Crowdfund launched as Shrewsbury campaigners take fight to Supreme Court

Campaigners will fight for the grounds to remain public at a Supreme Court hearing

Campaigners are turning to crowdfunding to take a fight to safeguard a public space to the Supreme Court.

Part of Greenfields Recreation Ground, in Shrewsbury, was sold to developers in 2017 and earmarked for 15 homes. The move sparked an outcry from residents.

Shrewsbury Town Council was criticised in a judicial review and by auditors for failing to ascertain the status of land before the sale.

The council said it set up an investigation into the sale.

The findings will be presented at a public meeting on 8 June, it said.

The recreation ground was purchased in 1926 in two parts by the local authority at the time, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said, for £1,000 and held in trust for community use.

It was transferred to Shrewsbury Town Council in 2010 as part of a shake-up of local government.

A judicial review found the local authority "failed to take reasonable steps" to establish before the sale whether the site was part of the recreation ground - which it "very likely" was.

The Good Law Project is hoping to raise £30,000 for the action being led by community campaigners

However, Mrs Justice Lang concluded the public rights over the site could not be enforced on the developer and did not affect the planning permission, which was granted in 2018.

The ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeal in March.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case later in the year and campaigners, backed by the Good Law Project, are hoping to raise £30,000 to pursue the case.

The not-for-profit organisation said the ground had been used by local families since it was formed almost a century ago and was sold "without consulting the community".

Jo Maugham, Good Law Project director, said: "We want public land to be held for the public - and not to be sold out from under them without consultation.

"That's why we are raising money - to protect the Greenfields site, the community that uses it, and so many other communities who are losing their public spaces."

Amanda Spencer, the council's deputy town clerk, said the authority took the matter seriously and set up an investigation into the sale led by barrister Michael Redfern QC.

His report - delayed by the pandemic, the Court of Appeal's judgement and confirmation of a hearing at the Supreme Court in December - will be presented on 8 June.

"All findings from Michael Redfern's report will also be published in full. We are unable to comment in detail until we receive this report and carefully consider its findings," she added.

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