There is a war being waged on the public spaces of Britain. Areas historically held in trusts are being sold to the highest bidder at an alarming rate. The local councils who are supposed to act as the custodians of these parks are far too happy to see them covered over with brick, mortar and concrete to further their own ends. In the age of climate catastrophe, increasing our urban sprawl is the last thing that our government should be encouraging.

There are examples like this across Britain, but one seminal case is about to change it all. Today, Find Others highlights The Greenfields Scandal, and how it will set the precedent for the way we treat our public land in the future.

The Greenfields Scandal

Greenfields Recreation Ground is an open public space held in trust by Shropshire and Shrewsbury town council. It is an important space both for its role as a natural habitat, and its value as a place for children to play and learn about nature. The original deeds to the park date back to 1926, and it continues to be paramount to the health and wellbeing of its residents. Now, the councils seek to dispose a third of the park’s land to use for private housing and roads. This public land was never intended to be sold.

By doing this, the councils have set the worrying precedent that any piece of public land can, in theory, be disposed of for money. A Public Interest Report from external auditor PKF Littlejohn saw ‘serious governance failings’ with the council’s actions in selling this land, and yet they still refuse to change tact.

Greenfields Community Group

Greenfields Community Group have decided to take the councils to task for the mistreatment of this public land. They have had relative success through Judicial Review and the court of appeal, but it has not been enough; the councils will not reconsider. To fight for the change that they need, the group is taking the councils all the way to the Supreme Court in December this year. Their case at the Supreme Court is simply that the Councils are the land’s custodians and protectors, not owners, as proven by the original papers.

This is a huge, high-profile case. Should Greenfields Community group be successful, then the option to sell public land will be financially unviable for future councils. Their case may set the legal precedent in establishing whether a Local Authority has the right to develop land that has been held in trust as public open space for community use. However, the group needs your help. They are small and dedicated but rely solely on donations and public fundraising to pay for their lengthy legal challenge. Their fundraiser can be found here.

As previously mentioned, there are many cases like this in the UK. Readers may struggle to see what one case has to do with the other, but this is what the Government is banking on. They would rather tackle many small, disparate cases than one unified voice saying no, whether that be to the overdevelopment of our public spaces, or anything else for that matter. The consequences of this supreme court battle will shape every case to come and make it easier for others to win their battles too. This group has been through their own lengthy journey for our sake, so the least we can do is support them.

The truth is, we all have a stake in this. The Government is asset stripping every resource it can out of the public sector, whether it be our land, our NHS, or our water, transport and energy infrastructure. Blink too fast and you’ll miss it. They even capitalised on the COVID crisis, so can we really trust them with matters pertaining to public land? 

The only way we can preserve what is left of our country for future generations is if we unite as one voice to protect our public goods before it’s too late. A win for Greenfields Community Group at the Supreme Court would be a great statement of intent towards finding this voice.

The Greenfields supreme court case represents a real ‘David vs Goliath’ battle – a community against its councils. No matter how hard you think it is to achieve change, they have shown that it’s still possible. Use the Greenfields case as inspiration and start your battle today by using our tools at Find Others. Consider our fight for the greater good – we all must support each other, lest we get swept aside.