Village Green Application - Help Secure an Undeveloped Future for Hardy Farm

The recent attempt to build a huge sporting development at Hardy Farm has been a 'wake-up call' for the whole community. In spite of its nominal Green Belt status this seemed to count for nothing to the Council's Planning Department who, you will remember, were "minded to approve" the development. It was only because the politicians on the Planning Committee refused to approve the plans, and the developer withdrew them, that we're not now saddled with twelve 49 ft floodlights, eight to ten football pitches (including an astro-turf one), fences, lots of extra cars and coaches parked on local streets, and lots of swearing, litter and late night drinking in the clubhouse that, unfortunately, seems to go with football these days.

As a result several members of the Save Chorlton Meadows group have been looking into the possibility of obtaining Village Green status for Hardy Farm. Below is a message from Joanne Newberry asking for your help:

We are seeking to preserve free access and the right to roam across the meadows for all local people, whilst protecting the meadows from development. Greenbelt status alone is insufficient, but village green status would formalise and safeguard the use over the past twenty-five years as a popular informal open space. This is a positive process to protect our local breathing space, ensuring it continues to be freely available for local residents to access and use, now and in the future.
We need support from as many people in Chorlton as possible. You can help if you, your friends or family have used the meadows (section between the paths to Jackson’s Boat bridge from Hardy Lane and Brookburn Road in Chorltonville) and have lived in Chorlton(within the parish of St Clement...please ask if you're unsure ) at any time in the last twenty years. If you haven’t already filled in a questionnaire, please request one by sending your name, address or contact number to:

villagers@savechorltonmeadows.co.uk

Please help with this - it's a great and worthy cause and it's also important that we all do as much as possible to protect our remaining green spaces.

Posted by Dave Bishop, 3rd March 2010