Shrewsbury residents protest group wins legal action appeal

Greenfields Community Group will now seek to overturn the authority’s decision to grant permission to build up to 15 homes off Falstaff Street.

At a permission hearing in Birmingham Civic Court on Thursday, Judge Worster overturned a previous decision to refuse the group the right to launch a judicial review.

The group, led by resident Peter Day, believes the planning permission should be quashed because the land, which was part of Greenfields Recreation Ground, was sold unlawfully by Shrewsbury Town Council.

Mr Day said: “It’s been a David and Goliath battle between our community group and the councils.

“They have professionals and lots of resources that we simply don’t have.

“We’re just amateurs who have spent our times going through archives and the Land Registry.

“We’ve been forced into this position to peruse legal action and it has cost the community a lot of money.

Euphoric

“This is the first time we thought someone has finally seen what we are seeing. I feel quite euphoric.”

Shrewsbury Town Council has always maintained that the sale of the land was above board.

It said an old development plan showed the piece of land in question was classed as ‘white land’ and therefore could potentially be developed.

But Mr Day obtained the deeds from the Land Registry which allegedly shows it is part of designated parkland.

He said: “If we win a judicial review it will set a precedence over the sale of public assets in the future which is an extremely important step.

“It is an emotive subject for the community because this is our parkland that is full of wildlife. A lot of our children walk to school through it and the developers want to build a road through it which is just dangerous.”

The judicial review is expected to be heard in Birmingham in the coming months.