From Friends of Redhill Green:
Redhill Green is a treasured pocket park and green, accessible space in a busy, built up area of Hereford on the Ross Road. It is a breathing space for all.
It is enjoyed by members of the local community, both adults and children, and provides a peaceful sanctuary in nature away from the busy A49 (Ross Road).
A current planning application seeks to lock the site, and convert the entire site to allotments leaving no accessible space for the wider local community.
Friends of Redhill Green are receiving legal support to help us oppose these plans. We are crowd funding to help cover our legal fees, with the aim to preserve an accessible green space at this site.
The site is a play area and accessible to all. It is enjoyed daily and is valued by both children and adults. The space has been an accessible green space and play area for decades. Local adults remember playing there as children. The park is situated next to The Child Development Centre in a busy, built up part of Hereford, it offers a place to play for local children and children attending appointments and groups at the centre.
The space is valued by members of the local community, children and adults, including staff at The Child Development Centre and Children’s Community Nurses base, for physical and mental health and well-being.
Friends of Redhill Green are a community group; we are in favour of preserving a significant part of the site as a protected, accessible space for the wider local community. We aim to promote multi-functional use of the site, for example incorporating a community orchard, a natural play area and allotments.
We are seeking to protect a significant part of the site as a green, accessible space for the local community now and into the future.
Concerns have also been raised about the proposed traffic along the access track, which is a narrow track next to the entrance to The Child Development Centre, and this traffic entering and exiting the track from the A49.
Planning History
The site is owned and managed by a housing association, Connexus. In summer 2023 a local allotment group, Hereford Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, (HALGS), submitted a planning application for change of use from a Play Area to allotments. The application was opposed by members of the local community, Hereford City Council, Herefordshire Council’s Open Spaces Planning Officer and National Highways. The planning application was then withdrawn.
Then in July 2024, despite these objections, the allotment group applied for a Certificate of Lawful Development for allotments at the site. The Certificate of Lawful Development was approved by Herefordshire Council. However, with agreement from the relevant parties (Connexus and HALGS), there is still potential to develop the site for multi-functional use, including accessible areas for the wider local community, rather than the entire site being developed as allotments and locked.
Throughout this process members of Friends of Redhill Green have sought to engage in negotiation with all relevant parties, including Connexus, HALGS, Hereford City Council (who provide funding for the allotment association), and local councillors. We have sought to propose preserving part of the site as an accessible green space for the wider local community. Despite great efforts to encourage positive communication and negotiation, there has not been willingness to negotiate on retaining any area as accessible green space. The current planning application is for the entire site become allotments and for the site to be locked at the boundary. The proposals leave no area of the site as accessible for the wider local community.
This is why we are now in receipt of legal support to oppose the current planning application, with the aim to protect a part of the site for the wider local community.
There are several other local examples of multi -functional, accessible and community focused use of green spaces in Herefordshire. For example the nearby Hunderton Community Garden, which is on a site also owned by Connexus, the garden is open to all. Also, in Upton Bishop on another Connexus owned site, there are fenced allotments, alongside a community orchard, open green space and play area. In Bishops Frome, on land also owned by another housing association, is a thriving community garden in the heart of the village.
Friends of Redhill Green have sought advice and support from The Open Spaces Society. Although one point of view is that the Lawful Development Certificate enabled the loss of public open space, another is that it doesn’t, because the transformation from public open space to allotments cannot be achieved without succeeding in the present application. We have instructed environmental and planning solicitors at Richard Buxton, together with Jack Parker and Ben du Feu, specialist planning barristers at Cornerstone Chambers.
To support the campaign, please visit – https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/lets-save-redhill-green-treasured-hereford-park
