CAMPAIGNERS are stepping up action to save an area of natural beauty.
Villagers in Denby Dale rallied together when proposals for allotments at the Churchfields site were made public.
They applied for village green status to protect the site. And despite a rejection they were heartened when councillors asked council officers to consult villagers about the future of the Churchfields site.
On Saturday two ward councillors, Jim Dodds and Elaine Ward, received a petition signed by 704 Denby Dale residents who agreed Churchfields be “designated as a village green and should remain a protected open space with access for all villagers”.
The two councillors gave their support to the residents, whose aim to set up a trust and win funding to improve the site.
Barbara Priest, a member of the Friends of Churchfields, said: “Our hope is for the public to be consulted and for the site to remain as natural as possible and a place for children to play and the wider community to access.
“Our aim is for the land to be restored for general recreation for the village. And we want consultation because I think there is a lot we can achieve if the council works with us.”
Kirklees Council say they will work with the villagers, but the allotments plan, which residents think is unsuitable for Churchfields, is still on the table.
A council spokeswoman told the Examiner: “Kirklees Council is considering a lease agreement with Denby Dale Parish Council for the establishment of some allotment plots on part of the site and to work in partnership with the community to improve accessibility and explore the potential for additional public use of this valuable space.
“The council is currently transferring the site ownership from the Education department to Streetscene to make this process a reality.
“Once the transfer has taken place a consultation will take place with residents on where they would wish the allotment plots to be located.”
The spokeswoman added: “Once ideas for the community use have been collated, work can start on finding sources of funding to implement the proposals.”
Last month Kirklees councillors on the Licensing and Safety Committee had to formally determine the verdict of a planning inspector following a public inquiry.
By law they had to reject the village green status, in line with the inspector’s recommendation, as over-ruling the inspector may have put the council in a difficult legal situation.
The inspector ruled that while there was “significant use of the application land generally for informal recreation and a range of activities by local residents during the currency of the grazing arrangements” he decided against proposing it for village green status because community use had reduced in the five years before the village green application was sought.
Councillors at the meeting were told the reason villagers used Churchfields less was because grazing had ceased and the council had not maintained the land and it had become overgrown.
Some members of the committee disagreed with the inspector and said they believed Churchfields was used as recreation and asked council officers to meet with residents to decide a way forward.
The Friends of Churchfields now hope to form a Trust, which could apply for grant funding to enhance the site, improve footpaths, provide seating with wildlife areas to enhance eco- biodiversity.
