People power brings meadow back to Shelley

Nov 21 2008 by nick lavigueur, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

VILLAGERS have fought for the right to take control of a local meadowland and won.

Delighted Shelley residents have persuaded Kirklees Council to take back ownership of Healey Greave Meadow, between Shelley and Kirkburton, after it was mismanaged and neglected for nearly a decade.

For years a developer’s compound was a blot on the landscape, so villagers were relieved when the site was cleaned up in 1999 and handed over to the Meadowlands Trust Ltd, which had charitable status.

But things soon went downhill after it emerged the director of Meadowlands, Robert Hanna, was embezzling money from the charity for his own personal use.

The charity, which also managed land at Denby Delf and Thunderbridge, went bankrupt and the site was handed back to the Crown.

Mr Hanna was later convicted of fraud at Sheffield Crown Court and jailed.