Haverhill Town Council to support bid to get track listed as asset of …

14/01/14 Haverhill scene setters14/01/14 – Stock pictures from Haverhill. Haverhill Sign. Picture by Keith Jones

A green lane, which runs along a 10 hectare green space in Haverhill, is going to be nominated to become an asset of community value.

The lane, which is in the north-east of the town, is used for country walks and running trails by the public.

Ian Johnson, who represents a group of 350 residents looking for a 30 hectare extension to East Town Park, asked the town council at their meeting on Tuesday, to take steps in getting it listed.

If the lane became an asset of community value, it would protect the 10 hectare space, which is near to a 20 hectare “buffer zone” between the town and Calford Green.

Mr Johnson, and those he represents, hopes for this 30 hectare space to become the extension for East Town Park.

Speaking at the meeting, he said: “The planning inspector at the Vision 2031 inquiry has proposed modifications to include a country park in the north-east but has not said how large, or where it should be located.

“By 2031, we will have a 35,000 population in Haverhill – and we will have 60 hectares of country park land less than Bury St Edmunds, with the same population.”

The 10 hectare space surrounded by the lane cannot be listed itself because it is not used by the public.

But listing the lane, which runs along two sides of the land, would prevent work in that space.

Cllr Maureen Byrne, deputy mayor, proposed that Cllr Roger André, town mayor, and Colin Poole, town clerk, put forward a bid to get the lane listed.

She said: “I would like to thank Ian and his colleagues for continuing with this campaign – it is so important for the future, and for our children.”

The Community Right to Bid scheme provides a grace period, where a building or piece of land on the asset register cannot be sold without giving the community time to enter a bid themselves.

Fellow town councillors also supported Cllr Byrne’s bid for the mayor and Mr Poole to take the bid forward to St Edmundsbury Borough Council.