Shock as Warwickshire housing estate green spaces are being auctioned off for £8,000

FAMILIES in Wellesbourne have been left shocked and worried, after small, shared open green spaces on their housing development were advertised for sale as “suitable as a house plot” or “the travelling community”.

One, a play area just off Frost Road, was listed on Rightmove and Zoopla for £8,000 and snapped up by a private buyer before an auction.

Another L-shaped open space plot that runs down the side of Daniell Road and across the back of Hopkins Way was also marketed, touting other possible uses as “a location for a portable home”, a “forest school”, or “allotment’s” (sic).

Residents living nearby were also sent letters by Rubislaw, offering them the chance to buy. The letter says the public open space land could be used to “expand your garden”, “add value to your home”, “create parking space/development potential” and has “potential for home extension”.

Mum-of-two Suzy Wood, who lives in Daniell Road, was sent a Rubislaw letter offering to sell her one of the plots. She said: “It’s obviously designed as a nice bit of green space so we’re not all living on top of each other and we’ve got room to walk our dogs.

“Some were of the opinion that as it’s obviously green space for the community, ‘don’t be stupid, no one will ever be allowed to build on it’ but others of us were not so confident and had no idea what the status of the land was. We were all very concerned that it could be possible for Rubislaw to sell the land to a developer. On the auction site they had it advertised as potential development land.

“Where the playground used to be, there could be four houses built, and behind me there could be a 20-foot block of flats, completely out of keeping.”

She added: “Part of my worry was that people would buy up plots of land to save them from potential development but you never know what happens in years to come. They might think, ‘Why am I keeping this land and having to mow it when I’m not getting private use of it?’ and start fencing it in.

“It was reassuring to find out we wouldn’t be allowed to fence it in without planning permission.”

William Howard, who also lives in Daniell Road, was another who received a Rubislaw letter offering him the chance to buy a bit of land next to his home for £7,000.

He said the letter alarmed his wife Margaret: “It claimed we could do all manner of things with the land – build on it or extend our garden. It’s only about 40 square metres and covered with trees and bushes – there’s nothing we could do with it at all and yet they were asking £7,000.

“I haven’t written back yet but if I do, I’ll say: ‘You should offer me money to take the responsibility off your hands’, because they’re supposed to be mowing it and maintaining it’. We won’t buy it and I don’t think there’s anyone else stupid enough in Wellesbourne to do so.”

Wellesbourne and Walton Parish Council clerk Lynda Scrivens said the council has been trying to buy the open space plots since 2001. She’s been dealing with Greenbelt Holdings and has a string of emails, one as recently as last month, which the Herald has seen, from representatives with Greenbelt email addresses and signatures.

Parish council chairwoman Ann Prior described the situation as “very frustrating” and “a surprise” and confirmed the council has allocated funds to buy the green spaces.

She said: “The whole time we have been in negotiation, that money was already there. We had agreed a price with them and were surprised to find that it had been sold elsewhere.

“The first we knew of it was when the residents came with a letter they’d received about buying land adjacent to their house.”

At a meeting of the council on 18th February, residents were reassured that although the sales are legal, whoever buys a patch of land would not be able to build on it, or even fence it in without planning permission, as the land is under section 106 agreement and therefore change of use would be needed.

Cllr Prior added: “We did say to residents they should consider carefully that that is the case. It is a ‘buyer beware’ situation. We did try to give residents the best advice we could when they got the letters but there was nothing that we could do about it. It is perfectly possible for open spaces to be sold, but they’re sold as open spaces.”

Cllr George Cowcher (Lib Dem, Wellesbourne South), deputy leader of Stratford District Council, told the Herald: “It’s disgraceful that they’re being misled in this way, because it’s quite clear in planning terms that this is public open space which can’t be developed or built on, and for any person trying to sell the land claiming that, they’re really doing it under false pretences.”

He added: “Planning has no control over the ownership of land. You can sell bits of land from one to another and this is why we, as an administration at Stratford, do not want these management companies ever involved again, because they’re just a total, utter nightmare and we have very little control.

“It would have been so much better if this public open space had been conveyed to the parish council, who would have held it on behalf of the community, and we wouldn’t have had these shenanigans.

“It won’t happen again, because the council now has a policy on all new sites that we will not be involving management companies.”

The Herald contacted the Greenbelt Group, who confirmed they became involved on the site in 2003, via the developer Laing Homes. They said that in 2010 ownership passed to GEL (now Growing Estates Ltd), which Greenbelt describes as “in all respects a completely separate entity”.

In a statement sent the Greenbelt Group claimed: “The local parish council had the chance on behalf of residents to take on land areas but chose not to proceed. At no point, over 22 years, were residents ever required to contribute financially to maintenance.

“Since 2010, GEL (now Growing Estates Ltd) had full responsibility for ensuring the areas were maintained, again without imposing any costs on the local community. Growing Estates Ltd sold the areas to current owners Rubislaw Estates Ltd. As we are not involved, we cannot comment on any particular aspect of the recent advertising of land for sale. However, the land would have to be sold with all existing use and title restrictions.”

The Herald has contacted Rubislaw for comment.