A RESIDENTS’ action group opposing a football club’s development plans told a public inquiry the field should be officially made a village green.
They claim the Old School Field at Haltwhistle, Northumberland, has been in common recreational use for more than the 20 years required by law to confer village green status.
That would block Haltwhistle United’s plans for new changing rooms and a car park on the site.
Battle lines have been drawn with landowners Haltwhistle Town Council and the town’s Social Welfare Centre, who say the field should be upgraded.
Residents in adjacent streets have adopted the village green bid to block the club’s plans.
Under the 2006 Commons Act, the Fairfield Park and Willia Road Neighbourhood Action Group needs to prove that the field has been widely used for other recreation by “a significant number of inhabitants” for more than 20 years.
Yesterday the action group drafted in several of Haltwhistle’s senior citizens to deliver their memories of the field.
