Man of mystery helps Derwenthorpe protest

12:10pm Tuesday 5th December 2006

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A massive housing scheme on York's outskirts could be jeopardized if campaigners succeed in getting the site registered as a village green. Mike Laycock reveals how a mystery stranger prompted their new bid to block Derwenthorpe.

IT all began two months ago, when a man appeared in Tom Hughes' garden and asked: "Are you the man from MARA?"

Tom, who is a member of Meadlands Area Residents' Association as well as a leading campaigner against the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's scheme for a 540-home model village, said today: "I thought at first he was asking if I was from Mars!"

He said the stranger then handed him a document, said it might prove useful in his campaign against the proposals for Derwenthorpe, and then disappeared.

"He just drove off," he said. "I have no idea who he was. I had never seen him before. He's not from round here."

When Tom sat down to read the document, he quickly realized why it was of potentially huge importance to him and other campaigners who have fought a six-year battle to stop the development on open land near their homes.

It eventually led to residents lodging a bid, reported in The Press yesterday, to register the site as a village green.

If the bid succeeds, the development could be blocked, even if a planning inspector who conducted a public inquiry into the project earlier this year recommends approval.

The document, written by Hammonds solicitors, warned landowners and developers about the implications of the 2006 Commons Act.

It said the legislation posed a "serious threat" to owners of land being used for recreational purposes, because it would make it easier for members of public to apply for land to be registered as a village or town green and make it harder for landowners to defeat an application.

It warned: "Registration recognises that the wider public hold rights over it. This means that the land cannot be used in any way that would prevent the exercise by the public of lawful sports and pastimes.

"In effect, registration will tie the hands of landowners and may turn land into an asset of negative value. For example, land currently surplus to the requirements of the landowner but earmarked for future expansion proposals may be being used by the public for recreational activities, which could be as basic as dog walking.

"If the land is the subject of a successful claim to register it as a town or village green, then it may be effectively sterilised."

Mr Hughes said he and a group of other residents got together to form a new group, the Friends of Osbaldwick Meadows, and set about exploring the implications of the document. He said they received assistance from the Open Spaces Society and from Ryedale MP John Greenway before eventually lodging their application for village green status last week.

He said the Friends had been told the application would have to be advertised, and if anyone wished to object, they would have 40 days to do so. He believed such objections could precipitate another public inquiry.