'Give us our village green' plea from Calderdale residents
Calderdale residents are urging a council to hurry up with approving their bid for a village green.
It has been seven years since Calderdale Council was asked to designate the piece of land in Elland as a village green – but an approval for the request has still not been made.
At the public questions section of Calderdale Council’s recent cabinet meeting, resident Ed Greenwood asked for the case to be expedited.
He said more than 100 people from the community had registered their support for the claim for land at Hoults Lane he said is also listed as local green space in Calderdale Council’s Local Plan.
“On behalf of the community, an application to register a village green was submitted in November 2017 – over seven years ago,” he said.
Initially the application had been refused to allow an appeal to an ultimately failed planning application for the land, but the “trigger and termination” period for this passed with no appeal made.
The application for village green status was resubmitted and recognised by appropriate council officers, said Mr Greenwood.
“All legal obligations were met in respect of mover 100 community members in support of the registration and zero objections,” he added.
But he was being asked to prove the land in question has become a village green.
“As you will appreciate, this is difficult, as the application is for it to be a village green,” he said.
“I have offered contact and/or be available to discuss the blockers being presented by Calderdale, to no avail,” he said.
Mr Greenwood said the application was in line with Calderdale’s declared objectives of community cohesion, inclusivity and public health.
“On behalf of the children who use the green for outdoor activities and the older citizens who use it for a rest stop – the community have provided a seat for such purposes – may I request the relevant cabinet member and responsible officers expedite this application to a satisfactory conclusion?” he asked.
Cabinet member for Resources, Coun Silvia Dacre (Lab, Todmorden) said the question had been put to legal and a senior officer said he had been clear about the need to give evidence to substantiate the application.
Mr Greenwood said that was the problem – he could could not answer the questions he had been asked.