DON'T BE MEAN…KEEP IT GREEN

29-09-2006

This is what it's come to in Birmingham … residents in one suburb are so desperate to protect their local open space from house-builders, they've applied for it to become a village green.

Good luck to them we say - because if other recent developments are any guide, they'll need it.

We've reported on Brockhurst playing fields in Ward End and Shirley Park which are both threatened by new supermarket schemes.

Local campaigns have counted for little as Birmingham and Solihull Council respectively have supported proposals that will eat away at these precious havens.

The latest threat comes in leafy Harborne, where an overgrown patch of land previously known as Ravenhurst playing fields - close to the Old House at Home pub - has been eyed up by the builders Wimpey.

Ravenhurst used to be the base of Dixonians Rugby club and still has a cricket pavilion dating back to the time when it was used by pupils at St Philips Sixth Form college.

These days, it's been allowed to become an unkempt semi-wilderness mainly enjoyed by dog walkers - but it's also a valuable habitat for badgers, foxes, and even a natterjack toad.

The land is owned by the Fathers of the Oratory, a church on the nearby Hagley Road, but their love of Mammon appears to have got the better of them.

We understand that they've been talking to Wimpey, and the house-builder has drawn up plans for a housing estate covering a substantial part of the 9 acre site. Sport England have also been drawn into the negotiations.

No formal planning application has yet been made, so the locals are getting their retaliation in first by asking Birmingham City Council to designate the land a village green which would prevent building.

Conscious that they shouldn't be regarded as NIMBY's, the residents stress they don't want the land to be left as it is; they want Ravenhurst brought back to life as a sporting venue.

In an era when youngsters are at ever-growing risk of obesity (all those supermarket ready meals?) the places where they can play and run off their podge are being steadily eroded.

Expanding safe play areas, not reducing them, should surely be a priority.