A piece of land in Shrewsbury formerly earmarked for housing has been bought back by Shrewsbury Town Council after being wrongly sold.
The land at Greenfields Recreation Ground was sold to a developer by Shrewsbury Town Council in 2017, after wrongly being deemed at the time to be surplus to requirements.
But following a campaign by Greenfields Community Group and a Supreme Court Judgement which quashed the original planning permission granted by Shropshire Council, an agreement has now been reached with CSE Developments (Shropshire) Limited for the land to be bought back by the town council
The settlement agreement was for £1.34m resulting in a net cost to the Town Council of to date of £600k. In addition, the Town Council says it is seeking to offset the additional amount of the claim by pursuing compensation from other parties they believe are responsible for the errors in 2017. The Council says it is unable to declare the final net costs of the repurchase until that process is completed.
The Town Council has said will not increase the precept (charged to residents via Council Tax) to pay for the repurchase of the land. Instead, it has made a commitment to fund the repurchase from existing reserves including utilising the original funds received for the land plus any interest accrued since the sale to ensure that there will be no impact upon staff or services.
Leader of the Town Council, Alan Mosley said: “The agreement has been reached on a costs only basis taking into account the best interests of the residents of Shrewsbury while taking note of legal judgments in the Courts and the views of those living local to the area.
“Indeed, we have fulfilled promises made and are able to now announce the completion of the repurchase of the land has now been concluded and we now look forward to being able to reopen the land as public space as soon as possible.”
Councillors explained the decision at a meeting of the Greenfields Community Group yesterday evening, with members of the group welcoming the news.
Councillor Alan Mosley, leader of Shrewsbury Town Council, said the council would work with the local community to decide how the patch of land should be used in the future.
He said: “We are looking forward to working with local community interest groups, with current plans to cultivate and maintain the area as a nature recovery and countryside site which can be enjoyed by the whole town.
“However, it is important to note that access to the site cannot be permitted until it is safe for public use, so the fencing will be retained while work is undertaken as soon as possible.”
Councillor Mosley added: “The council’s intention back in 2017 was to sell a piece of land that it saw as not needed in order to raise funds to support and develop town council facilities throughout the Bagley area and in other parts of the town.
“We would like to clarify that the Town Council never had any intention of disposing of the much larger pieces of land in Greenfields which contain the multi-sports court, the play area and the open spaces enjoyed by many residents.
“Changes to these areas have never been considered, nor will they ever be, and they will always be maintained and improved as the need arises.”
Councillor Alex Phillips, who represents the Bagley ward on Shrewsbury Town Council, said: “This agreement brings to a conclusion a very long and determined campaign by residents to see this patch of land returned to the community.
“It’s great news for everyone, and we look forward to seeing this countryside site flourish in the future.”
Shrewsbury Town Council says a “rigorous policy” has been put in place to ensure a similar situation cannot happen again, including a new Asset Disposal Policy adopted in 2023 which means land and property can only be deemed surplus to requirements if a set of strict criteria is met.
The council has published an information sheet about the history of the land sale and subsequent decision to buy it back, which can be viewed on the council’s website shrewsburytowncouncil.gov.uk.
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