A DEBATE is under way about the future protection of open spaces.
A Government Bill going through Parliament is causing concern to a campaign group which aims to preserve open spaces.
The Growth and Infrastructure Bill includes provision for land development and the compulsory acquisition of land, which the Open Spaces Society fears will harm future applications for village green status applications.
Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Society, said section 13 in the Growth and Infrastructure Bill could make it difficult to register land as a village green.
The section puts some restrictions on the right to apply to register land as a town or village green if there’s been a “trigger” event, such as the land being identified for potential development in a draft neighbourhood development plan or a planning application has been made.
Kate Ashbrook explained: “The clause (section) is an oppressive measure which will make it difficult, if not downright impossible, to register land as a town or village green once it has been identified for development – even if that identification is a well-kept secret.
“The government wants to stop so-called “vexatious” applications to register greens which, it claims, are being submitted solely to thwart development.
“In fact few applications are purely vexatious and the clause has the effect of killing genuine applications too.”
However, Calder Valley MP Craig Whittaker, who supported residents in their bid to register land as a village green, says the Bill is not aiming to make it difficult to preserve open spaces.
In 2009, when still a councillor for the Rastrick ward, he supported residents as they applied to register a strip of grass at Crowtrees Lane as a village green. They were successful in their bid.
The Open Spaces Society say Crowtrees Lane may never have been saved if the Bill was in place.
The MP said yesterday: “They are wrong in the sense that Crowtrees Lane would never have got village green status.
“Applications for Crowtrees Lane were for telephone masts and that comes under totally different legislation.
“This is primarily to stop people registering something as a village green simply to stop any development in the future.
“People won’t be able to put Tree Preservation Orders on land just to thwart development.
“I am sure that open spaces which are important to a community do not form part of this.”
The Bill had its second reading in the House of Commons yesterday. It needs to go before a committee, be researched and have a third reading before it goes before the House of Lords.
The Open Spaces Society says that 36 sites similar to the Rastrick village green, including some in Cudworth in Barnsley, Yeadon in Leeds and Newmillerdam in Wakefield may also have been rejected if the Bill was enforced.
The Bill has wide-ranging proposals, from preventing unexpected hikes in business rates to cutting paperwork in planning applications and releasing £160m in new gas infrastructure.
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