Campaigners jubilant after green space preserved

Campaigners were delighted after Plymouth City Council rejected the housing plans for Wilmot Gardens

Campaigners are celebrating an "absolute surprise" victory in a long-running planning battle over a green space in Devon.

Plymouth City Council's Planning Committee turned down the application from Darren Wills of Classic Builders for five affordable homes on land opposite Wilmot Gardens in Crownhill.

Campaigners, who had been battling to save the space since 2021, raised concerns about children and the elderly having to walk about 800m (2,624ft) to the next nearest green area.

It was the third time this year the plans had been put to the committee, but members decided the area's importance to the community outweighed the need for affordable homes, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Matt Fleming, one of the lead campaigners, said the group was not expecting the plans to be thrown out by councillors.

"It has been going on for a good while and we had become despondent, feeling we didn't have a voice and it would end up with planning permission being granted, but today it is absolute surprise and jubilation," he said.

"We will now get on with making a village green application so we can secure that land for the future for the children of our area."

The planning battle involving Wilmot Gardens had been ongoing since 2021

Before the vote, resident Jason Uren, who has spina bifida, said the space had been "a lifeline" for him.

"I am disabled, I got myself a couple of little chihuahua dogs and I use this space twice a day to keep me active," said Mr Uren.

"It's a lifeline for me and if nothing else it's keeping me out of a wheelchair."

He argued there were "plenty of other green spaces" the council could build on and the small area in the estate was "virtually inconsequential".

"The sense of community is dying and the way I see it, this space keeps it alive," he said.

The plans had been approved nine months ago, but the decision was quashed by the High Court after a legal challenge by protesters.

Councillor Anne Freeman said to lose this open space would be "massively detrimental" to children's safety and to their health and wellbeing.

"They may have back gardens but back gardens do not necessarily enable wellbeing and socialising with peers," she said.