Inquiry on whether site should be village green
A PUBLIC inquiry has begun into whether a city open space should be designated as a village green.
Patrick Browne, formerly of Derby but now living in Manchester, submitted an application to Derby City Council two years ago for the former Sturgess school site, owned by the University of Derby, to become a village green.
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It followed the rejection of a planning application by the university to create a single-track hopper bus route across Sturgess Fields to link its campuses in Kedleston Road and Markeaton Street.
For the village green public inquiry, the city council has appointed independent inspector Lana Wood to hear the evidence from Mr Browne and 62 witnesses supporting the application and from the university, which is objecting to the application.
The applicant has to demonstrate that the site, off Kedleston Road, has been in continuous use for informal recreational purposes by the community for more than 20 years.
Mr Bowne said: "We have taken 224 statements to support our application and prepared a comprehensive file of information for the inspector.
"We want this land to be in public ownership and for people to be able to enjoy it without gates blocking them out."
Mr Browne, who formed the Save Sturgess Fields campaign, said he wants the fields to be used by people and to be retained as an open space indefinitely, which he feels would be best achieved by a village green designation.
With village green status, the land would be protected from development and the right of local people to enjoy the land for recreation would be secured in perpetuity.
Sturgess School was demolished in 1984 and the open space was bought by the university in 1994 from Derbyshire County Council.
University staff are attending the hearing at Friar Gate Studios, in Ford Street, but are not expected to give evidence until tomorrow.
A university spokesman said: "We are contesting the application because the university has a long history of maintaining and improving the Sturgess Field site for the use of its staff and students and for the community.
"We do not feel that registering Sturgess Fields for village green status would add anything to the already positive community engagement work it does there."
4 Comments
by Mark, Keddleston Road, Derby
Sunday, February 27 2011, 3:55PM
“Ian's or the "taxpayers" comments do not address the merits of this case. Further more the recent fencing off of Sturgess field by the university in order to deliberately prevent access to the public clearly undermines the statement "... the university has a long history of maintaining and improving the Sturgess Field site for the use of its staff and students and for the community.". The question now clearly arises as to whether the university and council can be trusted to manage land entrusted to the council for the good of all and not just the university.”
by Mark, Keddleston Road, Derby
Sunday, February 27 2011, 3:40PM
“The arguments against this application by Ian and the "taxpayer" do not address the merits of the case. The fact the university has chosen to fence off sturgess field over the Christmas period without giving notice to residents clearly undermines the unversity's statement that "the university has a long history of maintaining and improving the Sturgess Field site for the use of its staff and students and for the community.". There is much explaining to be done by the university and the council.”
by Taxpayer, Derby
Wednesday, March 17 2010, 9:48AM
“I commented on this yesterday and this article now gives more information. Mr Browne (now a resident of Manchester!) is suggesting that land which is owned by the University should be designated as a village green. Perhaps the University should suggest that Mr Browne's land is also designated as a village green. Manchester students could all have a party on his front lawn.
I now understand that the application is because the land has not been developed for more than 20 years and has been used for recreational purposes. The School was demolished in 1984 and the University bought the site in 1994 ¿ does this mean that all those who have been using the land for ¿recreational purposes¿ have actually been trespassing on private property. There must be thousands of sites like this up and down the country where informal recreation takes place on private property ¿ action like this could result in huge areas of land being fenced off to prevent public access.
What is the point of owning land if someone can come along and force through a change of use. There's some very nice grass on Pride Park - why not designate the football ground as a village green ¿ or does that not count as it hasn¿t been there for 20 years yet ¿ and can you call watching Derby County recreation!
Another important point is - who's paying for all this?? I guess that the University has had to pay to defend this action and ultimately that comes out of my pocket - but who is paying for the costs on the other side ¿ I expect that will be me and you as well.”
by Ian, Derby
Wednesday, March 17 2010, 9:16AM
“The Save Sturgess Fields Campaign needs to get a new spokesman. It is difficult to take seriously someone who loves Derby so much that he left to live in Manchester!”