PLEASE HELP US!

‘Hillside and Rokeby’ are two communities to the South of Rugby in Warwickshire. Residents have been battling with the local County Council for nearly two years to save a much-loved and well-used open green space from development.  Our application to have the land registered as a Town Green has been rejected by that same Council, and we now want to appeal against this decision, but we can’t do it without your financial assistance.

Without your help, this land, which is so very important for the well-being of its residents and also its ecological value, will be lost forever.

THE PRESENT SITUATION

The land, known as Rokeby Playing Field, is a wide-open green space on the edge of our two communities, and it is one of the few we have left in Rugby.  Green space is rapidly disappearing in our town. Farm fields, adjacent to Rokeby Playing Field, have already been snatched for development.  Our community space will be next, if we don’t take action NOW!

For over 50 years, Rokeby Playing Field has been used continually by our communities’ residents of all ages, and through all seasons, for many different leisure pursuits, including football, cricket, rounders, walking, running, kite flying and family picnics, to name just a few.  It is also a favoured area for dog walking.  The land lies next to a bridleway, which is also in continuous use by individual horse riders and riding schools.

There is an abundance of wildlife in the trees and shrubs surrounding the field, also in the pond and the beck that border the field, and in the ancient hedge which runs along the Southern and Eastern boundaries of the land.  The Southern hedge is particularly important ecologically; It has 16 species of shrub and tree, and some very old oaks and currently provides a very good breeding habitat for a variety of birds, plus foraging areas for bees and butterflies.

Often spotted are Natterer's Bats, Hedgehogs, Foxes, Toads, Moorhens, Sparrowhawks, Woodpeckers, Song Thrushes, Yellowhammers, Linnets and Owls; also Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Red Admiral Butterflies.

We need to preserve and protect this precious wildlife.  

Even if the ancient hedge, the pond and the beck are protected during proposed construction works, the impact on these areas will be, in the longer term, catastrophic. 

SO, ALL OF THIS COULD BE LOST!  WHY?

Warwickshire County Council owns Rokeby Playing Field and is proceeding with plans to build a large free secondary school, even though the need is in the North of our town and brownfield sites are available there!  To add insult to injury then, this development is not even needed here!  What is needed, however, is open green space ... a place to play, to run, to walk and to enjoy the best of what nature has to offer.  Rokeby Playing Field is a precious resource for local residents and for Rugby itself, and, if it is taken away, we will never get it back.

ACTION TAKEN TO DATE

In 2016, residents from Hillside and Rokeby formed an action group, SHARE, and the group applied to have Rokeby Playing Field designated as a Town Green, to protect this land forever. Warwickshire County Council appointed and paid for an Inspector to determine the outcome of the Town Green Public Inquiry.  This same Council is also the Commons Registration Authority, which makes the final decision regarding Town Green Applications!   

The Inspector for the Inquiry did not find in our favour, but we and our legal advisors believe that the decision was flawed for a number of reasons. Following the decision, we expressed our dissatisfaction to Warwickshire County Council, in relation to both the process and the outcome, but our concerns were rejected.

We strongly believe that Warwickshire County Council, or indeed any other Council, for that matter, should not be allowed to be ‘judge and jury’ in cases such as this. 

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Through sheer grit and determination, SHARE and local residents raised £29,000, which was all spent to fund our campaign and to pay for our Town Green Application. Unfortunately, as in so many cases where local people are trying to fight their own County Councils, it is financially impossible for them to proceed further in order to get a fair hearing.  Councils appear to have access to limitless funds.  Unfortunately, we do not.  

We have been advised by our lawyers to take our case to a Judicial Review, which means that we should appeal against the decision that has been made.

Our lawyers believe that a number of errors have been made in relation to our Town Green Application and that we have a very good chance of getting a verdict that would allow for a second independent Inquiry.  We now need to request and proceed with a Judicial Review, but this is too expensive for local people to fund, unaided.

Time is running out for us and we need your help, please!

WHAT DO WE NEED?

Our lawyers estimate that we need to raise at least £8,500 just to take this forward to the next step and to lodge our appeal, and we need to do this quickly!  Moving forward then our costs could be as much as £30,000.

We need your help to try to get justice.  We need this Town Green for the well-being of our community now, for the well-being of generations to come and for the preservation of our wildlife.  We need to stop Councils taking our countryside away from us.

PLEASE HELP US TO SAVE ROKEBY PLAYING FIELD, AND BRING POWER TO THE ‘LITTLE PEOPLE’ WHO ARE, THESE DAYS, SO OFTEN IGNORED.

THANK YOU!