Claims Newcastle Council did not cut grass to aid houses plan

Plans for 45 homes on the field next to West Denton Community Centre were approved in January

Emails suggest council bosses deliberately avoided mowing a community field to aid a controversial housing plan, campaigners claim.

The construction of 45 homes was approved by Newcastle City Council for the site in West Denton in January.

In an email from 2016, released under Freedom of Information (FOI) rules, a council official suggested limiting maintenance of the playing field.

The council said grass mowing was reduced in 2012 due to budget cuts.

'Reasonable standard'

Campaigners had pleaded with the council to keep the field next to West Denton Community Centre as open space that could be used by children, football teams, and dog walkers, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

In an email chain from October 2016 released after an FOI request from residents, a council housing chief suggested limiting maintenance of the field to just a few cuts per year because encouraging its active use "is likely to be used in objection to the future planning application for housing development".

In response to Labour councillor Dan Greenhough raising concerns about the state of the field hindering proposals for a community project, the council's principal housing delivery officer wrote that the site should be kept to a "reasonable standard pending redevelopment... to present a more attractive site to prospective purchasers - but I'm thinking a few cuts a year".

The unnamed officer wrote: "The experience is that where interim uses are encouraged on a site then we can receive strong objection to subsequent development proposals - so ideally any such project would only relate to part of a site where we are confident that it will not be required for, or prejudice, future housing development."

'Deplorable'

After reading the newly released email chain, campaigner Angela Olver accused the council of deception.

"I think it is absolutely deplorable what they have done," she said.

"It just tells me that what they have done is underhand, they have stolen this field from us."

The council insists that residents were not denied access to the field and that it was "surplus to requirements".

'Prolong uncertainty'

A spokesperson said a decision was made to reduce mowing to twice a year in 2012 "long before the site was identified for housing" and described it as "not accurate" that the council deliberately ran down the state of the field.

"Although cuts were reduced, they were done in a way which continued to allow residents to access the field while encouraging biodiversity," they said.

"At the time the officer wrote the email, it was not clear how much of the site would be earmarked for housing. To increase the number of times the grass was cut at that time would only prolong uncertainty for the future use of the field."