Woburn Green granted 'village green' status

This evening I got home to find a letter from the Planning Inspectorate giving me the fantastic news that the application for village green status for the open land off Woburn Road has been granted.

Huge congratulations are due to Phil Wagstaff and Dave Shadrick of the Woburn Residents Association who took the lead on the issue, together with town councillor Paul O'Brien. Alongside ward councillor Sasha Gillard-Loft, I helped them out and gave them support along the way.

This issue arose because Cornwall Council was seeking to sell off the land for housing development. Not only would such a development be wrong for the area, but it would also mean the loss of the open space which has been used by local people for many tens of years.

So the Woburn Residents applied for village green status which protects the area against all future development. They had to demonstrate that local people had used the land lawfully for recreational activities for more than 20 years. At a hearing over two days in the New Year they did so and the judgement was published today.

I'm very happy for the residents as it means that one more bit of green space has been saved for residents to continue to enjoy. I hope that Cornwall Council will learn the lesson that they cannot seek to sell off land willy nilly to the detriment of local people.


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