe they’re trying to delay and delay in the hope that new regulations will apply, which are less favourable to communities.

“The feeling is just as strong here as it ever was. People are prepared to be reasonable but we will not have our access signed away.

“We’re not going to go away.”

Coventry City Council was unavailable for comment.

Battle over giving Charterhouse Fields 'village green' status to cost £100,000

A public inquiry will consider whether city centre fields should have “village green” status to ensure public access – and is expected to cost taxpayers a six-figure sum.

It is believed Coventry City Council’s bill for hiring barristers in a dispute over part of Charterhouse Fields, now leased to Blue Coat School, could be at least £100,000.

A bid for village green status was submitted to the council two years ago by then Socialist councillor Dave Nellist.

Local families including 1,000 petitioners – who have for decades used the fields for recreation – protested when new government laws meant the land would have to be transferred from public ownership to the school on a 125-year lease, as part of the school’s conversion to academy status.

The village green application concerns part of the land used as playing fields by Blue Coat School and part of the council’s land adjoining the medieval Charterhouse building.

Labour councillor Jim O’Boyle, whose St Michael’s ward includes the fields, claimed the council had now decided to press on with a public inquiry because Blue Coat school was objecting to the village green bid.

He said the public hearing would be followed by a recommendation to the council’s planning committee, which would make the final decision.

Coun O’Boyle added: “It’s a pity they couldn’t come to an agreement. Local people have recognised the right of the school to use the fields. The school has also recognised the right of local people to access the fields in the way they have been for 40 years.

“But there has been a breakdown in trust. The bill could be in the area of £100,000. But if this finally resolves the matter one way or another that will be a good thing.”

He added: “Due to the complexities of the legislation, once a village green application has been made the authority must deal with it in quite a different way to a normal planning application.

“They can either decide against, grant the application, or call for a public inquiry.”

Coun Nellist said he had hoped agreement could be reached with the school to prevent a public inquiry, but added: “The village green appplication took many months and hundreds of people involved when it went in two years ago. So I would welcome the matter being brought to a sucessful conclusion.”

A council spokesman confirmed: “The application has to be determined by a non-statutory public inquiry. Officers are currently in the process of making those arrangements for the inquiry.”

The school declined to comment.

City centre park plan to defuse Charterhouse Fields fury

A long-running dispute over city centre fields could be drawing to a close – potentially saving the taxpayer £100,000.

Angry residents applied to register Charterhouse Fields, off London Road, as a village green over two years ago after Coventry City Council leased 60 per cent of the area to neighbouring Blue Coat School.

The school was handed the land via a 125-year lease as part of its bid for academy status, angering nearby families who had always used it.

But a solution, relating to public access to the land, could now be on the horizon after Charterhouse residents put the village green application on ice for at least two years while negotiations with the Terry Road school continue.

The dispute was set for a public inquiry after two years of deadlock, which could have cost the council an estimated £100,000.

The school, which regularly uses the fields for sport, is believed to have offered to help create a public park in the area in a bid to defuse tensions.

Former councillor Dave Nellist, who led the’ opposition to the lease, said: “I am very pleased to say that the local community’s relationship with the school has greatly improved over the past year.

“Our issue has never been about the school’s shared use, but about the loss of community rights that local people have enjoyed since the war.

“There are ambitious plans now for a fantastic new park centred on the River Sherbourne and The Charterhouse.

“We are working with the school in a positive manner on these plans and it seems only right that we defer consideration of the village green application to see whether we can deliver them.”

The Rev David Mayhew, chair of trustees of Blue Coat School, said: “Physical education is a fundamental element of the core curriculum, so continued access to the fields to allow this is of huge importance to us.

"We have been working well with the local community recently and we are very grateful that the village green application has been put to one side to allow this positive dialogue to continue.

"We look forward to continuing to work with the community and other partners to explore how the needs of the school can be delivered, within an overall master plan for the area.”

Coun Lynnette Kelly said: “The council is very pleased that the community have decided to put the application to one side and would like to thank both the community and the school for engaging so positively in the wider proposals.”