Village green saved from car park bid by council
OBJECTORS THRILLED AS PARKING PLANS ARE WITHDRAWN
Reporter A SEASIDE community is celebrating after controversial plans to convert part of a village green into a temporary car park were scrapped.
Northumberland County Council applied to Environment Secretary Michael Gove to remove village green status from a strip of land on The Braid in Amble.
The local authority hoped to use the space for car parking during peak times to help ease the town’s traffic problems.
But the plans caused uproar in the community after protesters claimed it would split the recreation space - which is popular with families, dog walkers and tourists - in two.
After months of campaigning, the council has now told objectors that it has withdrawn the application.
Former town councillor, Terry Barton, said: “We’re delighted and we’ve achieved what we set out to do.
“The Braid is really important and we need to keep it that way. Yes, Amble does have parking problems but that doesn’t mean they need to put a car park there.”
The council applied to de-register a strip of grassland in the centre of the Braid, located next to the access road to the marina and the footpath to the town centre.
As part of the proposal, another piece of land at the south side of the recreation space would have instead been registered as a village green.
The council said that particular patch of land was identified because it provided people with suitable access to the town centre and it had been successfully used for temporary parking in recent years for events such as the Amble Puffin Festival.
But in an email to protesters, the council said: “Northumberland County Council has decided to withdraw the application and has advised that it will no longer be pursuing any proposals to de-register any part of the village green or to introduce any proposals for further parking on the village green area of the Braid.”