A David and Goliath fight to preserve our Village Green

Mankley Field is a green lung between our village and our neighbouring village King Stanley. It has been an area for family recreation for decades alongside cattle grazing and grass harvesting.

This is under threat as the landowners along with Gladman Developments have won outline planning at appeal for putting 150 dwellings on the site.

Our village is only 600 dwellings therefore a predatory development of this scale will destroy our cherished village life, and a valuable green space will be lost forever.

The village action group, supported by our parish council and our neighbouring parish council have submitted a Village Green Application that is ready to go to public inquiry. The majority of village residents have contributed and we have a robust application with real strength in depth and a strong chance of success.

The inquiry

We are currently waiting confirmation of a date for the public inquiry; we anticipate it will be October 2015 and it will last for 8 days.

At the inquiry our action group will be up against 3 separate landowners and Gladman Developments.

Gladman Developments have used their financial and legal weight along with Government planning legislation to defeat local democracy.

You can help local democracy prevail!

Should we win our case a green space that has provided a recreational area for families from 2 villages for decades will be preserved for now and future generations. The field is a safe area for children to enjoy nature and natural space. Elderly residents will lose an easily accessible green space to walk their dogs.

This is a photo of the field which sits between the two villages

What we've already accomplished

With help from our legal team, we were able to make a judicial review that successfully enabled us to amend our application for the Village Green. Having legal advice was critical to us understanding our rights under the law.

Our application will now be heard under the correct section of the Commons Act 2006, which provides in part for registration for a village green where "a significant number of the inhabitants of any locality, or of any neighbourhood within a locality, indulged as of right in lawful sports and pastimes on the land for a period of at least 20 years."

We plan to call 20 witnesses at the inquiry and we have over 150 witness statements in our inquiry bundle.

What we are raising funds to do

We have raised money in the community already in relation to legal costs, with Easter egg hunts, hunt the scarecrow games, and the support of parish councils.

But now we desperately need additional funds to prepare and deliver our application to inquiry against the legal and financial might of Gladman Developments.

We need to raise a further £5,000 to ensure we have the vital legal representation we need, to stand up to these Goliath objectors at the inquiry. The Environmental Law Foundation (ELF) has very generously given us pro-bono assistance, but we need to raise funds to have a super barrister Cain Ormondroyd, from Francis Taylor Building chambers. We are also hoping to raise enough to engage a specialist solicitor for the inquiry as ELF's assistance, as a charity, is necessarily limited.

However ideally we would like to raise £10,000 to be able to hire a specialist solicitor in a targeted way for the inquiry, and £15,000 would enable us to retain the solicitor and other legal counsel for the entirety of the inquiry.

Please help us protect a valuable local amenity for us and future generations.

About the claimant

My name is Graham Davies. I am the TVG applicant on behalf of the action group and a parish councillor.

Fast facts

### Name of case Planning inquiry for Village Green Application, Mankley Field, Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire, ### What's at stake Protect Mankley Field in Gloucestershire, an area of family recreation for decades, from development that will destroy our village's character. ### Next step An 8-day planning inquiry is being held this Autumn, most likely in October. We are seeking legal advice to stand up to the resources of Gladman Developments.