Hopes land won back will become wildlife haven

Part of the recreation ground was sold to developers by the council in 2017

People living near a recreation ground which was wrongly sold to housing developers by a council have said they want it to become a haven for wildlife.

Shrewsbury Town Council paid £1.34m to buy back part of the town's Greenfields land after admitting it was a mistake to sell it in 2017.

It followed a campaign by residents, which resulted in the Supreme Court overturning planning permission for the land.

Jamie Blackwell from the Greenfields Community Group said he hoped for more discussions on its future over the coming months.

The town council said it used the money it received from the sale of the land, plus £600,000 from its reserves, to buy it back.

It was sold, the council said, because it had wrongly been deemed surplus to requirements.

Mr Blackwell said he thought the £1.34m was "money well spent," but added: "It should never have come to this."

Council leader Alan Mosley said the authority would work with the local community to decide how the patch of land should be used.

He said the current plan was to "cultivate and maintain the area as a nature recovery and countryside site."

Mr Blackwell said: "I'd like to see it as a bit of a wildlife sanctuary that people can enjoy and walk into" and added there was a consensus to plant trees and other plants.

Local resident Mike told BBC Radio Shropshire: "It's become an eyesore now, because this has been wrangling on for so long, but it's better being wild than there being housing there."

He said he looked forward to the land being "part of the community again".

Local resident Mike said the site had become an "eyesore"

Mr Blackwell said since the announcement of the repurchase "everybody's chomping at the bit to get access to the site", but it would not be possible to do anything until August, because of nesting birds.

He also said he hoped that in time the relationship between the local community and the council could be repaired, because he believed it had been "damaged" by the long-running dispute over the sale.