Summit will attempt to work out who owns town park

Resident Patrick MacDonald said volunteers had been dealing with the overflowing bins

Two councils are set to get together in an effort to work out who owns a park.

Godmanchester Town Council thought Huntingdonshire District Council owned the town's Recreation Ground - but the district council says it has no ownership records.

The chairman of a local community group said the grass was literally growing under people's feet, and another resident said bins were overflowing.

Representatives from the two Cambridgeshire authorities are due to meet on Wednesday in a bid to resolve the issue.

'Way forward'

The town council said it had "for some time" understood that the Recreation Ground was owned by the district council.

It said it had "undertaken works and public functions" at the site on the understanding that it was "doing so with the permission of the landowner".

But it said it had decided not to undertake activities on the Recreation Ground any more after the district council said it did not think it was the owner.

Huntingdonshire council said it hoped to find a "positive way forward".

The councils are not sure who owns the Recreation Ground

In a statement, the town council said: "Huntingdonshire District Council have informed the town council that Huntingdonshire District Council do not consider themselves to be the owners of the Recreation Ground.

"The town council can no longer consider themselves as now having the landowner’s permission to undertake activities on the Recreation Ground."

A spokesman for Huntingdonshire said: "We have no records of owning the land or granting management consent to Godmanchester Town Council.

"We truly hope to find a positive way forward through open dialogue and co-operation."

Stephen Spencer said the grass was not being cut

Stephen Spencer, chairman of the Godmanchester Community Association, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "The grass is getting longer because it is not being cut.

"It’s starting up a bit of a hornets nest and creating a lot of ill-feeling in the town.

"At the end of the day, it will be the members of the public that will suffer."

'Overflowing with litter'

Patrick MacDonald, 70, who has lived in Godmanchester for 25 years, said the area would soon be a meadow.

“A lot of the bins are overflowing with litter already, though some volunteers took it upon themselves to empty them," he said.

“It’s deteriorating day by day. Within a week it will basically become a meadow."