Proposals for village green in Birmingham
Plans to ‘protect’ a playing field by creating a village green in the heart of a Birmingham community are set to be considered.
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Oscott councillor Barbara Dring has been fighting to get the land at Glenmead Road registered as a village green for some time and her proposals are now on the agenda for a council meeting next week.
The landowner, Birmingham City Council’s (BCC) education department, has objected to the plans however, saying it would be their preference to “dispose of the site” to support the authority’s financial recovery plan.
A council report, published this week, noted that a statutory test needs to be satisfied in order for Councillor Dring’s application to succeed.
This involved showing that those in the neighbourhood have previously used the land for “lawful sports and pastimes”, with dog walking, jogging and football being among the many examples given.
According to the report, legal officers were satisfied that Coun Dring’s application had satisfied the criteria for a village green.
“The consequence of registering the site as a town/village green is that once land is registered as a village green, it can only be used for that purpose,” it added.
The aim of “protecting” Glenmead playing field by creating a village green was one of the many goals set out in a recent Oscott ward action plan.
But BCC’s education department objected to the latest application, with the report saying they have now identified use for the site but still incurs costs, such as minimal maintenance.
“It would be education’s preference to dispose of the site to gain capital receipt to support the council’s financial recovery plan,” the report stated.
It continued however that the council department had not produced any evidence “to assert that the application fails to meet any of the criteria” within the statutory test.
“Therefore, the objection is considered to have little or no weight,” it said. “There is no requirement for the application to be referred to another forum, such as a public inquiry, for determination.”
The licensing and public protection committee has therefore been recommended to approve the application for the registration of a town/village green at the field in Glenmead Road.
The proposals will be considered at a meeting on Wednesday, January 15.
